AES Stallion Grading

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Ladyfresha1

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I am planning to take my boy the the AES grading in November. He is being vetted next week but I don't know if there is a special form to fill in. It doesn't say there is on the entry form but would hate to have the vetting done then find out something else was needed. I have tried to phone them and also emailed them but have had no reply. Can any one help?

Thanks
 
I am taking my boy too! I don't think there is anything other than the entry form to fill in - the vetting is just to make sure that the horse is sound and healthy I believe. Mine is being vetted next thursday then I will send vet report with entry form and fee with copy of his passport - don't know whether to put loose jumping or loose dressage though!
 
I think you should call the office and check. Normally a pre-grading vet inspection for a stallion is a full five-stage vetting for freedom from hereditary disease, not just a straight forward health check. Some studbooks have standard forms to full in but many don't as the requirements are pretty standard across the studbooks and are based on the old mnistry vetting (including parrot mouths, overshot jaws, ringbone, sidebone, external evidence of OCD plus signs of whistling, roaring, broken wind, cribbing, windsucking, wobblers, undescended / unmatched testicles etc being instant fail points) but you do need to know if any extra tests are reqiuired (eg X-rays, DNA sample, drug tests and tests for EVA, CEM, EIA, pseudomonas etc) so that you can arrange for the vet to do these at the same time. OTOH, unlike sale vettings scars, bumps and lumps don't carry too mich influence unless they are as a result of conformational weakness (eg boggy hocks due to lack of bone compared to body, high over-reach scars, matching splints due to brushing etc) info which often comes as a releif to those that have spent two or three years trying to keep their lively colts out of scraps and trouble :-)

Good luck for the grading day itself and glad you are taking the grading step when so many people seem so determined to avoid it at the moment. It is a stressful, expensive time and your stallion might not pass but at least if he does you will know that he has proven himself to have value as a potential sire to experienced authorities outside his own circle and that can only serve to attract mare owners -- and help to improve the overall quality of the stallion herd in British breeding in the future.
 
Ciss, is correct; ALL stallions must under go a full 5 stage vetting stating that the stallion is free from hereditary unsoundness - a copy of which must included along with your completed entry forms, payment and copy of full passport. ( dont forget to bring your passport along on the day AND the original vet report !!
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) ....

X rays are no required by the AES and a DNA sample/payment (£40 + VAT) & registration fee (£235) are only taken if your stallion grades ....

*Drug tests are carried out at random on the day.

Good Luck - Hope to see you on the day !!

 
fingers x l f hope he performs for you!!!! get lots of practice in trying to catch him after loose jumping him!!!!! let me know how you get on
 
I have never presented a stallion to the AES in England but I have presented stallions to the AES in the Netherlands and Ireland on several occasions and in every instance a full set of x-rays was required along with the health exam.
 
TomReed: Hi Tom, X-Rays are NOT required for the AES (UK) but a FULL 5 stage vetting examination is (a 'basic' health check is not acceptable)
 
I have had an email back from AES now. Standard 5 stage as for purchase etc is fine. All booked in for next Thursday. I have never presented a stallion for grading. Anyone know where I can find some youtube clips?

Going to have to get him used to the clippers as well as he is getting rather woolley and will have to have all his hair off.

Catching him after loose jumping will be easy. He always stops after to make sure I was watching him and saw how clever he is!

GAN would be great to meet up - a friendly face on the day would be appreciated!
 
"...stating that the stallion is free from hereditary unsoundness"

Sorry to sound ignorant, but how can a vetting, even a 5-stage one ensure that there isnt something hereditary?
 
[ QUOTE ]
"...stating that the stallion is free from hereditary unsoundness"

Sorry to sound ignorant, but how can a vetting, even a 5-stage one ensure that there isnt something hereditary?

[/ QUOTE ]

The most common hereditary diseases in horses are as stated in my earlier post and all these can be pretty quickly identified (sorry forgot to include cataracts, navicualr disease, shivering, stringhalt and heart murmers to the original list) and this is what the stallion vetting *should be* designed to identify (which is why it is different from a normal 5-stage vetting for purchase so the instruction given worries and mystifies me -- and probably quite a few others on this forum. There may be some hereditary diseases / vices that do not present at such inspections but they must be very few and far between (apart from early signs of OCD which is why X-rays are often required) with HYPP in Quarter horses, auto-immune disease in Fell Pony foals and lethal white syndrome in foals born from two Overo parents being the only ones I can think of at the moment (although there is a growing body of evidence that indicates a certain hereditary element in grass sickness) so I don't think fialure to identify such diseases is much of a problem if an experienced equine breeding and young horse specialist vet is used.
 
Maybe I will type out your list and email it to the vets Ciss. But the information was from the AES themselves, although I must admit that I was also suprised. But it is straight from the horse's mouth so to speak.

Thanks for everyone's support. It is a nervous time but if he doesn't grade this year I will take him back next year when he has grown up a bit. Not the end of the world, hopefully he will have a few competition results by then as well. I will still cover my own mares next year regardless, other than that we will see what happens! It will be great to get a professional opinion of him though from people who assess hundreds of horses a year.
 
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