Would you buy a horse with...

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Nels

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a "slightly bumpy area of skin on inner hind leg that could possibly develop into an occult sarcoid".

Friend's horse has just been vetted and is 100% sound and perfect in every other way...but this came up in the 5 stage vetting. She is not sure what to do - I have said to go for it and purchase the young horse as it is exactly what she has been looking for. I think sarcoids are a risk in any horse and this one may not even develop into anything. But she is worried that if it does develop it will cost her a lot of money due to being excluded from the insurance.

Can anyone help/give any advice?

Thanks x
 
A difficult one...vets always err on the side of caution. The easiest way to make a decision is to ask the vet (by phone) whether he really thinks it is likely to cause trouble.
Then get onto the vendor and ask for a HUGE discount if you want to buy it.
I probably wouldn't...but no horse is perfect.
S
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my 2 ADV eventing mares had sarcoids as do a couple of my young horses.It would not stop me buying a horse.
My mares are now breeding and into thier teens, I think people get nurotic about them.
I've had 4 or 5 removed by various methods,all succesfull and ones that are not a problem ( don't rub ect...) i've left alone.
The exception to my blind eye comes at grey horses and thier are predisposition to melanoma.
 
Sarcoids dont "cost a fortune" unless something actually goes wrong with it / them! Ive had 2 horses with sarcoids. One never had any problems at all. And the one I have now only had one problem last year when it got irritated by flies somehow in the summer and went raw and a bit bloody but after applying antiseptic to it it shrunk back smaller than before (who knows how!) and now I can barely see it!

If a horse was perfect in every single way except for this, Id get the vets opinion first but it wouldnt put me off it.
 
my horse has sarcoids and they dont bother him one bit! He has a few on his sheath and around his upper back legs right at the top and all you do is put some tight bands on them and they fall off or if there not bothering the horse then leave them!
 
From what I can see people seem to fall into two categories when the word 'sarcoid' is mentioned - they either run a mile or really aren't bothered by them! The main issue I had was whether my friend would have problems selling the horse on in the future if the sarcoid did develop...but seems some people would not be put off by it.
The vet is of the opinion it would never harm performance of the horse and has stated that sarcoids are a gamble - some horses get lots and others have small ones that never cause a problem.

Thanks everyone for the help. I think my friend has realised she just needs to decide if she will take on the gamble or not....
 
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