TB owners?.. not TBs but appys and they are home! update 4/11 NEW PICS

[welsummerchicks]

just make sure a vet examines the horse before you close the deal.

Too - take some more experienced with you - be sure with the big guy, that the rider is pulling the horse's head in toward his chest and jerking on the reins constantly just because she thinks it looks pretty to have the horse hold his head in like that - not because the horse tries to go too fast all the time and has to constantly be held in.

Another thing is to be sure you try the horse with the saddle on - they only show the horse bareback - occasionally horses that are skittish and get startled by equipment/saddle won't do it if they're ridden bareback....

Always bring some one else more experienced along, always have the seller ride the horse first, always say thanks and bye if the horse looks too frisky or peppy....ALWAYS sleep on it.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Quote:
Seems like a really nice horse. He has a kind eye. Definitely go see the horse in person if you are interested.

 

[babyblue]

his conformation seems kinda awkward. also they only show him in deep snow or with wraps on. odd. he moves better then I think his conformation seems to be able to give. but if hes only for trail rides, sound and sane then hes not a bad horse just to take a look at. plus being a QH/belgian cross perhaps hes going to be a calmer and saner dude for you.

 

[welsummerchicks]

I know....anytime I see any thing peculiar like that my 'Fraud Radar' starts beeping and beeping.

I didn't have the heart to say it out loud as the OP seemed so excited....I'm a wuss sometimes and I just didn't want to be a wet blanket twice in a row with the same person, LOL! I just said BE SURE GET VET EXAM BRING MORE EXPERIENCED PERSON SLEEP ON IT...

At a guess, I'd say they're trying to keep you from seeing something on the horse's legs - either how his legs are conformed (built, shaped) or that there is sign of injury or lameness on the legs.

But it says more to me - that type of place, that type of barn, they really, really do not just routinely put on wraps, not on this type of horse, and even just in general - this type of place does not use wraps.

The other thing it says to me, is they view themselves to be pretty clever at this horse selling business, AND that they assume their customers are NOT clever. Usually that comes from long experience selling iffy horses to novices.

At SOME fancy barns horses never go out to work without those nice fluffy wraps or their leg protected from ankle to knee with something - and the presence of wraps or boots means nothing (most of the time) except that is their usual practice. This is most very definitely, not that type of barn.

And - people who DO use wraps - they don't generally put them on like THAT. That job was done by someone who is - a little out of practice, let's say. That horse looks like Boris Karloff in The Mummy.

So I'd say - yes - deliberate effort to conceal something about this horse.

And yes I have seen some pretty incredible effort put into deceiving customers. And it's not isolated to big fancy barns or expensive horses, either. It's all through the industry.

Commonest is an effort to make an untrained or unsuitably nervous horse look calm - that can be as easy as just working the tar out of him for a couple days before you arrive on the scene. A lot of people don't even do that - they'll deprive the animal of water for 24 hours or - they'll just slip the horse a sedative before you arrive. If they get the amount right no one will suspect.

It's also quite common to get a professional or some bad tempered individual up on the horse and kind of slap it into shape in a couple days - punish it severely for a given bad habit, and it'll behave itself tolerably well for a couple days - til the buyer gets it home.

Sedatives are widely available and can also be used to conceal lameness as well.

Too, some horse dealers are absolute geniuses at riding the horse in a way that conceals lameness, too, they know just when to give the horse a kick in the side or pull on one rein to even up his strides temporarily.

AND --- concealing a lameness can be as simple as riding a horse on a softer surface.

LIKE SNOW.

LOL. Some types of lameness are more obvious on a harder surface - others are LESS obvious on a hard surface. It depends on the type of lameness. Some only show when the horse is turning on a small circle. Or it may ony show at the trot.

The guy who is selling he knows the tricks. The buyer does not.

Usually.

But this is why when the buyer arrives and the horse is all tacked up and ready to go and the seller 'needs to ride him over here because .... ' - well that's about the time I just start to smile and smile.

 

[babyblue]

I agree. the wraps them selfs are odd, but they are also badly done, as in I slapped these on with no practice done. I agree on the very very extensive vet check if you check this guy out, more then once I might add and he seems like a good fit for you.

 

[lockedhearts]

In my 30+ years of owning, showing, breaking and working horses, I have NEVER seen wraps put on that way! I would be suspicious as well, he seems good on the surface, but I would definitely get a vet check, it is cheap insurance against wasted money and heartache later.

 

[TriciaHowe]

I have an off track thoroughbred that I have had for 6 years now. Someone did a FABULOUS job at retraining him and is wonderful under saddle. He was 19 when I bought him, so 25 now. He can be very intimidating due to his size (17hh) but is a good boy. The one thing I will say is that TB's require different feeding from other horses. If I fed him what someone fed say a QH as an example, he would starve to death. He eats 16 POUNDS of Safe Choice a DAY! at $16/bag. He also only gets alfalfa hay @ $14 bale x 2 bales a week. My welsh pony only gets 3 lbs a day and coastal hay and is still roly poly. His feet are also crap and has to be trimmed very frequently and have sealer that I put on them so they stay somewhat moisturized because they split all the time. I CANNOT go more than 6 wks between trims. If I would have known then what I know now never in a million years would I have bought him. I went to look at another horse and saw him there. He was skinny, had shoes on but only 2 fronts and one was very loose (only 2 nails in it) and at least a couple months overdue. He was picked on by the mares there, and my heart over won my head and I brought him home. I was looking for a 14.2-15.2 hh stocky QH type build and ended up with a very tall, lanky TB LOL! I love him to pieces though and he does have a great personality....

4.5 bags for 2 weeks @ $16/bag = $72 (144)
4 bales of alfalfa for 2 weeks @ $14 bale = $56 (112)
Trim every 4/6 wks = $25 each

Total per month = $256 just in feed for him (not factoring in what pony eats) or farrier.

And I wonder why I just dropped $200 at the feed store every 2 weeks

Good luck with whatever you decide

I just wanted to give you my perspective on TB's......

 

[welsummerchicks]

At 16 lbs a day of feed, I would be looking for malabsorption, metabolic or dental issue. We had one horse that was 16.3 and all ribs and hips, and she had been starved for months and had extensive liver/kidney damage. She just couldn't absorb much of what she ate.

 

[TriciaHowe]

Checked by the vet head to toe, healthy as can be. Had teeth floated last year by equine dentist (and a wolf tooth pulled on pony). He is just very high maintenance unfortunately.....

 

[patandchickens]

Enh, I have not seen the video (dialup does not like youtube), but from what people have said here:

If it were me, if the horse looks appealing I would not rule him out YET on the grounds of suspicions that something's being hidden about his lower legs or mvmt; I would firmly request conformation type photos that show his feet, and conformation-style video of him being trotted in-hand on a plowed driveway or suchlike. A mysterious and horrible wrap job *could* simply be a teen or adult-novice with more aspiration than sense, I have seen a nontrivial number of those, where the presentation oddities reflect more on the owner than on the horse. And not everyone has a snowless area to demonstrate the horse being ridden in, especially this year!

That said, I would not drive anywhere to see a horse who I had not been able to get a reasonably proper look at thru pics that WERE, after all, presented in a potentially-hinky-seeming way. Unless I just wanted to take my car out for an afternoon's drive. And at the price of gas these days...

Pat