potential horse for me, but with some issues

Question
Hi there.

I am looking at an 8 year old Holsteiner gelding to potentially buy.  However, there are two things about him that cause me some concern:

1 - cold back.  The owner says the horse has a cold back and needs at least 5 - 10 minutes of warm up before someone can get on him.  Is a cold back necessarily bad news?

2 - his recent x-rays show some minor athritis in his hind left leg, although the vet says it's very manageable with injections every six months.

Is this a horse I should just stay away from altogether?  I am an adult rider that is looking to find a good fit with a horse to do jump and dressage training, and perhaps do some adult amateur shows.

What are you thoughts?  Thanks in advance.

TJ

Answer
TJ;

it would be extremely ill advised to buy any horse without having a pre-purchase exam done on your behalf. This is a vet hired to go over the horse specifically with your interests in mind in order to evalaute the health and soundness of the horse. This is my STRONG recommendation- you cannot trust what people tell you and this vet will serve as your specific advocate in this potential purchase. There may be alot more you need to know about this horse that is not being shared with you. If you are serious about this horse, get a prepurchase exam done with a complete set of xrays for the vet to evaluate.

These 2 issues you present to me mean nothing to me as this is a sale and the ONLY information you can trust in a sale is information you get from your own prepurchase exam. Also, I dont believe there is anything such as a "cold back"- to me its a way to tell you ion a benign way there may be a problem with the horse. "minor" arthritis is common in certain joints in the back legs- however- the information you received does not say WHICH joints and that could be very significant. GET a prepurchase exam done on your behalf. Please.

Good luck in this. let me know if I can help you any further.