What do you think of this horse?

[ElvisFan]

Looking for some honest opinions on this horse for my daughter. Shes looking for something to do a bit more with than what she can do with our three. Seems a little cheap to me and would the stringhalt be a future problem?


http://www.horsemart.co.uk/advert/10_yrs_17_3_hh_fleabitten_grey_irish_draught_x_northamptonshire/57094

[vels mum]

Does seem a bit cheap, worth a look though!

[hot.to.trot]

hmm yes very cheap btu i would go take a look and sorry i dont knwo much about stringhalt :D

[hannah_xx]

looks lovely!

[katie11]

looks lovely

just get it vetted ;-)

[bexc3]

Definatley do have a look if its not too much of a drive. Normally i dont think string halts cause much of a problem but tha lady that owns our yard brought a horse for her daughter with what we thought was a string halt and then 6 months later he had a funny moment whilst jumping and then went all disunited. It got worse over night to the point where he was struggling to walk in a straight line. Our vet referred him and to cut a long story short it turned out he'd got wobblers, this is where there's a part of the vertabrae in his neck pushing on his spinal cord and causing him to fall over and walk like he was drunk. The vet seemed to think it wasn't a string halt but was early signs of the wobblers setting in.

Obviously i dont know if the vet could be certain about this and the lady that sold him to us really did seem concerned when we told her and insisted he's had it for the year she'd had him but who knows. I think normally they dont cause probs but just wanted to make you aware of our situation cos the horse in question had to be PTS cos he was dangerous in the end. x

[HorseBird]

I don't think stringhalt is generally a soundness problem but they can have problems in trot due to the strange action. Quite a few race horses have stringhalt but they cope with it as it doesn't affect them at a gallop. I thought stringhalt was operable but I might be wrong? :confused: I like him - go see him!

[carthorse]

My understanding is that mild stringhalt isn't normally a problem. However I've heard of cases like bexc3 mentions where early stages of wobblers have been misdiagnosed as stringhalt & that's a much more serious problem so if you like the horse it's definately something to discuss in depth with the vet & get the diagnosis confirmed.

He does sound very cheap but he has stringhalt, the ad says "not a novice ride" (why?) & his size would also put off a lot of people. Also although it says he loves sj & xc it doesn't say he has a successful competition record so maybe he isn't terribly good at them?

If he sounds like the horse you want then I'd go & look but go in with your eyes open, often if something seems too good to be true then it is!