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

[welsummerchicks]

Oh on the horse with the yellow wraps the pasterns on both fronts are extremely upright but one more than the other.

 

[WIChookchick]

Did every one miss the massive amount of grey on the dun's face (the one with the badly done yellow wraps)??
My first thought is WOW that horse is old, body clipped and old.. so my first thought was perhaps he has Cushings.

I liked the draft cross, didn't like the video of him being ridden TOO grainy and blurry to see good movement.
BUT what I did see is that the rider is NOT a beginner, they way she rode and the style seems very dressage-y...
And she seems advanced.
Also why only trot the horse in one direction if you want to place a horse, why have it only walking or trotting in one direction?
And only have still shots of the other horse being trotted on concrete, that is wet to boot.

And the draft cross isn't that old, why did it seem a little sway backed??

Some good information out there, conformation isn't everything, especially for a horse for a beginner.
Safe, sane, sound.
My saddlebred cross has Okay conformation, I have made her safe, she is neurotic but sane, and she is sound.
But then again I have been riding for years and years.

Keep looking, spring is here and there will be lots more prospects.

 

[booker81]

This is clipped from the video, about the only almost confirmation shot.

I would have liked to see a lot bigger foot on a draft cross than he has. A lot bigger.

There are a LOT of good horses out there, for not a lot of money. Even if you are looking for only trail riding, good conformation is important. A well made horse will give you lots and lots of years on the trails, a poorly made one will hit your pocketbook more.

 

[bufforp89]

Im not even going to be going and looking at him either....they current owner is jerking me around on price...first $900 then she dropped it to $450 now she wants $900 again if she can get it elsewhere....just starting to sound shady to me and he is a long drive to look at a horse that I may not be interested in.... Im just going to wait and keep looking, someone cantacted me about a 20y/o QH who is great on trails and about as broke as you can get....

I also may have a project horse coming my way (it will be stabled at a friends barn, not with my beginner type family) so we will see what becomes of that as well. Going to take a look at her today....I will post a pic later and let everyone know how it goes....off to work now to feed and clean the horses!

 

[welsummerchicks]

I'm not bothered by grey on a face of a horse that age. That's normal.

As for cushings, no indication of that - it shows even after clipping, affects musculature, etc.

Many times someone will get a horse with a huge long coat because it was out in a bad area, left wet and dirty, not given a lot of feed, it will have a huge coat - and at this age, the coat gets very, very long and wavy and doesn't always shed well (Even without cushings) - and they will clip it off, especially if it's very dirty.

There's a misconception that every bad coat on an older horse is Cushings - while it MIGHT be, it isn't always. Older horses get less efficient at digesting and warming themselves - they grow a lot of coat and it doesn't really keep them warm so they grow more.

I, in other words, have an elderly yak in my barn - normal thyroid, no cushings. When a kid came over and hugged his neck and screamed, 'he's so PLUSHY!' I knew I had an elderly equine yak!

I am bothered that a horse is shown on a video in deep soft snow, held in like that (that has NUTHIN' to do with being an 'advanced' 'dressage rider'), and shown in only 1 direction - BUT - these videos, guys, they are such poor quality most of these sales videos, the footing where the horse is being worked is so bad and uneven, the riding is so - ah - well - let's say most of these horses aren't being done any favors. Honestly with this kind of video, the only thing you can tell for sure is the horse has 4 legs.

 

[Tigerstripes]

Just to add to the whole wraps thing.......those look like track wraps from the pic, though I can't say for certain, they could be polo wraps, but track wraps done that poorly could cause serious damage to the horse's legs. I have a retired paint mare that bowed a tendon because the previous owner failed to put on polo wraps correctly, and polo wraps are far softer than track wraps.
Adding to the TB thing.....I have a TB gelding, he just turned 7, is off the track, but he is 16.3 and very big and slow moving. I do 3 day eventing with him and he is one the most talented horses i have ever ridden, not to mention he is a complete sweetheart who follows me everywhere

I have friends who have had bad experiences with TBs, however, and i really think it just depends on the horse.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Maybe tis just the picture but that right front foot looks a little .... not....normal....

I always look at legs and feet first. And if there are polos or other bandages on the horse I take them off. That's a pretty easy way to handle that particular gimmick.

I just start chattering away and go unwrap.

And I NEVER show up in horsey clothes to look at a horse. I want to look like the worst most gullible stupid idiot on the planet. I usually just say I've been taking dressage lessons for a couple years, and I remove all the horse blankets and horse cr** from my car, too, LOL.

I get some really stupid impractical looking shoes and just drive the Gremlin and not the truck, LOL. It should be neat and clean and your clothes should be neat and clean, or you don't look likje you have the money to pay for the horse. But you also don't want to look like you have A LOT more money than the horse costs, or the price will go up.

And if you have any expensive jewelry or purse, leave it at home.

LOL. I never forget the story my friend told of looking at horses at a - well a certain well known dressage horse dealer's barn some years back.

They brought out a young horse that was kind of sore in the back. She figured she'd get him a little loosened up and try to ride him in a slightly more baby-appropriate outline. The dealer and helpers were all talking in German. The assistant said to the dealer, 'wow he looks a lot less lame and sore going like that', and stuff like that, while she rode.

When the ride was done she handed them the horse back and the assistant made ANOTHER comment in German.

And she said very quickly in her perfect German, 'Yes, he DOES look a lot less sore and uneven, doesn't he'.

OOPS.

LOL. But that's why I show up and act like the soccer mom that wants to get a horsey. So I have better stories to tell my grandchildren.

HA AHAH AHAHHAHAHHA....once a gal tookk me to help her pick out a horse and this seller brings out this nice Thb mare - about 14 or so, and with the BIGGEST BACK ANKLES YOU EVER SAW. The horse starts walking on the longe line and I am like, wow that horse is lame.

So she warms up the horse and gives it to my friend to ride and we are standing there, she's smiling to beat the band, and I say, 'Isn't that horse a little tight behind?'

LOL. Talk about politically correct, I CAN do that....sometimes.....LOL.

The seller NEVER stopped smiling and smiling and smiling....LOL. About the time up and bolted back to the barn with my friend hanging on for dear life I was like, 'WELL THANKS FOR YOUR TIME....LOL'.

What a frikkin' circus it is looking at sale horses. CAVEAT EMPTOR!

 

[halo]

That horse in the picture above looks horribly upright in the pasterns. Would be a very uncomfortable ride, I would think.

I have fields full of thoroughbreds. Best way Ive found to add weight cheaply is beet pulp. You can feed a LOT of it, as its nutritional value is between grain and hay, so it has lots of digestable fiber. Cheap, too. I feed my crew Seminole's race feed...forget what its called, but its beet pulp based. The toughest horse right now just came back from the track a month ago, so he gets 6 quarts am and pm, plus all the beet pulp he wants to slobber up. He's gained a lot of weight in a month. Last I bought this feed, it was $13.50 a bag.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Beet pulp is a good price. Our vet recommends soaking it, and says most of her choke cases are with either beet pulp or other fine (meaning small particle) feeds.

Analysis wise it is closer to oats than to hay, and how much sugar is in it depends on the mill/manufacturer, it varies. If you buy some that is lower in sugar it can be a 'safer' item to give laminitis prone horses according to some - as the carbs that are left (pectins) are more digested in the hindgut.

Many people feed it unsoaked and get very mad if anyone says to soak it. What I've found is that without soaking, whether it causes a choke or not is just how quickly the horse eats, how much water he drinks with it, etc. So rather than hope my horse doesn't decide to eat faster one day, we soak it.

We have kind of a drill, we put enough for one day in a bucket, pour boiling water over it at bedtime, and cover it with a towel. In the morning we have enough soaked up for the day.

We have also soaked it and bagged into freezer bags and frozen it when we had more room in the freezer, then we pop it in the microwave to thaw before we feed.

 

[halo]

Good article regarding beet pulp:

http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/beetpulp.shtml

And another (be sure you're not drinking anything while reading, you're liable to spew).

http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/squirrel.shtml