Would you buy...

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jojo2305

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a horse with these hooves?

croppedhooves.jpg


Just generally interested in opinions!
 
Looks like it could have had some problems with it's diet maybe? I wouldn't buy it without a 5 stage vetting if I wanted it for riding. Whatever the problem is, it has been over a long period of time, so if the horse is sound now, it is not likely to go lame from whatever is causing this problem.

Having said that, it still depends on the reason for the grooves - if it's diet related and can be changed, fine, but it could be a problem in the digestive system or some other problem that may deteriorate in the future. I'd want to investigate it I think.
 
Those ridges look like it might have had fairly chronic lami? Our pony has those and she had a dreadful case of lami whilst out on loan.
 
Need to have farrier check for collapsed heals and defo had lami and a real bad bout by the looks of things!

But suppose x-rays would tell.
 
No - but it would be more to do with the confirmation of the foot, pastern, and front leg generally tbh. that would put me off.
 
Touch more background- horse had severe lami attack. Current (non horsey) owner was given this, and some other horses as a gift and was basically lacking in any horse knowledge. Vet who has treated all the animals is of the opinion that all this one needs is work to reduce weight (is not ridiculously overweight) and careful management. Vet who attended vetting was less positive and recommended 'years of expensive treatment', though admitted horse was sound, and that he was aware horse had been sound for at least 4 months. Unfortunately a 5 * vetting is not possible- horse is youngish and only (badly) halter broken. Would be a freebie- though obviously will have some serious farrier costs attatched! Anyone taken on a lami case like this?
 
I wouldn't take it on only because you described the lami case as severe and to me that means constant hard work and worry and vets bills. If it was just the case of the feet I'd suggest getting your farrier to have a look at it and see what he thinks. If you had a vetting and the vet said bargepole remember to consider you are probably going to struggle to get any decent level of cover insurance wise.

Just a few thoughts.
smirk.gif
 
Hmm. We didn't take on a case like this exactly, but our pony who went out on loan was returned like this. She was 13 at the time, is 16 now and is never really totally sound. She has good patches and bad, some days is fine, some days quite 'pottery' first thing. She is high maintenance -has to live on starvation paddock all year, has to come in at night all winter (frost) needs regular, good farriery (as do all horses obviously, but when we had to change farriers for a while she went downhill quickly as he was trimming her feet incorrectly).
TBH if she was mine I might have had her pts when she was at her worst but she is my mum's and she loves her, and she pulled through the worst and lives a contented pampered life!
So it depends really how bad the lami was, has the pony suffered more than once, has there been any rotation of the pedal bone, what do you want it to do etc....
ETS very good point above about insurance!!
 
another one unsure here too... get xrays done, get vets advice etc.

chances are that if nothing comes up from the vetting then he just needs some consistency in his life. no major changes to food or exercise, and a decent regular farrier. if that happens then they'd grow out in just over a year.
 
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Touch more background- horse had severe lami attack

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In that case definately not.

I suspect that it will have had some rotation of the pedal bones, the soles will be flat and sunk, and his heals are collapsed.

If it's sound now it won't remain so once it starts work.

At best it would be a nice field ornament - at worst it probably should have been destroyed at the time of the laminities if it was that bad.

Sorry - as you can tell it's a day for bluntness, and ill humour...
 
Unfortunately I am of a similar opinion. Just trying to gather wider opinions in order to try and put a friend off what I think will be a costly mistake.
 
TBH if it is free i would be tempted to take the chance, it is obviously sound now and by the looks of the photo it is doing a good job of repairing its self... it is still young so that is a bonus, obviously it was poorly looked after at some stage for it to get as bad as it did, but with the right care could be ok, its legs look fine otherwise if it was me and i wanted it i would have the opinion if it is going to be an on going problem then i would have it PTS but would chance it first, i am sure it will be ok given right care.
 
A lame horse costs more to keep than a sound one, and the purchase price is the generally the cheapest bit of having a horse, so having one free that is likely to need destroying (which is also expensive) is not the most cost effective way of entering horse ownership. Bear in mind that you won't get insurance for the feet either.
 
Very sad for the pony, but I wouldn't touch it. There are enough things to go wrong with a horse without starting with something major like that.

ETS the black pony in my sig had to be pts due to lami, and her feet were in way better shape than the one shown.

 
The point i am making is that i would give him a chance, rather than right him off, he has been sound for 4 months... if he got chronically lame again then yes you would think of having him PTS, but he hasent cost anything to buy in first place, and potters is very humane and horses treated well. He is a young pony and i am sure he would come right, most people wouldnt touch him with a barge pole, i would, so who is the cruel one? Thats what sort of horse world we live in.
 
I am not sure that he will come right at all. This pony is going to take a lifetime of very, very careful management. It will be lucky if it's feet do not already have serious damage internally. Having had first hand experience of Laminitis I would not wish this on anyone or any pony/horse. The costs of caring for a laminitic can be phenomenal. You can't bank on giving it the summer turned out, or any time of year for that matter. You can't have a lie in at the weekend because it still needs to be off the grass by 6am. The difficulties go on and on. You could potentially be looking at a lifetime of stabling, starvation paddocks, remedial shoeing, medication. Not to even mention the heartache.

I think rather than a new owner taking on all this possible expense and heartache having becoming emotionally attached to the animal, the present owner should have the pony assessed properly, including x rays and then do what is necessary for the pony. If you care enough about the animal in the first place to risk taking it on then it is not going to come down to a black & white decision like..."take it to Potters"
 
I do think in this case that the pony was very inadequately looked after, as stated by the poster and any horse looked after in this way will suffer in one form or another, i currently have a laminitic pony and have looked after many, so i am aware of the risk.
 
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