Would a scar put you off buying a horse?

BroadfordQueen

BroadfordQueen

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If you found a horse for sale as a riding club allrounder type, which fit your criteria in all ways but had a fairly large scar on its leg, would you still be interested, subject of course to it passing a 5 stage vetting, and with the ability to chat to the horses vet who dealt with the injury and can confirm that it is purely cosmetic (with scans etc available to view and discuss)? If you would still buy, what sort of reflection in price would you expect?
TIA :)
 
It would put me off personally yes

But on a riding school allrounder with a purely cosmetic scar I wouldn't expect it to affect the value. On a show horse yes, allrounder no

If there was a chance of the injury affecting the horse later on then I would be looking for a decent reduction in price
 
I have bought plenty with superficial scarring, it would not put me off and I would not really expect a reduction in price, assuming it was fairly priced in the first place and will do the job required.
 
Not at all! Unless you were specifically wanting to do showing of course.

The only thing which may put me off if it is a truly hideous one perhaps like the whole of the horses face or something, but I highly doubt that's very common :/
 
Unless you wanted a show horse or top class competition horse then no, not in the slightest. If it doesn't pull tight on the skin around when in work, isn't going to break down and need patched up again, doesn't affect thw movement of joints too much then I wouldn't be put off by a scar in the slightest.
 
Nope! Ned is riddled with scars, all over his body, all of which are cosmetic. However, if it affected the horse in any way, for instance if it rubbed where the saddle went or something, then yes, it would put me off.
 
BroadfordQueen said:
If you found a horse for sale as a riding club allrounder type, which fit your criteria in all ways but had a fairly large scar on its leg, would you still be interested, subject of course to it passing a 5 stage vetting, and with the ability to chat to the horses vet who dealt with the injury and can confirm that it is purely cosmetic (with scans etc available to view and discuss)? If you would still buy, what sort of reflection in price would you expect?
TIA :)
Click to expand...
I would still buy as long as it past the vetting and I asked the vet to check the area for any problems while they did the vetting. Would not put me off the horse one iota.
 
It wouldn't put me off either. In fact I recently bought a horse with a large-ish scar down a back leg. He passed the 5 stage vet, I had a chat with the vet about it and went ahead with the purchase. I didn't ask for a discount as I only want a RC allrounder to have fun on.
 
BroadfordQueen said:
If you found a horse for sale as a riding club allrounder type, which fit your criteria in all ways but had a fairly large scar on its leg, would you still be interested, subject of course to it passing a 5 stage vetting, and with the ability to chat to the horses vet who dealt with the injury and can confirm that it is purely cosmetic (with scans etc available to view and discuss)? If you would still buy, what sort of reflection in price would you expect?
TIA :)
Click to expand...

With the provisos/circumstances you describe, it wouldn't put me off and I wouldn't be wanting a reduction in price . . . but I wouldn't be buying it to show it . . .

P
 
Depends if I were planning to show the horse - a scar detracts from the overall picture so to me I'd rather by an unblemished horse.

If I weren't going to show and the injury didn't affect the action/soundness of the horse and the horse ticked all the right boxes then it wouldn't worry me.
 
It wouldn't completly put me off, but I'd do very thorough due diligence, talking to the vet who had treated the horse and my own vet. If all that was positive, I'd expect a pricing at he bottom of the usual price range for an animal of those capabilities (so a bit off, but not madly).
 
if it checked out with the vet, not in the least, if he ticks every other box it would not put me off at all. There is a girl local to me who rides a chestnut with a huge scar on the chest. She does dressage and does well so it makes little difference.
 
I don't understand where the reduction of price comes into it? So long as it's purely cosmetic and doesn't hinder the horse in any way. You are paying for the horse's ability and temperament, not looks.
 
My ISH has a small scar on her off cannon bone which she got from jumping as a 5yo a year before l got her. l've had her for 13 years now& it's never affected her. It may be a put off like others say if you intended to show but you said you're not fussed about showing. If the horse is healthy in every other way & is capable of doing the disciplines you want to do than personally l wouldn't let a scar put me off horses that jump especially hunting because they are unfortunately going to get the odd injury like that
 
Just add however, although the majority of users here would not be put off, this is just a little selection of people. Depending on if you came to sell the horse, I'm not sure how it would affect future buyers and if it would make selling anymore difficult for your self?
 
If I wanted to do shows yes. But I'm not interested, so no. Mine has a few leg scars and the worst/most obvious scar on her shoulder. I don't know how she got it. It's a corner type scar, like it was stitched together. Not pretty, but it has never caused any problems.
Like my car, may have a few dents but the engine is most important :)
 
It would make me very cautious because I bought a horse with scarring on its chest (told barbed wire cuts) and although it passed a 5 Stage vetting it had wobblers and I later found out it had been hit by a car. It wasn't until in full work that the problem manifested itself more obviously although in retrospect there were signs previously such as muscle wastage and dragging feet going downhill.
 
In general - not likely. I have no interest in showing.

Depending on the location and/or size of the scar I might want the full history behind it - confirmed by the vet involved. As long as that checked out and the horse ticked all other boxes I'd still go for it.

Honestly most horses I have handled or owned have all had scars somewhere. Most have been tiny and only noticeable if you knew they were there. Some have stood out. As long as it doesn't affect the horse's wellbeing and the job you require it for I don't see any problem with it. Even if you buy an unblemished horse you can almost bet it will pick up a scar at some point. That's horses for you!

ETA I would not expect a scar to have any effect on the price. Presumably you're paying for the horse's abilities. ;)
 
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Nope - I bought gelding with scar and he passed his five stage vetting flexion tests and the scar tissue is close to fetlock ..but then we aren't showing him he is just to have fun with..
 
Just thinking about it, if a horse had a scar and you knew the cause, would you have to declare that to your insurance company?
 
Depends on what caused the scar, although almost certainly going to be an accident. We bought a beautiful Gelderlander with a large scar, and we used him for doing Weddings and things. I have no problem with scars and it would almost certainly not stop me buying
 
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