Ex-race horse = back problem
So I'm selling this horse... Which means dealing with some crazy crazy people. I know this. I've sold plenty of horses to know this. From people with a misplaced snese of loyalty to this one horse they lamost bought before ever seeing her to people not buying a horse because it eats trees when there is nothing else to eat. Crazy people! CRAZY!
This thing just reches new levels of stupid though.
This lady emails me asking if the horse raced (something I already told her) and if I've had him vet checked and explains how she has a horse now who she's had for 2 years and recently came up with back problems which she claims are because he used to race.
Yes, you may commence "wtf?"-ing now.
I am patient and kind and tell her that I have no reason whatsoever to believe the horse might have a back problem. He moves well, isn't sore, jumps and moves fine, no tell tale signs whatsoever of any back problems. I also explain to her I've been around horses a long time dealt with numerous horses with back problems, sat in on a million vet checks and that vet checks rarely include back checks beyond a quick overlook for any immediate problems, so if there's an underlying problem, a vet check will probably not pick up on it.
She is still sceptical because she doesn't want another horse with back problems. Which is fair enough
But at this point I wonder wtf for real.
Back problems happen and they're not more common in one sport or another that I know of. They are common around ill fitting tack, after lameness issues, after falls, due to bad conformation and so no and so forth but not after racing...!
It just doesn't add up.
I suspect and hope something got lost in translation and that maybe her chiropractor mentioned something along the lines of "injured a tendon in his racing days and this brought on back problems." Now THAT would make sense.
So I email her asking if this professional (which I assumed she had out to come to this wild accusation in the general direction of the racing industry) she got out mentioned anything about it being common in race horses.
I tell her how to me it doesn't make sense, physiologically speaking as well as experience wise. Racing does a lot of bad things but messing up a horse' back is not on the top of the list for as far as I know. I tell her I'm just curious and want to know how she and her professional came about this conclusion that race horses = back problems. So essentially I ask some critical questions about the whole thing.
I get an email back, saying how his first owner said he had some hind end soreness when she got him out of a paddock in a neglected state and how he knew nothing but canter and stop. She had him then treated for the soreness, put weight on him and he was then sold on a few times before this lady got him and she has now had him for 18 months and NOW he has a back problem.
She had a chiropractor out first who said he had never seen such a stiff horse (stiff...not sore) and decided to take up treatment from a n osteopath to get him right again and is donig a ot of lunging over cavalettis and hill work to make him better.
No where does she explain how he chiro or osteopath decided or mentioned anything about this hailing from his racing days. In fact, aside from the 'never seen such a stiff horse' there is not a word from either of these professionals about how this problem came around. Except that they think it may have happened after a fall or a buck in the paddock.
This ONE horse that she has had for two years now has problems and has a history of being sore in his back end after coming out of a neglect paddock, she is reluctant to buy another ex-racehorse because: Apparently racing ruins their backs. This is a problem which then lies dormant for over 18 months only to be aggravated by a buck or a fall and cause major problems and make them unrideable.
As a cherry on top of the milkshake she seems to expect me to get a chiropractor out to check my horse' back out, at my expense.
This could be me, but wouldn't that be something she should organize and pay for if she wants to buy him. But maybe she should just come and have a look at him and decide if he's even remotely what she's looking for BEFORE expecting me to spend money on investigating the possiblity that she thinks my horse, in the future, long after I sell him, might have a dormant back problem because of his racing days.
More "WTF!?"-ing my commence now.
This thing just reches new levels of stupid though.
This lady emails me asking if the horse raced (something I already told her) and if I've had him vet checked and explains how she has a horse now who she's had for 2 years and recently came up with back problems which she claims are because he used to race.
Yes, you may commence "wtf?"-ing now.
I am patient and kind and tell her that I have no reason whatsoever to believe the horse might have a back problem. He moves well, isn't sore, jumps and moves fine, no tell tale signs whatsoever of any back problems. I also explain to her I've been around horses a long time dealt with numerous horses with back problems, sat in on a million vet checks and that vet checks rarely include back checks beyond a quick overlook for any immediate problems, so if there's an underlying problem, a vet check will probably not pick up on it.
She is still sceptical because she doesn't want another horse with back problems. Which is fair enough
But at this point I wonder wtf for real.
Back problems happen and they're not more common in one sport or another that I know of. They are common around ill fitting tack, after lameness issues, after falls, due to bad conformation and so no and so forth but not after racing...!
It just doesn't add up.
I suspect and hope something got lost in translation and that maybe her chiropractor mentioned something along the lines of "injured a tendon in his racing days and this brought on back problems." Now THAT would make sense.
So I email her asking if this professional (which I assumed she had out to come to this wild accusation in the general direction of the racing industry) she got out mentioned anything about it being common in race horses.
I tell her how to me it doesn't make sense, physiologically speaking as well as experience wise. Racing does a lot of bad things but messing up a horse' back is not on the top of the list for as far as I know. I tell her I'm just curious and want to know how she and her professional came about this conclusion that race horses = back problems. So essentially I ask some critical questions about the whole thing.
I get an email back, saying how his first owner said he had some hind end soreness when she got him out of a paddock in a neglected state and how he knew nothing but canter and stop. She had him then treated for the soreness, put weight on him and he was then sold on a few times before this lady got him and she has now had him for 18 months and NOW he has a back problem.
She had a chiropractor out first who said he had never seen such a stiff horse (stiff...not sore) and decided to take up treatment from a n osteopath to get him right again and is donig a ot of lunging over cavalettis and hill work to make him better.
No where does she explain how he chiro or osteopath decided or mentioned anything about this hailing from his racing days. In fact, aside from the 'never seen such a stiff horse' there is not a word from either of these professionals about how this problem came around. Except that they think it may have happened after a fall or a buck in the paddock.
This ONE horse that she has had for two years now has problems and has a history of being sore in his back end after coming out of a neglect paddock, she is reluctant to buy another ex-racehorse because: Apparently racing ruins their backs. This is a problem which then lies dormant for over 18 months only to be aggravated by a buck or a fall and cause major problems and make them unrideable.
As a cherry on top of the milkshake she seems to expect me to get a chiropractor out to check my horse' back out, at my expense.
This could be me, but wouldn't that be something she should organize and pay for if she wants to buy him. But maybe she should just come and have a look at him and decide if he's even remotely what she's looking for BEFORE expecting me to spend money on investigating the possiblity that she thinks my horse, in the future, long after I sell him, might have a dormant back problem because of his racing days.
More "WTF!?"-ing my commence now.