Deeds (He is Indeed) is an 11 year old TB gelding, bay with three socks, 16.2h, who raced until he was 9. Deeds was purchased site unseen from a dealer in Oregon by his former owner in July as an eventing prospect. When he arrived he was lame, had horrible feet, and had signs of previous injuries that made it obvious that he was not going to work out as an eventer. The owner made the decision to have Deeds euthanized. The owner of the barn where Deeds was boarded did not feel that Deeds should be euthanized and that his lameness issues were resolving, so she contacted us. We agreed to take him in and at least have a vet evaluate his soundness. Deeds has been with us two weeks now and we have had his soundness evaluated by Dr. Hannah, and euthanasia will not be necessary. The many years of racing has indeed taken a toll on his legs, he has a large bony protrusion on his right front (we are awaiting results of xrays on that), and a thickened suspensory on his left front. However, he flexed well on both front legs. He did not flex well on his right hind and probably has some arthritis in there. On the lunge he moves mostly sound with an occasional head bob. His feet are also way out of balance and will take several months of corrective trimming to fix, and are likely part of the problem.
Overall Dr. Hannah felt that Deeds is suitable as a light riding horse (trails, low-level dressage, etc) with maintenance. He should be on a joint supplement at the least and would probably do best on Adequan/Legend shots or joint injections on the right hind/right front fetlock. The left front, which has the suspensory injury, should be monitored regularly for signs of heat/swelling and he will need to be rested/cold-hosed if any problems arise (while the suspensory is cold and non-reactive to pain at this time, suspensory injuries are prone to reinjury and there may be adhesions that come loose from time to time causing him temporary pain).
For someone that is willing to put the maintenance into him, Deeds is a fantastic quality horse, with beautiful, floating gaits. He is very sweet and loves attention. He is easy to handle (does have some issues getting in the trailer that needs work). He is high-strung under saddle and has not had much training since he raced so will need an experienced rider. He does pace in the stall and we were told he cribs although I have not seen any sign of cribbing. He is in good weight and appears to be an easy keeper for a TB. This is a VERY nice horse that deserves a special home. UTD on everything and he is having his teeth done today (9/28/07).
For those of you that follow bloodlines, Deeds is an Alydar grandson. He made just shy of $50,000 in his racing career.
Adoption Fee: $500
