Would You Buy A Horse With This Foot?

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It is purely cosmetic according to farrier and would cause no problems. The horse in question is a very smart Irish horse, brilliant jump (only starts to jump 'properly' when the jump is 1m30 at least). Has hunted, half brother is a 3* eventer. Currently working towards doing a ODE with her. Lovely movement when she decides to work properly. Can be a bit difficult to hack and is very strong when she wants to be. Brilliant breeding however she is 14 now. I'm wondering if i were to buy her I would never be able to sell her if i needed to, due to age and her foot. If i'm honest if i were going to view a horse with this foot then it would certainly put me off.
There's so much more info to this story but can't really share on an open forum. If anyone is interested then PM me but, for now, what would you do?

Her feet do look awful in this picture. She has been shod twice since, by my farrier, and it's looking much better.
 
To be perfectly honest I wouldn't.

Feet are too important and cosmetic or not I wouldn't want to take the risk.

There are plenty of good horses, with good feet at the moment that aren't selling.

Sorry.
 
wow that looks like it was an injury and a half!.

how does it look to be growing?

TBH, yes I probably would buy her, if that hoof was growing out right and she did everything I wanted
 
HayleyDL said:
To be perfectly honest I wouldn't.

Feet are too important and cosmetic or not I wouldn't want to take the risk.

There are plenty of good horses, with good feet at the moment that aren't selling.

Sorry.
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No need to apologise :) I'm looking for honest opinions so thank you. A LOT of people have agreed with you on it, especially opinions i've asked for in person and I ventured to HHO to see if the opinions would differ.

astonsmummy said:
What happened to it? Pm if you want
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As far as we can tell she got it trapped/stuck in something when she was younger but we can't tell for sure
 
I probably would if he was cheap enough with such a foot.

Then I'd get the shoes off and grow a proper hoof.

It might never look perfect, but it is suprising what they can do given the chance.
 
If she's 14 now and it's been like that for years with no problems, and assuming the vet wasn't too perturbed and she does everything else I wanted, then yes.

People these days seem to be increasingly hung up on clean limbs, never a day lame, perfect feet, no lumps or bumps or sarcoids or anything else. Unfortunately all horses break eventually, there is only so much you can do to delay it but it is inevitable. Why pass up a horse that is perfect for you because of small little things. It could break it's leg in the field tomorrow. Not recommending people go out and buy a crock but equally there are some things which could be overlooked by 90% of the horse owning population as the horse will never even work at half the level it would need to to become a problem.

It sounds like you already know her and her history to me. They're usually the safest ones to buy. If you know she's sound that is worth more than any vetting to me. Plenty of tales of horses passing 5* vettings only to be lame within three months and retired. Which doesn't mean don't have her vetted if you buy, just that knowing the horse for months or years and knowing it is sound is very reassuring!

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant :o
 
I'd want to get her very carefully vetted and speak to the best impartial vet about it you can- the shock absorbing features of the hoof will not be normal and this is likely to be putting more stain on her leg further up. She may have never been lame to date, but the pressure of it may well have been adding up over the years. Similarly it may never cause a problem.
 
jesstickle said:
If she's 14 now and it's been like that for years with no problems, and assuming the vet wasn't too perturbed and she does everything else I wanted, then yes.

People these days seem to be increasingly hung up on clean limbs, never a day lame, perfect feet, no lumps or bumps or sarcoids or anything else. Unfortunately all horses break eventually, there is only so much you can do to delay it but it is inevitable. Why pass up a horse that is perfect for you because of small little things. It could break it's leg in the field tomorrow. Not recommending people go out and buy a crock but equally there are some things which could be overlooked by 90% of the horse owning population as the horse will never even work at half the level it would need to to become a problem.

It sounds like you already know her and her history to me. They're usually the safest ones to buy. If you know she's sound that is worth more than any vetting to me. Plenty of tales of horses passing 5* vettings only to be lame within three months and retired. Which doesn't mean don't have her vetted if you buy, just that knowing the horse for months or years and knowing it is sound is very reassuring!

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant :o
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^^nice^^
 
Have seen a similar foot. That horse fractured a pedal bone and had relentless foot infections.

Many many months later, mega vet bills and the most dedicated owner possible the horse came sound, but the foot was mis-shapen. Horse is sound now.

I think you do need to find out why the foot is in that state before making a final decision guided by vet opinion.
 
i would be tempted to if the price heavily reflected the hoof. I would take the shoes off pronto and basically give the horse at least a year for new hoof growth - BUT.... i've just read that it has poss been like this since a youngster.... now that would concern me as its not going to grow out/farrier prob wont be able to help much. I would be very interested to see an x-ray of the hoof i think considering its been like this longer term.
if your farrier has shod her twice since the pics and its looking a lot better - they you really are heading in the right direction and it sounds as if you are having chance to try before you buy which is also fantastic with a horse with an issue like this.

I dont know what your longer term plans would be for her but if you were consider breeding from her, i would be wary unless you can find photos of her when she was younger etc to confirm if this hoof shape etc is aquired or some kind of genetic issue which has infact been present since birth (which may or may not have got better/worse over the years due to how she has been trimmed/shod etc)
 
Pale Rider said:
I probably would if he was cheap enough with such a foot.

Then I'd get the shoes off and grow a proper hoof.

It might never look perfect, but it is suprising what they can do given the chance.
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that was actually my thought too, but wasn't brave enough to say it:D
 
I have her on full loan with a view to buy if i want to.
Do you think her owner would have luck selling her with this foot, if I chose not to buy her?
And, with this in mind, what would an appropriate price be? (Dont wan't to turn this into a 'how much is she worth' type of thread but I could do with an idea)
 
I actually find it surprizing the hoof has been left like that for years. :confused: But hey ho I'm only an owner and know nowt. :( I don't like the 'look' of it myself, looks like something very wrong has gone on and is still going on. Sound in shoes is one thing...

ps. No I wouldn't buy a horse like this and expect not to have some serious rehab time with no guarantees at the end of working horse.
 
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How long have you had her on loan? What does your farrier think? What about your vet? I'm assuming you've had her on loan long enough for them to have seen her. If not, I would ask both their opinions and then go from there.

I'm going to assume she injured her coronet band enough that the split isn't going to grow out? I have a permanently cracked toe nail that won't ever grow out as the nail bed is damaged and so it grows with a split in. I believe the same can happen in horses.
 
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personally i would listen to my farrier and vets opinion- they will be able to tell far more than people off here with one picture! admittedly it would lower the amount i'd pay for the horse, but doesnt mean you wouldnt still get a lot of fun out of the horse
 
The crack is of little concern to me. What is a concern is the length of the hoof wall behind the crack. Look where the heel bulb should be. That section of hoof wall is long and displaced above the coronary band line taking the band and bulb with it. Is it even connected to the hoof? :confused:
 
Depends what you want the horse for. Take a note of history and have x-rays done. Farrier thinks its ok so it should be but best to double check with the vet. Could be a bargaining tool to get price reduction.
 
amandap said:
The crack is of little concern to me. What is a concern is the length of the hoof wall behind the crack. Look where the heel bulb should be. That section of hoof wall is long and displaced above the coronary band line taking the band and bulb with it. Is it even connected to the hoof? :confused:
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I had a horse who separated his hoof capsule from his coronet band. He wasn't lame when he did the injury (field somehow :confused:) or thereafter.
His hoof wasn't pretty but it caused him no bother.
I must say, it didn't look as bad as this as it was further round towards the front and the bulb was unaffected.
 
Again if the price was right and I had the services of an excellent farrier.

I have seen worse.
The injury is from the heel (probably a wire cut)
When I had a couple of horses with similar injuries, my farrier first cut the foot down low. He then put a light weight shoe on - this was to prevent the crack from opening and closing at the base.
With one he then nailed through the wall of the foot closing the ends of the nails over so it was like a paper clip to hold the wall together,. With the other he made a plate that screwed into the wall to hold it together.

Neither horse was lame after treatment, and both grew decent walls to their feet one had no scar the other did. This depends on the amount of injury to the coronary band.
 
To be perfectly honest, no I wouldn't. I would be worried about that cracks which runs down the whole length of the hoof as it looks quite deep. I'm not sure how that foot would hold up if the horse lost a shoe!!
 
quirky said:
I had a horse who separated his hoof capsule from his coronet band. He wasn't lame when he did the injury (field somehow :confused:) or thereafter.
His hoof wasn't pretty but it caused him no bother.
I must say, it didn't look as bad as this as it was further round towards the front and the bulb was unaffected.
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It may be it is stable and the horse is functioning but it 'looks' very unstable to me from the one pic. The back of the hoof needs to be strong and robust to absorb concussive forces and these forces are magnified when jumping.

However as I stated, I'm no expert and have no idea of the diagnosis or history. I would *think* there is a big question mark over how long the horse can sustain hard work and jumping. No doubt I will be totally incorrect. lol
 
I would ask my vet to go through the whole mechanics of the foot defect with me so that I knew exactly what the risks were. I think the fact that it is a visible, measurable problem is a plus as the vets should be able to assess the effects on the leg structures etc. reasonably accurately. This is definitely easier than a condition which you can't see and can't predict complications.

It certainly wouldn't be a straight no-no for me, not if the horse was right in all other respects.
 
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I'd want it xrayed and if that was OK, and she has been sound on it for years, I would buy her but I'd want a fair bit knocked off for the horrible appearance of it.
 
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