Friend told me long, sad story about a lovely young high-end jumper at her last barn that was on indefinite lay-up over the past year after being diagnosed with stringhalt. From friend’s description, I assumed this was career-ending. But now there’s a sales ad for the horse on-line, priced in the lower-mid five figures. Less than he would be worth if everything had gone well for him, but not a firesale price by any means. Friend is appalled, but when I Google the topic, I see opinions that stringhalt might not always be a thought a problem in a jumper. Thoughts?
It depends on how bad and if the horse was ok when on a certain fitness routine to keep the stifles strengthened. Not the end of a career if you figure out what keeps the horse in shape to keep it from affecting performance.
Many horses have no symptoms of stringhalt once they are moving, especially beyond a walk.
More serious cases do have symptoms and either aren’t rideable, or shouldn’t be doing specialty work.
I had a nice mare with stringhalt. Fancy hunter. Won a lot and then sold in the US for 5 figures back in the 90s and competed in 3’6" hunters. She just looked like she had an expressive hind end.
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There is a range of severity. Some only have issue with hoof picking and farrier. Some have an obvious abnormality when walking and backing. Others have an exaggerated hind leg movement at all times. I’ve known horses with each severity who were happily in work.
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I rode and jumped (under 2’6") a horse that had it and was previously a field hunter. The only noticeable issue was when picking the hind feet.
I knew a very successful large junior hunter with it. You only noticed it at the walk.
I have only known older horses that have stringhalt, but the one mare was a sort of “sound enough” lesson pony… did walk/trot/canter and trotted over some poles every now and again. Wasn’t the prettiest thing to watch but it didn’t seem to bother her at all, she also had other limitations though - had arthritis in her fetlocks etc. so I think that was limiting her more than the stringhalt was. I’ve seen a few other horses with less severe cases and it seems to sort of come and go pretty frequently, some days it bothers them and they seem more expressive with their back legs and other days they seem perfectly normal. I have not known any horses who have had big show careers that have had stringhalt, but apparently other people do! Interesting to know.
There have been a number of very successful hunters and jumpers with stringhalt. It is officially considered an “unsoundness”, but many times a horse can still be fully functional and athletic and competitive. I used to jump against a horse who had it in the local Open Jumper divisions. It was not an issue for him in terms of competition. However, my husband ended up having to be the farrier for this horse, and this was not fun for him.
It is not considered to be a genetic cause. A vet who operated on one of our client’s horses (a 2 yr old filly at the time) who had it, told me that just about every horse with it that he had met had a situation in it’s life that was described as a “jerk” on the hind leg, often being caught in a fence at some point. This was the case with this filly who was operated on, she had been caught in a fence as a weanling. Her stringhalt was SO BAD that she could not canter, the worst I have ever seen, she was looking at being put down due to the stringhalt. The operation was fully successful. The operation required involves removing a piece of a tendon that runs through the hock, cutting it above the hock including the insert into the muscle, and below the hock. It then slides out “like a pencil out of a pencil case”. Successful surgeries slide out smoothly. Older horses, who have had the issue for a long time tend to often NOT slide out that smoothly, adhesions are present. These cases are not usually as successful as when the surgery is done earlier in life.
Stringhalt has a variety of causes, some of which are indeed genetic. Stringhalt can be a symptom of EPSM, for example.
It can also be an issue all on its own, sometimes caused by an injury.
And then it can be brought on by consuming false dandelion, which thankfully can be reversed.
Thanks for all the answers! He sounds like he is a good enough horse overall that someone would take him with a slight issue, though perhaps they may bargain seller down a bit. I’ve never seen stringhalt IRL; friend gave me impression horse was basically crocked. Now I can stop worrying about his future. It is always a good thing when you can stop worrying about something that was never any of your business in the first place! 
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