Ah horse shopping...

I love the people who say they "must sell!" but can't seem to respond to an email, or only respond to one of three questions. I know, I should just call, but emailing means I have what they said in writing which I prefer.

Today I went to look at two more chestnut horses; a mare and a gelding at the same location, but different sellers. The mare was VERY cute, but sent up some red flags right away; she had nasty sores from having to have her halter left on (hard to catch), and her hoof wear was suspicious...wore more at the toe than at the heel. Add that to the very short standing and the waterford bit, and I was a little concerned...but she seemed sweet so we headed to the arena to watch her go. Wow. Sore. To be fair the seller warned me she tripped on hard ground, but I wasn't expecting a horse that minced at the walk on decent footing. She looked lame at least on both fronts...possibly behind as well.

Again, to be fair, it can be hard to tell when a horse is equally lame on both fronts, but this horse didn't even come close to tracking up (hind feet reaching where fronts left) and almost fell down a few times. And she is ridden everyday like that. No wonder she is hard to catch.

Sadly she was a gift to the person who had her...a very unsuitable gift, and the person who gave her the horse didn't do a very check. Hopefully the horse ends up at a home that will put shoes on her at least.

The other horse was a good looking gelding. Nice and big. Quiet. Stocked up legs and horrid hooves though! And not horrid as in neglected; his owner looked like they were trying with 4 shoes and he wasn't that overdue, just very shelly feet apparently, and I was told his previous owner completely neglected getting his feet done. Not sure if the swollen legs were related to the bad feet, and the swelling did go down after I rode. His training seemed maybe more western, and we didn't communicate the greatest, but I think he has potential and he was kind and really a nice looking boy...I just don't know if I want those hooves in my barn...I think my farrier would quit! If someone else wants a nice sized and kind gelding though, and is ok with big farrier bills, let me know and I will pass his info along. This horse looked like he would clean up at open shows and could likely do ok as a hunter as well.

Karen