calling all horsey peeps.....

hi there,

i sold my horse polly approx 6 weeks ago, simply because i didnt have the time for her and she was wasted just in the field. also i wanted to spend more time training my rescue springer sam . i never had the vet out to her except for routine jabs and teeth being rasped. she was ridden nearly every day, apart from the last month (because of my dodgy knee!). i have kept in touch with the lady who bought her, and every time i've spoken to her everything has been fine. i got a phone call the other night telling me that she had had the vet out to polly and the vet had said polly had arthritis in THREE legs!! i was absolutey gobsmacked to say the least! when the present owner came to see polly, she was running around the field bucking and enjoying herself. can arthritis come on so quick? i thought maybe it was the beginnings of laminitis...? any advice would be welcome.....

How old is Polly? no Arthritis cant come on that quickly, my guess is she has had it for a while now, you say you have ridden her everyday, but there in is the question, what type of riding did you do with her, just hack her out , round fields and road. If the new owner is riding her to a different regime them i.e if she is doing lots of road work, and you did `nt, or if she is jumping her and you did `nt.... then this is where the problems will tell........ Now the question did the new owner have her vetted?? because if she did then it is her vets fault for not picking it up, if she did``nt, then the saying "buyer be ware" comes into play.... you should never ever buy a horse (even from a friend) without a vet check...... because as she has found out hidden problems can be lurking under the surface.

Now i would say this buyer has not a leg to stand on, in other words "she has no come back", she has owned her for 6wks and only just picked the problem up.

BUT and this is a big but........... you could still find your self in a long drown out legal battle IF she wants to take it further... this is why a vetting is esstential for you as well, as her, the vet should pick anything up if not it is his fault not yours or hers.

you have a few options, what does she want? you can take Polly back , or knock some money off what she paid, or you can stick to your guns , and insist you new nothing (she was fine while you owned her) but be prepered it can and usually does in these situations turn nasty!

For now if I was you I would sit and wait , see what see has to say, if Polly is unrideable, my guess is she will want her money back....... then this is where you will need to be strong if you dont want to take her back........it all may come to a bluff on her part, but depending on her finances she may take legal action..............I am sorry this has happened...... but thats horses for you, hope you sort it out amicably.

P.S , you could also tell the new owner you want a second opinion, say you want your own vet to examine her. but only do this if things get out of hand. if you are backed into a courner.

You also have to remember if Polly becomes unridable , what the new owner may do with her, if she has not the land to keep polly on, or if she is not prepared to pay out for pollys keep, if she cant ride her. the the future for Polly may not be good, would you rather she came home and spent the rest of her days in your field, she could also go as a companion to another horse, but she may need medication to keep her pain free ( if she is Arthritic)

thanks jackbox for your reply. i used to just hack her out round the roads and on bridleways, with the odd canter and trot thrown in. polly is 16 by the way. i know the present owners niece has got a younger horse, so i'm guessing they are cantering all over the place! the yard she keeps polly on is very near a busy town centre, so i cant imagine she rides on there. but behind the stables are lots of fields to ride on.

i agree with you about just sitting and waiting. when i spoke to my vet yesterday about it, she was very surprised as i'd never called her out for anything other than routine jabs. maybe as you say it's been there a while, but just coming out if polly has been ridden harder and faster than when i rode her.

i hope she doesn't become unrideable because i dont want the situation to turn out nasty, and really i cant take her back because the livery yard where she was doesn't have room anymore. bit of a tricky situation eh?

I can only re-iterate exactly what Jackbox has said, in every word!!!

I think your theory is right, she is cantering all over the place, jumping too I expect, without doing it all gradually to get her back up to fitness. 16 is quite old for a horse and I wouldn't be surprised if she did have arthritis, but this new owner has just made the situation worse. What you were doing with Polly kept her moving well and stopped her from getting stiff, and this woman by the sounds of it, has overdone it. I expect the vet has given her some bute and as long as she either turns her out every day to loosen up or walks her every day slowly, no trotting or cantering, then she should be ok I would have thought. If she's really bad, then no riding at all of course!

My horse was on 1/2 a bute a day from the age of 16 as he had arthritis behind, and sometimes he would drag his hind legs out of the box in the mornings! The more I rode him out SENSIBLY of course, the better he got until he was able to do the cantering and jumping. You were also probably consistent with your riding of Polly, whereas this woman might have thrown her out for a week maybe, then tacked her up and gone off cantering around the countryside, which as you know is a big no-no! It's definitely her fault, you did nothing wrong, I just feel sorry that you have to go through this with this inconsiderate new owner by the sounds of it, with your beloved horse, such a shame. Maybe next time you speak to her you can ask her exactly what her riding regime was with Polly hey? good luck!

why didnt the owner have the horse vet checked before or very soon after purchase? People never cease to amaze me - they wouldnt buy a car without a service history or MOT or both!
Whenever i sell an animal I have it checked by my own vet, but as the sales agreement states, this is to satisfy me that the animal in question is fit for sale, and it is strongly recommended they have the animal checked by their own vet within 72hrs of purchase.

Did you have anything in writing (sales conditions?)

Is the owner mentioning this because you have kept in touch, or as a complaint(horse not fit for purpose)? It is entirely possible that the months lack of riding has exacerbated an otherwise hidden condition.

thandi

i will definitely be asking her what she's been doing with polly. on hindsight i shouldn't have sold her to this lady, but i cant change that now. what did it was the first night i rang her, she said she'd fed sugar beet NEAT into polly's feed and would she be okay?! i thought 'oh my god!'.

i do think she's just got on polly and raced around all over instead of gradually bringing her back into work. i did say i'd not ridden her much over the last month or 6 weeks and to gradually bring her back into work.

i feel really bad on polly as though i've let her down. but i know i'm not at fault. so my conscience is clear.

I would be very careful in how you approach this.

The fact is, if you were not aware this horse had arthritis, how could you expect the owner to?
Whatever this woman has or hasnt done with the horse is irrelevant really (no matter how reckless), and I would be very wary of taking an accusatory stance - because you will find that s the vendor, it will go against you should it go to court.
I would keep things amicable, but should it come to an point where accusations are being hurled, asked very politely that her concerns be put in writing - there can be no misundertandings wit the written word.

thandi

Yes, in hindsight maybe you should have sussed this woman out a bit better, as she doesn't seem to know much does she? Maybe she'd just been to riding schools in the past and fancied buying her own horse, as they do, without knowing how to look after it properly or come to that, how to ride it properly! On the other hand, hopefully, she does have more experience than we think, but maybe kept her horse at a livery yard, in which case she wouldn't know about feeding would she. Blimey though, she should have read up about it beforehand, and know that sugar beet has to be soaked overnight! I'm fearing for Polly now As Thandi has said, keep it amicable, and do all you can to advise/help this woman in the knowledge that really you'll be helping Polly out in the end too!

There's bound to be other people around at the yard where she keeps her, who might keep an eye on what she's doing. You know what horsey people are like, always happy to step in/interfere(lol!)/help out and give advice. She certainly can't do anything about selling you an unsound horse, especially after 72hours anyway, same as a car - buyer beware and all that, so don't worry on that score. I have known people to bute an unsound horse up something chronic just to be able to sell it on, knowing they're out of the woods after 72hours, so you've got no worries on that score I wouldn't have thought. No, it's all down to her inexperience by the sounds of it, even if arthritis is an underlying cause, she has made it worse, much worse!

thanks everyone for your replies. and yes maybe i should have sussed her out a bit better before i sold my beloved polly to her. all i can do now is try and be as helpful as possible in the knowledge that hopefully i'm helping polly. i know that there are a couple of experienced horsey peeps at the livery yard, so i'm hoping they will step in and help. i feel really awful for selling polly now...

i definitely wont be questioning her what she's done with polly, just gently asking...if that makes sense!

Good, I know what you mean. Don't beat yourself up over this, as you already said, you can't change anything now. Polly will be fine when the vet and others step in at the yard to help her, which I'm sure they will. You should have seen the state of my horse some damp days, you would have thought he would never be ridden again, and yet with the right treatment rest and exercise he'd manage a x-country a couple of months down the line - don't worry, Polly will be fine.