Appreciate everyone’s input. Have decided to hang on to him and have trainer start riding him regularly so I don’t feel guilty about him standing around !
It’s a crapshoot. These could fuse and be ok forever, or they may be an issue in the future and never resolve.
The seller should be considering a deep discount on the sale price, especially on a horse so young and not in hard work.
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This is a homebred that we care about very much. Initially priced 35-40k looking at a 50% discount with these findings . Won’t be too disappointed to have him stay in the barn but he does thrive on more work and attention than I have time for at this point in my life. Thanks for your input!
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Sorry, but it would have to be more like a 75% to 99% discount, given age and (lack of) serious workload
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I have to agree. I know of another young horse with surprisingly bad hock xrays and they cant even give him away. The risk is pretty high.
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Been in OP’s shoes, same age, similar workload, also homebred.
I kept her the rest of her life; she was basically retired at 10, and never really progressed beyond this level and workload.
Now, maybe if she didn’t also have many other maintenance and lifestyle challenges I may have got a modicum of cash for her, but I wasn’t willing to allow her to fall into the wrong hands, so with me she stayed until our long-time barn closed down
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What other x rays did you do? I bought a five year old with cruddy hock x rays in work. Turns out his knees and ankles were also trash and it was a systemic breakdown.
Personally, I’d pass.
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Having had a horse with a hock issue I would just pass. I feel like if the horse has that issue at that age there’s more going wrong in the body. I’m personally not willing to take that risk.
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Though the right fit would be hard to find, it might be more safe to lease him out for a couple years, if you could find an appropriate rider to keep him in regular work. That way, you could keep him in the care of your vet, keep evaluating him, and wait and see…
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There are so many posts of people that can’t find a horse. IF this is a truly amateur friendly horse, I would snap him up for under 20k. There is nothing in that price range that does not involve significant compromise.
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Training level at 8 isnt setting the world on fire. You could find that with an OTTB or other breed at that price point with clean rads.
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Or a fraction of that price. I would think after a month or two of good riding just about any horse could go training level.
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Oh for sure almost any horse could go training level but there is still a market for a good temperament and well above average movement I think?. The lack of work is due to my own health issues not his. I think a lease would be a great idea if I found someone super duper trustworthy.
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I’m guessing your nice horse is sound now…what’s that saying?? “You don’t ride the x-rays.” No advice…just another perspective.
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Yes. I guess that’s where I’m at 
Solid 8+ mover who is sound with minimal maintenance, a good temperament and a shitty looking radiograph. Tall dark and handsome who just gets better the more he works.
Maybe my question should be what would help put the right rider at ease?
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If this were my nice homebred and I wanted him to have a soft landing (not with me) I’d be looking at a non-dressage or not a straight dressage home.
He might stay sound a lot longer as a trail horse, foxhunter or lower level event horse.
In those careers, long term management with either previcoxx or periodic injections is a lot more sustainable.
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As far as low demand on hocks, a low level hunter job is actually very doable. And if it’s pretty and a good mover, people will be willing to do the maintenance.
That means finding a GOOD home, but that applies anywhere. I wouldn’t drop $20k on it myself, but someone might do less than that and hope for fusion.
Honestly leasing this horse out to maintain control, and maybe consider selling if a lease worked out well and was interested, is likely the safest road for the horse.
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What do you mean by 8+ mover? He can score an 8 on gaits at first level or he has the quality of gaits that physical limitations aside you’d expect him to be an 8 mover up the levels?
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What’s the reason for injections? Prophylaxis, or is he symptomatic without them? What’s being injected, and why did the injections start? The injections are a big part of what give me pause–if these were incidental findings on a PPE, that would be different, IMO. And maybe I’m out of touch, but I really wouldn’t consider 2x/year injections on an 8yo going T/1st to be minimal maintenance. It’s certainly not a ton of maintenance, but it’s more than I’d expect to be doing with the age and workload. Unless we’re talking about something like Adequan, but your post makes it sound like they’re IA injections.
An 8yo going T/1st with rads like that and needs injections would be a hard pass for me for a dressage home, even if he moves like a superstar. I’ve lived that heartbreak and wouldn’t do it again. If he could happily do something like the hunters or lower level eventing, maybe.
I agree that I’d be exploring a lease option or something similar if this were a horse I owned.
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Depends on what I was looking for. Some amateurs never want to progress above first level, but they still want to be competitive and they want to feel safe. If this horse is that horse then someone may want him… for maybe $15k. I have a horse with terrible joints and I spend about $4000/yr on joint injections to keep him sound. It’s a big investment to take on a horse like this. My horse is winning at 2nd level but he will never progress to 3rd. So depends on what they are looking for…
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