WWYD? horse not advertised truthfully?

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sunleychops

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Said horse is advertised on H&H, spoke to owner to get some further details and she said horse had never been sick or sorry or had a days lameness etc so decided to drive over 2 hours to see horse.

I get there, pick its foot up and it has a bloody heart bar shoe on, obviously I was fuming as it was 5 hour round trip for no reason whatsoever.

My question is, should I email the H&H advertising team and make them aware or is it just one of those things?
 
Heartbars can be for flat feet too.. unless she specifically stated it was lami issues how are you positive horse wasn't advertised truthfully.
 
chrisritch said:
I never said it had lami?

It had to have heart bars out on out of lameness surely, you wouldn't remedially shoe a sound horse?
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I used lami as that is generally what heartbars are used for as it stabilises.

Depends, if horse is flat footed why not remedially shoe a sound horse.

chrisritch said:
No because frankly I couldn't care why it had bar shoes on, I have no intention of buying a crippled horse so we left
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Don't feel it's very fair to say owner tried to sell a horse that wasn't advertised truthfully then. She may have had a very good reason as to why horse has them on yet you didn't hear her out. You have nothing to complain about really.
 
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I had a horse years ago who was not lame but my blacksmith thought eggbar shoes would help his flat feet.

In answer to your original question I doubt contacting H&H would get you anywhere.
 
My horse is sound and has heartbar shoes on through the eventing season, FWIW. Granted her feet aren't great, but she's never had a lame day (owned her from a 2yo, she's now 8).
 
chrisritch said:
Ok I'll rephrase my questioning

Should I have been told prior to viewing that it was in heart bars
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If the horse was in heartbars because of lameness then yes, you should have been told as you had asked a specific question regarding the horse's health.
 
chrisritch said:
Ok I'll rephrase my questioning

Should I have been told prior to viewing that it was in heart bars
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No, it's a type of shoe and owner has said horse was never lame. I could care less if horse has neon green shoes. As long as horse is sound in every other way I wouldn't care on type of shoe unless there were pads present. Especially if owner had given me a good reason as to why horse was wearing said shoe.
 
Chalk it up to experience!

Make a mental note to give the seller the opportunity to tell you their story, next time. Even if you don't believe the story, you will have something to laugh about on the way home. I have a rule, very rarely broken, to travel for no more than an hour when viewing horses, as I have seen so many disappointments over the years. Sis and I have a fund of hilarious stories though!
 
I don't see how you can report this advert to H&H as you don't know the horse wasn't advertised truthfully as you didn't ask the owner why the horse was shod the way it was.

Twice before I've driven a considerable distance only to be told when I arrived that the horse had already been sold. Probably one of the reasons I breed and don't buy anymore.
 
I would also be very wary of a horse in bar shoes and would walk away as CR has done. I think that BQ's post demonstrates exactly why I'm wary. I've already had to take one horse through a barefoot rehab, so these days well balanced, healthy hooves are right at the top of my list of requirements.

I'm not sure that it should be stated in the ad, but it would definitely be on my list of questions to ask on the phone (along with pads and wedges).
 
I would have expected to be told on the phone TBH. Add it on to your long list of questions to ask on the phone. I have just bought a horse that was some distance away and spent about 40 minutes on the phone before making the journey, the seller was extremely open. Was the seller open about other aspects of the horse?
 
Didn't mean to start any arguments

Will just chalk it down to experience and add it to the list of questions!

FWIW I personally feel not telling someone a horse is in a remedial shoe is not the done thing and not something I'd ever consider doing was I selling a horse.
 
I'd also be concerned by heartbars but owner might genuinely not see it as an issue, Farrier says feet needs these shoes owner pays bill, horse may never have been lame so owner never considers it an issue. Did you tell owner that's why you weren't interested if genuine might be useful for them to know.
 
I agree that you should have been told before you drove all that way! However, I would have asked why it was in heart bars, and then decided whether to get cross or not, depending on the answer. It could be that there is an explanation for it - it might not be a rational explanation, but we all know that horsey people do weird things! I wouldn't drive two hours to see a horse, see it was remedially shod, and leave without at least asking why.
 
Tbh any answers to the question of why it had heart bars on would have resulted in me saying no to the horse.

I've had enough lameness issues with newly retired boy so I'm not taking a chance on anything with the next one!


I forgot to add we both had a sit on said horse and it wasn't what we're looking for anyway either but that's not the point I'm making here

Only had a sit as would have felt incredibly rude and awkward had we just picked a foot up and left, probably the wrong thing to do as it's just wasting sellers time but hey didn't ever plan for what to in that sort of situation
 
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Ok that's fine, I just wanted everyone else's opinion as if I was just to do nothing it would play on my mind, if you all think I should let sleeping dogs lie than that's is what I shall do
 
Good luck in your horse search - I hope you find the right horse soon.

I was told that the last horse I bought was 16.1 (I'm 5'8") turned up at the yard to find he was 15.1 max but as I had driven to see him I rode him. He rode a lot bigger and I ended up buying him!
 
chrisritch said:
Ok that's fine, I just wanted everyone else's opinion as if I was just to do nothing it would play on my mind, if you all think I should let sleeping dogs lie than that's is what I shall do
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It's not left to lie its posted very publicly on h&h.
If I was the seller I would be very cross at you. You didn't ask why the horse had them, you didn't ask about farrier on the phone and you've posted here that it is not advertised truthfully.

You should have just left it entirely and let others find things out for themselves.
 
chrisritch said:
Ok I'll rephrase my questioning

Should I have been told prior to viewing that it was in heart bars
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Yes. When I go buying for people I have a list of things I ask the vendor on the phone before setting out to view.

Type of bedding it is on
Shod - type of shoes
When last saw a vet and why
Pedigree - (there are a few stallions and dam sires I would not be interested in)
Parrot mouth, or dental issues
bit it goes in for hacking and hunting, has it been worked in a double.

If all the above are answered to my satisfaction then I go on and ask the obvious questions, traffic, loading etc.

Heart bars will always be on for a reason, they have specific uses for specific issues regardless of soundness. A horse may need them from a foot conformation point of view. Plus an owner won't put them on for no good reason especially as they normally come in at £80 a go unless the farrier is factory buying and tweaking them. It takes an experienced farrier to make and fit bar shoes.
 
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equi said:
It's not left to lie its posted very publicly on h&h.
If I was the seller I would be very cross at you. You didn't ask why the horse had them, you didn't ask about farrier on the phone and you've posted here that it is not advertised truthfully.

You should have just left it entirely and let others find things out for themselves.
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There's thousands if adverts on H&H, I've been incredibly vague!
 
I have a lovely 13 year old horse who came to me with rubbish feet, long toes, under run heels. He's had heart bar shoes on for several months to encourage growth at the heel, it was either shoe more frequently or use heart bar and stay at a 6 weekly interval. Just before anyone rushes in, I trust my farrier absolutely, he's passed his master farriery exams and is extremely knowledgeable and does a lot of remedial farriery around here. He discusses everything with me and has improved the feet of pretty much every horse I've ever owned. This horse has never had laminitis, has never to my knowledge been lame, despite poor shoeing in the past and now has brilliant feet. If I had had him for sale when he was wearing heart bar shoes, (not that I'd consider it as he's lovely) it would never have crossed my mind to mention that he has had heart bar shoes. Frankly chrisritch, I think you are jumping to a lot of conclusions, however, if you had asked the owner about the shoeing, I'm sure they would have told you.
 
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