What do you guys think of these colts? Pics on page 3,6,7,8 & 12

[danischi24]

Quote:
Thanks! He's not a paint cross though. A paint is a pinto colored quarter horse. This colt's mother is just a pinto colored horse though I'm sure she had QH in her. His father is a registered arabian.
He is sickle hocked/camped under but I think that a lot of that angulation will be taken care of with a correct hoof trim. You can see how the hind hooves continue & exaggerate the hock/cannon angle.
And yes, just trail riding for us

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Wow. I've seen some rocky ground, but that place is beyond bad. It would not be any wonder if the colt had developed a spavin from that ground! Concussion is one of the causes of it. Spavin is one of those things that only a good vet can tell you if the horse will be sound enough for what you want to do with him. He'll not make a jumper, IMO, nor an endurance horse in all likelihood. But for trail riding it may never give you a minute of trouble. Talk to a good vet and go with what s/he says.

As to the feet, again consider the ground he is on. A proper trim would probably do him a world of good. Just don't let anyone trim out his bars or the toe callus--his foot needs that support on ground like that!

JMO

Rusty

Oh, and the eye looks so much better in these shots. I'll bet he's a stinker but not mean. There is a big difference between the two.

 

[danischi24]

It's not a spavin. That's the strange thing. It's weird. My aunt doesn't know either & just referred the photos to a leg specialist so we will see what comes up though it's not fair to do it all with photos but that's what we have, being in different countries & having pathetic veterinarians in this country. He is actually a sweety, just needs a firm hand & someone to say hey! if he starts thinking he can turn his butt on you. He's pretty nervous of people & I had to tie him & hold up a front to get near the rears but all he did was tuck up his butt away from me, no kicking or attempts. I also found the cutest sweetest young Shami goat that I've ever seen & told the owner that if I decided to take the horse, he needs to throw in the goat. He agreed

Something like this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HqZu0SwqT...HyQSxdw7PI/s400/Picture1KilangPkink+Pcepa.jpg

 

[patandchickens]

Sweet itch would be a real issue for me -- the horses I've known with it have been chronic high-maintenance mgmt problems and made rather miserable by it with no really good full *solution* to the problem -- but, enh, there are also *worse* things in life I suppose. Depends whether you're willing to deal with it (and have to look at it

).

His overall build does not excite me but it is not terrible. He looks pretty 'young' and underdeveloped for a 2 yr old to me, I wonder what his nutrition has been like. His hind end could be improved on, plus there isn't much *of* it. Personally I'm somewhat prejudiced against sickle-hocked horses, but probably moreso than I should be, because i have also known some horses built like this pinto that did not have *any* functional problems from it, so, I'd say to judge that on seeing the horse in motion and using himself. I'd be suspicious but would not turn him down just because of that, you know? He is currently built downhill, which is not a good thing but is sometimes just a growth phase (although he's got pretty good withers for a 2 yr old and I am not *convinced* he'll outgrow it) -- I forget, do you have any ability to see his parents or pics of them?

The hock thing: if the bump below the hock is present on both legs, and I am guessing it may well be, I will bet you dollars to donuts that the bump below the hock is merely a very prominent, um, whatever the bone of the hock is that's located there

(Sorry, I am not great on "name the umpteen bones of the hock" anatomy kind of thing, but, there is one particular squareish bone located there of some name or another. And in some individual horses it is simply very *large* and can LOOK like a curb -- that's what y'all are thinking of, btw, a *curb* not a spavin -- yet have zero functional significance.)

If it is on only one leg, it is probably "just" a curb (more-common on sickle-hocked horses anyhow), although it is somewhat more-localized than curbs often are. If it IS a curb, I would not buy the horse for significant work or work on soft footing, but for LIGHT recreational riding most horses get over it and are fine although they may reaggravate it multiple times during their lives.

(e.t.a.: wait -- I went back and saw the one or two pics where you do get a clear profile of the off hind, and the bump is apparently NOT on that leg [unless it's just the pic at exactly the wrong angle]; thus unless it is a meaningless temporary bruise or bugbite, which it probably isn't, I will betcha it is a curb. Which is a definite weakness, although not a dealbreaking one for light recreational work as long as you're ok with it maybe becoming a recurring problem. If it were not a curb and were a permanent bony feature of just that ONE leg, then that would speak to some significant deformity of the bones of the hock joint, and I for one would not touch the horse with a ten-foot pole. But I doubt this is the case here.)

His feet do not excite me, but it's hard for me to tell from the pics how much is genuinely low heels (hard to fix), versus how much is simply relatively-too-long toe (not hard to fix) with the horse *wanting* to grow a reasonable heel. Another thing you'd have to judge in person.

Overall I would not get excited about him or strenuously advocate anyone buying him, but he is not *terrible* and if his heels are not so bad in person and he can engage his hind end with good power without overstraining things (have to see in person), and if you don't mind a horse with sweet itch and no particular distinguishing athleticism, then I guess I could see why a person *might* buy him in some circumstances. (Personally, I'd wait til something better came along though, as a good horse costs no more, often *less*, to keep then a not-so-good one)

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[danischi24]

Thanks Pat. Unfortunately, quality horses are hard to find in this country & impossible at an affordable price so I am willing to make allowances considering that I am not looking for anything except four legs to take me around the countryside. I broke in a tiny gray donkey filly a few months back so that I would have something to take me around so this horse is an improvement

It's not a curb though I can't swear that it's not a bite but it's unlikely. I haven't seen anything quite like it before. He is very developed for a 2 year old in this country. Most look like they would collapse if you sat on them. A fan in the stable & electric wire works for this "sweet itch" around here. It's not a true sweet itch but something similar. He is flashy & refined which is what I've been looking for & he looks to have some fire inside which is always nice.

 

[TMNTCkins]

For what you are looking to do with him I think he just needs some TLC. We have had some really bad rescues and it is amazing what they end up looking like. Our best horses have been the ones that everybody else says "You paid for that horse". Good food, hoof care and TLC he will look like a different horse in a few months. Good luck. He's cute.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Re paints - you may want to look up the rules of the American Paint Horse Association as to what bloodlines they register and what their other requirements are.

The pinto would make a nice horse for just casual riding around, but I don't know for how long.

He has the look of a neglected animal. Nothing spectacularly horrible in the way of neglect, but feet not trimmed properly, very little muscle on him, the way he looks, it's unlikely he's in regular or even occasional work or even gets much moving around. The paddock he's in should be pretty hard on untrimmed feet with the toes as long and the heels as low as his are, it's full of stones. I would expect him to be somewhat sore footed. When I see an animal with poor muscling, overgrown, neglected feet, dirty and looking like it never gets worked, I usually assume his past injuries, teeth, vaccinations, and worming have also been neglected pretty much to the same degree.

As far as the 'very prominent bone' on the left hind leg below the hock, I don't think that is a normal 'prominence'. It is very large.

It is not a curb. I would seriously doubt that it doesn't affect his long term usefulness.

Since I can't run my hand down it or do anything else but look at the picture, I can't really be sure, but it looks like a very hard, bony enlargement, something that occured some time ago and has healed however well it's ever going to heal.

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that it is an old injury to the cunean tendon and bursa, but I'm not sure I've ever seen that big of a one. The trouble with that condition is that it usually occurs with arthritis in the hock('spavin'). The cause can be bad shoeing and trimming, but I've also seen it happen to a horse that caught its hind leg in a fence.

The other possibility is that it's a large spavin. From the position, I think there is at least some cunean damage and arthritis.

Normally, cunean tendon and bursa heal well, but this one may not have if the shoeing/trimming was not corrected.

As an aside on shoeing - a great many people don't get their horses trimmed (or trimmed/reset/shod) on a consistent schedule. Normally it would be about every six weeks. Otherwise, what happens is that the farrier then has to remove a lot of hoof to get the foot back in balance, so the heels and toes are not put under excess pressure. The angle of the hoof and tendons is changed suddenly when he does so, usually the horse will be sore for a period of time after every shoeing. The strain the untrimmed hooves put on the tendons, bones and ligaments of the foot and leg, accumulate over time. The sudden change in angle of the foot and ankle also cause pain.

Sickle hocks are not cured or even partially treated by shoeing. Sickle hocks are the angle the hock and hind cannons make with each other, and shoeing cannot affect that angle. Incorrect trimming and lack of timely attention to the feet surely is not beneficial for sickle hocks, though. It just adds to the strain on them.

Many trainers feel a horse with sickle hocks should not be shod behind. They say this allows the horse to twist his hind legs in the way he needs to, to try and reduce the strain on the hocks. The feet still have to be carefully and frequently trimmed, of course.

I'm not clear if the horse is as extremely sickle hocked as the pictures suggest, or if it is just so sore behind or has foundered and so stands like that. I'd have to see a video and see the horse moving around.

Other than that he is not a very strongly made animal. He has light bone, low heels(might be better with proper trimming) and poor hind quarters - they are short and narrow. Part of that is the lack of exercise and muscle. The part of it that's just how he's built, doesn't change, and doesn't really make much difference for what you want to do. As long as he is ridden lightly and not tested by jumping, galloping or abrupt turns and tight circles.

As far as how long that hock will last, I ain't placin' any bets. I'd need to see him move to even convince myself he's currently functionally sound.

 

[verthandi]

Quote:
There is something about this one that I like. Yes he has some problems. But, if he isn't lame on that type of ground...he must have something going for him. You are looking at horses that are totally different than we are used to looking at in the States. I think for the conditions of the land that you live in, he looks like something I would take a chance on. Young enough to not have too many bad habits, I would rather have them a little leary of me to start, the climbing into me.

 

[danischi24]

So I went to look at the quarter horse colt today & found out he was in the West Bank around the time I crossed the border

It shouldn't be a problem to move him though. He has a little cut on his off hind from yesterday so you can see the purple spray on it but it will heal very quickly, just a nick. Anyway, he has a lovely conformation & type but I have two problems with him. One is that he is very immature, he's tiny still & it will be probably about a year before I feel comfortable to ride him. The owner thought 6 months but unless he hits a growth spurt, I doubt it. The second problem is not so bad but it bothers me a little. He's a bit sour in an annoyed type of way. He isn't bitey or kicky at all but he gets irritated by being handled or told to move around & flairs his nostrils while his ears are seldom forward. He reminds me of a pony I once had who spent the first 10 years of his life living & being ridden in a dressage area. He was so sour & unpleasant to work with until I showed him how much fun life can be & then he wasn't too bad. Here are some photos of the colt:

 

[Hound]

I'm just not seeing good conformation, sorry. I think if he had different papers you wouldn't give him a second look.