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Re: [RC] horses off the track..go for it - SandyDSA

It seems as though these should be two separate topics. Coming off the track would neither eliminate not automatically include a horse as a viable candidate for endurance; OTOH, any horse with an asymmetry that appears to be an issue should probably NOT be a great candidate no matter from the track or not. Some horses, by virtue of poor training or genetics are train wrecks waiting to happen - and how do you know the difference? Others are superb candidates for those same reasons, but then that would be true of any horse.
 
The issue I THINK was at the root of the initial post had more to do with the clear asymmetry of the horse she was looking at. Unless this horse simply needed to be conditioned properly, I would personally not want to take a chance on a horse where this kind of structure was more conformational - or so embedded i both conformation and conditioning that it would be hard to undo.
 
That said, our now 22 year old stallion who is about 25 mile fit now - after suffering what we had thought would be a career-ending hip pull(when WE get old things don't heal as well); but he is doing exceptionally well, aside from a bit of arthritis in his knee, which gives him a slight - and I MEAN slight - gimp; and if one looks closely, one can find a very slight difference from right to left in the shoulders. IT does not affect his comfort apparently, and he works out of the gimp in the first 2-3 miles. But I would not CHOOSE a young horse who had much more than this - with Sal, it is clear what it is and why he has it - he is kind of....long in the tooth as they say:). At his age, he still prefers to go on out and see what is over the hill, and so we choose to give him the chance. He may drop dead at 24 miles - but he may also drop dead standing in his paddock, and he doesn't LIKE standing. That does not mean I would run right out and choose a horse with a slight gimp, and shoulder deficiency, etc. A younger horse should not have that stuff - and a sound hay burner costs just as much as a gimpy hay burner, maybe less. :) JMHO
 
Sandy Adams
Deep Sands Arabians
www.deepsands.com




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