Printer-friendlyI have offered to check horses before they are purchased for as long as I have been shoeing horses. I offer this service for free as I am the one that will be stuck with dealing with conformational problems for the new owner.
Vets checks cover the health of the horse, I want to advise on how useful the horse and rider will work together. This is why it is important to have a long standing relationship with a farrier you trust.
Not all conformational problems will be problems for all riders even at top competition levels. Race horses that run in the US can have legs that toe out on the front right because they run anti-clockwise. Trail horses can have issues can be perfectly happy doing 5 or 10 miles a week. Endurance horses better be really good to cover 100 miles in a day. Some will be able to do well for a short time but longer term owners better be careful.
Some of the things to look at:-
Are the hooves equal on either side of the center of gravity? The lower the problem the bigger the problem. Any of the pastern joints can be offset.
Does one side of the hoof look steeper than the other?
Do left and right match? This might not be such a big issue but it is a warning flag.
Does the bump on the inside of the knees line up or is one higher than the other?
There are many more. So, before looking to buy or lease a new horse look at as many horses as you can to tune up your ability to see differences and work out what you can live with and manage or are complete deal breakers.
As always I look forward to your coments and questions.
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