Would you buy this horse? Advice please!

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TT55

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Advice please!

I got my potential purchase vetted today. The horse trotted up fine, flexion tests were fine, was fine lunged on a hard and soft surface, then trotted up ok and was ok with the flexion test after strenuous exercise. However, it had an injury to the front of it's offside fore about 6-8 months ago (jumped into a fence or something) and the vet reckoned it must have damaged it's extensor tendon and doesn't have the full range of motion in it's fetlock. He said it's perfectly capable of doing the job (low level polo), but it is at higher risk of injury and may not have a long of a career than if it was uninjured. (He also said it could be completely fine for the rest of it's life)... So the vet has technically "passed" this horse. Now i'm confused, I love this horse but now i have the seed of doubt. I also will not be able to insure said leg probably...

I know it's hard without seeing the horse, but what would you do???
 
The horse "passed" the vetting as the vet felt it perfectly capable of carrying out the work you have planned for your potential horse. Which is good enough. Any horse can break at any time, it's always a risk!
 
Make a judgement based on the training that's in the horse ( the more training the horse has the more I will forgive ) .
The price of the horse.
And how much I like the horse .
However I don't insure my horses I doubt you will get cover for that leg and I have several horses I think I would be more cautious if I only had one however since its polo you may have several so it may not be an issue to you.
I would also consider in your shoes the possibility that the bangs and knocks a polo pony takes may make it not the best job for a horse who has and an injury like this.
 
This is the horse I was posted about haggling for, not the one I posted about not being in top condition.

Goldenstar, it will be my only horse. I'm doing polo on a budget :)
 
Knowing how cautious vets are I am surprised they passed a horse for polo, which even at low level is pretty intense with plenty of twisting and turning at speed, that does not have a full range of movement in one joint, I would think it may be worth having further tests done if you really want to have a clearer picture.
 
Ah, the one in not so good condition sounded a little iffy.
I'd still hesitate with this one but then I'm tired of having horses off play due to tendons, ligaments and dodgy joints so I maybe a little jaded in my answers :)
 
Said a flat out no to that one and glad I did :)

It's really hard to separate head from heart in decisions like this :(

I am going to speak to a vet that is a family friend tomorrow (unfortunately he couldn't do the vetting as it was too far away).
 
I think I'd have to leave this one.

This horse would most likely be perfectly fine being in normal work and doing things like hacking, schooling etc.

But polo is very physical, lots of sharp stops and starts, tight turns, being bumped and shoved. I'd want something with a clean bill of health in the legs.
 
For polo? No, even low level polo can be enough to shorten a riding career of a blemish/injury free horse, let alone one that might be at higher risk due to an injury. And as you have stated, if noted on the report, very, very unlikely to get insurance on that leg for anything, and combined with paying a premium on the policy for polo would make me walk quickly away as could end up being false economy.
Is it currently a polo pony?
 
I'd have the area scanned and then make a final decision based on the results of the scan and how much I really liked the horse.

If you are playing sport on a budget and need a competition horse on a budget then there are usually trade-offs and gambles that need to be taken.
 
ihatework said:
I'd have the area scanned and then make a final decision based on the results of the scan and how much I really liked the horse.

If you are playing sport on a budget and need a competition horse on a budget then there are usually trade-offs and gambles that need to be taken.
Click to expand...

Completely agree here!
 
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