Would YOU pay £10,000 for a horse that weaves

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Its Not Magic

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I recently read a post where someone purchased a horse which was advetised for 10K. She says 'it can be a bit quirky and weaves when stressed,' but well worth the money as he has been placed everytime out showing and bsja.

Am I wrong in thinking No horse is born bad, just bad owners. If a horse develops an issue, it does so for a reason. Personally if I saw an advert asking 10K for a quirky horse that weaves when stressed. I would not even bother going to see it.

I most certainly would think it was not worth anywhere near 10K.

What do you guys think?
 
Not that i have ever been in the fortunate position to by a 10k horse! But if I was it would be a horse to compete on. I have found a lot of good horses can be quirky to ride, its what makes them good. I also dont really have a prolem with weaving unless its extreme. So to answer your question..... If it was the right horse in every other way weaving wouldnt bother me. So now just to find 10k! lol:D:D
 
If its going to be a top competition horse then yes you put up with these quirks, if its going to be a nice ride will win abit then no i probably wouldnt.
 
Yep, a horse is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.
I'm not sure what level she's jumping at, but it sounds like she paid a lot less than what she'd have needed to pay for a ready made showjumper without any vices.
 
As long as it doesn't affect his performance for the job he is wanted for then don't see the issue.

Think of some of the top showjumpers - a lot of them could be termed "quirky" and I'm sure they also have their share of vices. Ellen Whitaker had a real cow bag of a horse that jumped like a cat but had a truly viscous buck and if she wasn't in the mood she didn't perform - I'm guessing she had a price tag with a good few more zeros on it than £10 000.
 
It would of course depend on the severity of the weaving. If it was so bad that it could end up shortening the horses working life then I would probs think twice. If it was just at meal times then I could live with that. I like to keep my horses out anyway, in which case the weaving would probably be less anyway
 
People don't pay 10k for 'a horse that weaves' they pay 10k for a horse that does A,B,C and D and happens to weave. If it weaves then so what? Personally petty stable vices don't put me of a horse, if it moves, jumps and has a good attitude to work then who cares really? Its still worth the asking price if it does what it says on the tin.
 
Of course. If I had the money and the horse did what I wanted it to do! 'Competition' (for want of a better word) horses are often quirky and weaving is hardly the end of the world.
 
Weaving wouldn't bother me in the slightest.
If the horse was worth £10k and it weaved and the weaving didn't effect performance then yes I would go and view it. I have the same opinion about windsucking/crib biting.
 
You have to think about why it may have the vice. I think you will actually find that it is generally the 'norm' and often expected for top level performing horses to be quirky. You sometimes see ads stating categorically that 'this horse is not all quirky!' - like 'oh yeah I have the 1% minority for sale right here!'.

To perform at top level with sparkle and that something special - the horse needs to be spunky and that can mean it is quirky - odd - stressy etc. Also many top level horses are managed stabled 24/7 or the majority of the time which will make them more liable to start stable vices out of boredom.
 
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Its Not Magic said:
I recently read a post where someone purchased a horse which was advetised for 10K. She says 'it can be a bit quirky and weaves when stressed,' but well worth the money as he has been placed everytime out showing and bsja.

Am I wrong in thinking No horse is born bad, just bad owners. If a horse develops an issue, it does so for a reason. Personally if I saw an advert asking 10K for a quirky horse that weaves when stressed. I would not even bother going to see it.

I most certainly would think it was not worth anywhere near 10K.

What do you guys think?
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I think you could miss out on a horse worth £15,000, when all it needs is a bit of help with its indigestion problem, and a steady calm authoritative handler with a good stable routine.

Would I buy a £3,000 horse that weaves for £2,000. No. Would I buy a £6000 horse that weaves for £4000? Probably not. Would I buy a £15,000 horse for £10,000? Yes of course I'd buy a weaver and smile all the way to the bank.
 
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If the horse had a proven record to make it worth that money then yes i would.
My dad has a racehorse who he did race but is retired now who weaves like a maniac it drives me mad but doesnt seem to cause him any problems.

He even does it in the field sometimes, he is 24 now never been ill and always stayed sound he is till ridden does ride outs fun rides etc and my sister is taking him to a xc in august so it doesnt seem to have harmed him at all although it can drive you mad if you dont just ignore it.
 
Its Not Magic said:
I recently read a post where someone purchased a horse which was advetised for 10K. She says 'it can be a bit quirky and weaves when stressed,' but well worth the money as he has been placed everytime out showing and bsja.

Am I wrong in thinking No horse is born bad, just bad owners. If a horse develops an issue, it does so for a reason. Personally if I saw an advert asking 10K for a quirky horse that weaves when stressed. I would not even bother going to see it.

I most certainly would think it was not worth anywhere near 10K.

What do you guys think?
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simple: yes!!! like you said its not the horses fault it all the owners some horses weave through boredom aswell.
 
My homebred filly weaves lightly, very occasionally and she's never been poorly or inconsiderately kept! She demonstrates acute frustration in this manner. She only occasionally does it when she wants something really badly and then stops again just as soon as she's given whatever it is she needs.

This morning, for example, I got back from a hack and she was obviously very thirsty. As I ran the tap into her water bucket across the yard from her, she weaved lightly with her ears pricked, her eyes boring into the filling bucket. As soon as I opened her stable door and brought the bucket into the entrance she thirstily began to drink. Problem over, and she wont weave again until she's equally stressed about something she sees and wants. It doesn't bother me but it's interesting that she's developed this habit since she's never seen another horse do it and she's the fourth generation I've bred and none of her dam line have weaved.

I guess it depends upon the horse and how bad it weaves as to whether I'd choose to buy one that did it. But having bred mine and knowing her as well as I do, I know it's just a way she shows when she really needs something within her eye-range.
 
Weaving and other vices are displaced behaviour, with competition horses its probably a lot to do with the training and/or conditions in which they are kept. A horse which does this will never be as good as it could be if this sort of issue was solved.

There would always be a question about how brain damaged the horse has been, and when would something more severe manifest itself.
 
Pale Rider said:
There would always be a question about how brain damaged the horse has been, and when would something more severe manifest itself.
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You wot! :eek: So my filly is 'brain damaged'!!!!!!!!
Smackedbum.gif
Errr, I don't think so. Honestly I dont! :D
 
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missponymad said:
simple: yes!!! like you said its not the horses fault it all the owners some horses weave through boredom aswell.
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It's not always owner created. Some horses are extremely stressy individuals and weave to "sedate" themselves with endorphins, no matter how perfect the way they are kept is. This is especially true of highly (over)bred performance horses.
 
cptrayes said:
It's not always owner created. Some horses are extremely stressy individuals and weave to "sedate" themselves with endorphins, no matter how perfect the way they are kept is. This is especially true of highly (over)bred performance horses.
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^^^ I agree with this! :)
 
ellie_e said:
If its going to be a top competition horse then yes you put up with these quirks, if its going to be a nice ride will win abit then no i probably wouldnt.
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This.
If I am looking for a pet that goes out to shows for fun,it's manners and lack of stable vices would be important to me( as would trivial things like colour kill me now :o :p ) but if I was looking for something to compete on,the ability to do the job and do it well would be far more important than anything else.

ETA, OP the horse may well have been worth MORE then 10k had it not weaved.
So although it may be a large sum to you,the owners could still have got their hands on a bargin ;)
 
If it was perfect in every other way and I had my own yard/land then yes but I would want to know under what circumstances it weaved and what its current routine was.

It could be that if it was stabled 24/7 and on a diet high in cereals that more turnout and a high fibre diet could reduce the weaving.

A weaver that has no ridden issues or other soundness problems is probably easier to manage and more competitive than a non weaver of the same price that is tricky to ride.
 
Personally I hate the idea that people will put up with 'quirks' for the sake of competition, or 'doing the job'.

We give undevisive names like stable vices, for brain damage and mental illness, just to make ourselves feel better about it.
Even if the damage is caused through breeding it is still our responsibility, not the horses.
 
Pale Rider said:
Personally I hate the idea that people will put up with 'quirks' for the sake of competition, or 'doing the job'.

We give undevisive names like stable vices, for brain damage and mental illness, just to make ourselves feel better about it.
Even if the damage is caused through breeding it is still our responsibility, not the horses.
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Why do you hate it?

What should we do with horses that weave then if not put up with it? Not offer them for sale? Not compete them?

I don't think anyone has said the horse is responsible for weaving and I think most people recognise it starts because something is not right in the horse's enviroment but once they have started it is a habit that is very hard to break.

Using emotive terms for weaving isn't helpful really- have you got studies we could see to prove that horses that weave are brain damaged as it should be easy to see this damage?

My grey boy in my signature weaved- he was (and still is) a super eventer who thrives on getting out competing.

He weaved when he wanted to go out (or come in), at feed time and when he was getting dressed to go in the horsebox- he was anticipating something he enjoyed and he basically couldn't keep himself still when waiting.

As I say, I would be really interested if you could direct me to published studies which prove horses which weave are brain damaged.
 
If you only go by published study you will find that contradictory studies are about equal.

Don't get too Hung up on weaving, there are plenty of others.

You could try to improve the situation for the horse rather than put up with it, before the illness becomes permanent damage.

Buy and sell all you want, compete till your blue in the face, but respect the horse, at least.
 
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