I thought they looked a little puffy, but if I was on that pasture with nothing but mud and rocks I'd be alittle puffy.  I'm still waiting on the bloodwork and vet exam, so we shall see.

I don' t think that mud and rocks make legs puffy.  Did you take a good looks at her legs under the fetlocks?  Are they crusty?  I don't know what that is called in Englisch, but I've got an Arabian mare here that has what we call Mauke.  It is caused by bacterias that get into the skin if it is always wet.  We've been treating it all winter on Princess, because she stood around in the snow for a couple of days in the early winter.  Her legs look like that too.  She is also very prone to hurting herself and as soon as she even has a nick somewhere on her leg ( sometimes even on her shoulder ) her leg swells and is puffy.  I'm not sure that that is something to be seen in a blood test, and maybe the vet will just say that is no problem.  I know however that we are having a big problem with her legs and I wouldn't buy a horse with leg problems. ( she belongs to my daughter in law )

 I agree, her back legs look puffed up. If you can, feel them and see if they seem filled with fluid or just puffy. My QH's back legs are like this for some reason, we haven't figured out why yet, but he definetly doens't get around that well. However, she could have just gotten a sting or bite of some sort on her butt and the infection traveled down the legs and is ready to come out. My Paint did this a while back (my boys always get hurt. lol) and his legs were puffed up soo bad for a while. Also, ask the owner about it! :P She looks like a doll though, so I hope it works out!!!

  Got the blood work back yesterday, the vet basically told me in a no nonsense way, not to buy her.  She has some sort of hereditary thing, he told me, but it was late last night and I was already low on sleep due to working overtime at work.  He came out the other day and looked at her legs and said it was a skin infection that had migrated (is that the word, man its too early around here) into her bloodstream, he left antibiotics with the owner and strict care instructions.  The disease/or whatever he called it, has something to do with stringhalt, again forgive me I wasn't even half- awake when he told me.  So she is a no go, I have been looking around and came across this one:  definately going to be bigger (which is fine, I'm going moreon attitude than anything)

looks nice, but as with the last one: drive there and take a look at her yourself.  Make a bunch of unprofessional pictures that don't hide anything!

sorry to hear about the last one, but good that you had her looked at!!

  Definately, thanks!

  Thanks, if I can ever get away from work I really want to go take a look.  LOL, right now I am having to put in too much overtime to even think of going anywhere.

 Hello,

I was in a similar position not long ago, so hope this helps you a little. It's just my opinion and I am not a vet, just a rider. Your filly has a terrific little face and a wonderful expression. Her shoulder is nicely sloped and her neck angle looks good for dressage movements. In some pictures her back looks good, strong & short, but in others she looks built a little "downhill", which is great for flat speed, but not good for collection. It's really hard for downhill horses to get their back ends under them without straining their backs/stifles/hocks. My main concern, and it might just be the picture's angles, is her pasterns. They look very long and upright, especially in back. Her right hind also seems to angle out 15-20 degrees. This would be really tough for a dressage prospect to overcome as the concussive force of each step will be maximized. This will put undue strain on her hocks/stifles, which it sounds like you have experienced before. It'd also make for a very jarring ride. But it might just be the picture. I'd have a trusted friend/vet look at her for this though b/c it would definitely rule her out for dressage, jumping, comfy trail horse and suggest lameness issues down the road if they are long/upright. But every horse comes with something, right? If you are only doing lower level dressage & just enjoying her in other disciplines, then the attachment & personality counts for something, so it's all a balance. There's no "perfect" horse, but there is a perfect horse for every rider. Good luck...

  Wow, thanks for the reply.  I still haven't had a chance to look at her yet due to work and time constraints, but I really like her overall picture.  Plus being young, I don't have to worry about her being started incorrectly and I will know how much she has done so far.

I'm glad to hear that the first filly didn't work out because her legs made me really uncomfortable.  Just too many issues for a horse that young.  The second one is pretty but make sure you have her fully checked out as well.  Those pasterns do look very straight and the angles of her back legs look a little funky.

  Found one I fell in love with, her name is Star (which will be changed promptly, bad memories of evil shetland pony) she's 10 months old and a reg Bay/White Paint. 

Her pedigree:   Zippos Tru Star     http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/index.php?query_type=horse&horse=ZIPPOS+TRU+STAR&g=5&cellpadding=0&small_font=1&l=

She hasn't been handled much, but after a few minutes of being out there she let me lightly pet her face, can't wait to bring her home.!

Pic:

edited to add:  pic is last summer at about 2-3 months old