elevenelevenxo
10-29-2008, 01:45 PM
I leased for several years and then briefly owned an 11 year old TWH mare this past spring. I rode her for about 4 years prior, but graduated high school and stopped riding for several years, but then found out she was for sale, so I bought her. Stupidly, I DID NOT do a pre-purchase vet exam....as her owners had been family friends for many many years, so I trusted that all was well with her. As it turns out, that was a huge mistake.
Her feet were very long at the time, because her owners' farrier misguidedly told them gaited horses gait better with a long toe. I'd heard it's bad to ride horses with long feet, so with that and being that she hadn't really been touched since I quit leasing her about 2-3 years before that, I worked her very minimally until I had a different farrier out (which was my priority).
The day we were waiting for the farrier, I had her turned out in the round pen. I DID NOT WORK HER AT ALL BEFORE THIS. No lunging, no riding, nothing. She was simply grazing while I sat on a mounting block watching her and waiting for my farrier. All of a sudden, she acted like she had an itch or a fly biting one of her forelegs, but she also lost the use of that leg. For only about half a minute, she was dragging the leg around the pen, not bearing any weight on it at all. I was panicking just like she was, as I didn't know what was happening with my horse and I had never seen this before. Finally she gave a buck, and went back to grazing as if the episode had never happened. When my farrier arrived, she said she seemed "sound as a dollar." When I mentioned it to her previous owners (and sort of current owners....I had been making payments on her and had her a little more than halfway paid off at this point), they said she'd never done that in front of them before and the husband brushed it off by saying she was completely fine.
A few days later, I had her tied in the barn while grooming and she did the same thing. I untied her immediately because she wanted to move and I was afraid she'd go down or something. But it was the exact same thing as the round pen. She hadn't been worked at all and was simply standing there when it happened, and the episode lasted only a matter of seconds.
I made an appointment with the vet who came out and did a complete lameness exam. Tested her hooves, flexion tests, palpated ALL of her legs, etc...etc... And said she seemed completely fine. We didn't do x-rays, as he said he didn't feel it was necessary. He said it didn't sound like EPM or anything neurological, just said if she did it again, to make another appointment. Yeah, and this was the Ohio State University vet....helpful, huh? :mad:
Unfortunately, that combined with some behavioral issues and the fact that my boyfriend and I split up (ended up being temporary, but I didn't know that at the time and it affected a lot a lot a lot of things for me), all the signs pointed to, this horse was going to be more trouble than she was worth. So I stopped the purchase of her.
On another forum, the people told me it didn't sound like tying up or EPM or any of that....but had no other advice really. It's a very strange situation, so I was wondering if anyone here had any ideas? Even though all of this happened in June, I still think about it constantly, as it was a very hard thing for me to go through - I waited 21 years to have a horse to call my own and that was how things went. Granted, much of that was my fault....but still. I'm sure you all can understand. I'd appreciate any ideas!
Her feet were very long at the time, because her owners' farrier misguidedly told them gaited horses gait better with a long toe. I'd heard it's bad to ride horses with long feet, so with that and being that she hadn't really been touched since I quit leasing her about 2-3 years before that, I worked her very minimally until I had a different farrier out (which was my priority).
The day we were waiting for the farrier, I had her turned out in the round pen. I DID NOT WORK HER AT ALL BEFORE THIS. No lunging, no riding, nothing. She was simply grazing while I sat on a mounting block watching her and waiting for my farrier. All of a sudden, she acted like she had an itch or a fly biting one of her forelegs, but she also lost the use of that leg. For only about half a minute, she was dragging the leg around the pen, not bearing any weight on it at all. I was panicking just like she was, as I didn't know what was happening with my horse and I had never seen this before. Finally she gave a buck, and went back to grazing as if the episode had never happened. When my farrier arrived, she said she seemed "sound as a dollar." When I mentioned it to her previous owners (and sort of current owners....I had been making payments on her and had her a little more than halfway paid off at this point), they said she'd never done that in front of them before and the husband brushed it off by saying she was completely fine.
A few days later, I had her tied in the barn while grooming and she did the same thing. I untied her immediately because she wanted to move and I was afraid she'd go down or something. But it was the exact same thing as the round pen. She hadn't been worked at all and was simply standing there when it happened, and the episode lasted only a matter of seconds.
I made an appointment with the vet who came out and did a complete lameness exam. Tested her hooves, flexion tests, palpated ALL of her legs, etc...etc... And said she seemed completely fine. We didn't do x-rays, as he said he didn't feel it was necessary. He said it didn't sound like EPM or anything neurological, just said if she did it again, to make another appointment. Yeah, and this was the Ohio State University vet....helpful, huh? :mad:
Unfortunately, that combined with some behavioral issues and the fact that my boyfriend and I split up (ended up being temporary, but I didn't know that at the time and it affected a lot a lot a lot of things for me), all the signs pointed to, this horse was going to be more trouble than she was worth. So I stopped the purchase of her.
On another forum, the people told me it didn't sound like tying up or EPM or any of that....but had no other advice really. It's a very strange situation, so I was wondering if anyone here had any ideas? Even though all of this happened in June, I still think about it constantly, as it was a very hard thing for me to go through - I waited 21 years to have a horse to call my own and that was how things went. Granted, much of that was my fault....but still. I'm sure you all can understand. I'd appreciate any ideas!