Another Sad Horse Day

Nadine is a new student of mine who recently bought her first horse. Her father has had experience with horse buying and selling in the past and so he was her advisor. Since Nadine had only taken a couple of lessons with me, I agreed to board Bentley for the short term to allow Nadine to continue her lessons, using Bentley.

When Gord and I went to pick Bently up, we were a little surprised at her father's recommended horse. Firstly he was huge and Nadine is an itty bitty little thing. Secondly, he hadn't been handled much so was not terribly confident or trained. Thirdly, he had a terrible crack in one of his front feet that was filled with epoxy. Needless to say, he was not a horse I would have recommended as a first horse. Anyway, the deal was done and so we loaded Bently up and got him home.

As with any horse we bring to our property, they are intially kept in a wooden paddock to be introduced to our "Boys" over the fence. Bentley didn't cause as much of a ripple in the herd as our other young visitor Honey, a 2 year old filly.

Amongst horse people, there is a little joke often said a few days after buying a new horse, that goes something like this. "Whew, the drugs have worn off, so I guess I didn't get hoodwinked into a buying a crippled, green, or worse, psychotic, horse." Unfortunately, that was not the case with Bentley. He started showing signs of being sore within a couple of days of his arrival. Eventually, his lameness couldn't be explained away and so Nadine brought in a vet to x-ray his "epoxy" foot. The x-rays revealed the huge crack was caused by the fact that half Bentley's coffin bone was actually missing - something the vet had never seen. He guessed that poor Bentley had received a traumatic injury to that foot many years ago (perhaps a nail penetration), and the ensuing infection had eventually eroded half of his coffin bone completely away. He went on to explain that perhaps with the right shoeing, Bently could maybe be made comfortable, but would not likely ever be sound enough for riding. Nadine made the brave and necessary decision to put Bentley down that day - only two weeks after purchasing him.

Most of the students who come to me have never owned a horse previously so this sad turn of events provoked some thoughts that I would like to share with anyone looking to buy a horse.

Most folks buying their first horse are not discriminating enough to be able to weed out inappropriate horses. Unless they have a very specific competitive purpose for that horse, most folks absolutely fall in love with every horse they meet. I encourage my students to go meet several potential horses prior to making that crucial commitment. Sometimes, that first horse may work out, but not as often as we'd like to think.

Clearly Bentley had been drugged so he appeared sound at the time of the sale. In fact, Nadine mentioned that the bill of sale had clearly stated, "guaranteed sound at time of delivery". This statement alone should have been a huge red flag.

I also encourage folks to go meet the horse more than once. A warm, summer afternoon may make even the greenest horse behave like a calm, reliable trail horse.

The truth is, that buying a horse is similar to buying a used car - buyer beware. As we recently learned with Nugget, it costs approximately $450.00 to have a horse euthanized and disposed of. It is much more cost effective to give a horse bute for a few days prior to selling them so an unsuspecting buyer gets stuck with the vet costs, or worse, as was the case of Bentley. In fact, we gave Nugget bute for a couple of days prior to our appointment to have him put down, to make the trailer ride more comfortable. When we arrived at the vet the day were having him put down, Nugget didn't show any signs of lameness at all. He was so good in fact, that I even joked with the vet that I should quickly sell him before the drugs wore off.

Most often, it is a simple matter of compatability between horse and human. My experience with Dexter taught me that in spades. The best advice I could give someone shopping for a horse, is to go meet at least 10 horses that meet your basic requirements (i.e. training level, size, gender, health, and temperament), and then buy the one that chooses you. You will notice that breeding and colour are not among the list of requirements, there is no wrong breed or colour, of the right horse for you.

Tovie and my "Boys" (a hodge podge of colours and breeds)