# Filly looks a bit odd..



## donovan (Jun 11, 2009)

posting this for a friend it is a possible buy i think her legs look a bit odd she is about 1 1/2 not sure of her breed any guesses on that would be great as well


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

Wow... nothing strenuous for this one, those are some seriously over-sloped pasterns! They aren't going to straighten up, not without surgery and splinting and that runs the risk of ruining the horse for any riding. Hinds are posty and light on bone. She is also very downhill (could grow out of it) and her neck ties in to her chest way too low. She may also be cow hocked. And, the shallowest reason of them all, that is a seriously pathetic tail for a horse that's supposed to be around 18 months old! My girl is 3 months younger, has had her tail trimmed a few times for showing, and STILL has a better tail!

Not a horse I would buy. She might make a nice pleasure/trails horse for a weekend happy hacker, but for anything more, I wouldn't touch her with a barge pole. Those pasterns scare me.


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## donovan (Jun 11, 2009)

thanks i told my friend i didnt like the looks of her legs but meh you cant really buy quality for $150


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

donovan said:


> thanks i told my friend i didnt like the looks of her legs but meh you cant really buy quality for $150


No, but, just like "free" horses don't end up being "free"-the sam e can be said for cheap ones. Unless your friend is going to want something for a companion, with very light riding in what will probably be sooner rather than later, OR if they have a burning desire to pay the vets mortgage, I would pass.:wink:


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

wow, where I live the dogger pays more than that! Seriously, those legs terrify me, she's not a horse that's likely to be sound for a long time even in only very light work. She won't be a weight carrier (don't know what your friend wants but it is a consideration to be thought of).

Those sloped pasterns combined with her lovely shoulder will make a very smooth, comfortable ride, but smoothness should not be considered over soundness, EVER, and this one won't be a sound using horse, not for very long.

If your friend is only willing to spend $150 on the purchase of a young horse, a) are they REALLY experienced enough for a baby (or is it just, omg cheap horsey, I want her), and b) can they REALLY afford a(nother?) horse? $150 per horse is the base price my vet-dentist charges, not including travel and consult fee, and my two need their teeth done every 6 months... my filly because she's a baby, my gelding because he gets sharp points to his teeth really quickly. That's $300/year without even considering travel and consult which will add another $100/trip, PLUS feed, PLUS farrier (I do their farrier work but just imagine if I paid, that's $50/horse/month), PLUS drenching them for sand and worms... my yearly bill for keeping my horses is more than they are worth if I sold them and they aren't cheap horses like this one! If your friend won't spend more than $150 on a young horse, what else won't they spend much money on?

I had someone looking at a mare we had for sale a while back, and we didn't sell to them because "hubby will throw a fit if I spend more than $200"... we didn't think hubby would be willing to fork out $1000+ in vet bills for a MINOR injury (that is vet costs in my area, we had a very minor injury cost in excess of $300 for consult, antibiotics, and a skin flap cut off... if it needs stitches, and you live where I do, it's a miracle if it's less than $1000, and that's when you do the post-emergency care yourself).

IMO if you're not willing, or can't afford, to spend more than a small amount of money on buying a horse, maybe you shouldn't buy one. Not what your friend wants to hear I'm sure, but the harsh reality. Proper care of a horse costs a lot of money.


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## donovan (Jun 11, 2009)

no they have a huge farm and plenty of money they had a look at this girl and the bloke said she is $150


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

So if they have so much money why are they even considering this horse? She is of poor to mediocre quality at best. There is a VERY good reason she's so cheap. Those terrible, terrible pasterns - which will likely only get worse as she gets older!

There are some very very nice horses out there for not all that much - my filly was only $1000, because she's grade, but she has a lot of potential.

Tell your friend to keep looking, and up the price range some... they won't get average quality for any less than $1000 unless they are extremely lucky, let alone anything that's going to be any good as a performance horse. In my mind there are only 6 "quality" levels for horses - poor, mediocre, average, good, great, and exceptional. You can break it down and say that different things make different horses good or great, and a horse can be poor for jumpers but exceptional for reining (for example)... HOWEVER, when it's something like a severe incorrectness in the legs that will cause unsoundness in not very long, the horse can't be any better than mediocre for any discipline at all. That, of course, is what her pasterns are - a severe potential unsoundness. I think whoever takes this filly on will break her, and find that within the year she has gone lame.

Your friend would be much better off buying something that's already broke, or is old enough to be broke straight away, than buying an 18 month old cheap, having to wait a couple of years to break it, and forking out a few thousand dollars keeping it until it can be broke. Why not spend that few thousand dollars on getting a better (and older, either already going or ready to start) horse in the first place?


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## donovan (Jun 11, 2009)

my mare cost $600 she is in the thread below this one


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

Which one? They are both average conformationally, from what I see (although the photos are no good for critique, really, I can see a few faults that put them as average). And yes, my gelding is "average" conformationally speaking, so I'm not saying they're crap horses or anything like that... just that they are far from perfect. And, I bet they don't have much education, placing them even more firmly in the "average" level... one is a standardbred, no matter how great a standie might be the fact is they just don't fetch as much as other breeds, and the TB, much the same, there are so many average quality TBs that they don't fetch much until they're educated and proven as performance horses.

My gelding was $2000, and I was paying for his education more than anything else - conformationally he is VERY average. My filly $1000, average to good quality, smaller than I really wanted, and a weanling at the time (10 months ago now), when I wanted a yearling to 2yo. I say buy a horse that's 3 or older because it's driving me mad waiting to break her! And costing me a LOT more keeping her than it would cost me to buy a started 4yo.


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## donovan (Jun 11, 2009)

The TB cost $600 BUT she was priced at $1200 she was only half price as we know the last owner quite well


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

I was going to say, I thought $1200 was a more fair price for her. She's better than a $600 horse here, not what I would consider top quality with her long back and funky hindquarter, but $600 here doesn't really buy you that much. Not for an already started horse. Either a TB off the track (or spelled but not done much), or Standy with a little education. Or a poor quality unregistered weanling. Or maybe a yearling if you're really astute. You get more for your money from auctions, because nobody likes spending up big at auction here... but it's so so so risky, you can't ride before you buy and you're a million times more likely to get a horse that's insane when you get it home and only looked relatively acceptable because it was drugged.

The horse market is in a big hole at the moment but it still costs a lot of money to get a real quality horse.

What I really don't get is why, if your friend has so much money, they aren't looking at pricey, real quality horses?


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

She is in the gangly stage at this age and it's hard to tell how she will turn out. I've seem many TB with the long sloping pasterns. Her hind legs may appear a bit post like but she's not a qh with the big hip either. Her withers will catch up by the time she's 4.


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

^ maybe so Saddlebag, BUT, pasterns don't often straighten out as they get older. Many many foals look like they have upright pasterns and then mature lovely, but very few with over-sloped pasterns ever straighten out to the correct slope.

That hindquarter IS posty in appearance, that may straighten out IF she levels out (not all do). it wasn't the hind leg that had the alarm bells going off in my mind, it was and still is those pasterns.


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## RunJumpRide (Sep 29, 2011)

If you look at her in the face, she's absolutely adorable, but when you look at the rest of her, maybe not so much. 
Am I he only one who noticed the hooves? They look painful.:-(


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

RJR I did too, but I figured I'd said enough with regards to the pasterns and those hind legs. Apparently not. Those are awful feet, tiny and there is something really wrong with the angles!


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Well I agree with all the conformation issues. I bought a coming two year old last year for $250 ( She's by a multi-regional Halter and Performance stallion and a Regional Halter Champ mare - has a bad scar on front leg that I'm sure most people would write her off for). She is going through this god awful stage right now too - She is by far the goofiest looking horse I own - but if she doesn't fill out enough to be a broodmare, I'll at least train her for kids (not sure with the mass of scar tissue she could be 100% sound for hard riding). 
I've also bought an incredible(!!) mare for $250 - sometimes price does not always reflect quality. This mare is a full sister to the said above mare and I've been bugged to get her in Halter training to show at Regionals. 

She looks like she has a real sweet expression and a kind eye, and if you're friend is looking for a trail mount or is willing to put an education on this mare, if they meet and have a good connection, I'd say give her a chance.


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

WS I know, my filly was very cheap for a weanling in my area but she's absolutely gorgeous... smack in the middle of the yearling fuglies right now but she'll mature lovely.

But, I seriously doubt you'd get anything half decent for $150... in my area you're lucky to get an OTTB that has any potential for less than $1000 and even then you're pushing it. I don't know about where you are... depends on what the market's like in your specific area. but there is a VERY good reason why the filly in the OP is only $150, IMHO. Maybe she'd make a nice pleasure trails horse for the weekend happy hacker, but I just can't see her staying sound for anything much more strenuous.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

It almost looks as if that left rear is a club foot. Her legs in general are just kind of scary looking.


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Oh, I agree Blue Eyed Pony. But if that's all she wants, she might be worth a chance. 
This filly is exactly why I hate BYB's. 
If her friend is willing to give her a chance IF she is only looking for a trail pony, I say yay because otherwise she is going to end up in the meat pen. Maybe I'm being selfish..lol


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## MN Tigerstripes (Feb 20, 2009)

Her legs are pretty awful, but she would probably be a decent trail horse for an older person who just wants to walk/trot, with maybe an occasional canter. Depending on her temperament of course. She doesn't look like she'd stay sound for hard riding. 

If that's what your friend wants, then depending on what her personality is she may be a decent horse. I wouldn't start backing her until she was at least 3-4 though, just in hopes of giving her as much time to mature as possible.


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

The trouble with that though, is that a weekend happy hacker might decide they want to start showing, and suddenly their horse isn't suitable for what they want to do. So what do they do then? Sell to another weekend happy hacker? Send the horse through auction because they can't sell it? Keep it and attempt to make it into something it isn't capable of being? It's a story repeated all too often in my area. The only reputable horse rescue in my area is run off their feet with the unwanted horses that are only sound enough, or only educated enough, for the weekend happy hacker. I know quite a few people who only ride at walk, and would be quite satisfied with a horse that can stand up to long periods of light work at intermittent periods. The problem comes when those same riders get more confident and start wanting to trot and canter, jump, show... and their horse isn't suitable. That's when they break down. That's when they go for meat.

I believe you should only take on a horse with bad legs if you are willing to keep it only in light work, and if you are willing to take on the risk that it may become unsound in very short order - and you are willing to keep it anyway, or else put it to sleep so that it doesn't suffer neglect in its lifetime. It's the unsound that are neglected far more often than the sound.

OP's friend can do whatever they want. My opinion is, don't buy this horse. Call me callous, but some horses are destined for the meat pen, and sometimes, rescuing them is only postponing the inevitable. Others, of course, end up there by mistake or through humans screwing them up - but that's another issue altogether.

What REALLY bothers me about this one is that she is a filly and therefore someone out there might look at her and think, hey, it has a uterus, let's breed from it! One of the many many reasons I dislike the fact that here in Aus, you can't spay a horse.


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## Ladytrails (Jul 28, 2010)

Her pasterns are too long and sloping. I bought a mare for trail riding who had pasterns like that (I didn't know any better then). She was ridden lightly and at around 7 years old blew a tendon in the pasture, only God knows how. Expensive vet care, about $2000; corrective shoeing of $500 and careful trims for the rest of her life; and she is still unsound. Her breeders wanted her back so she's a pasture pet now. I say, "walk away."


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