Buy a horse - Asking to speak to its vet

C

CobsGalore

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 August 2012
Messages
2,298
Location
Buckinghamshire
Visit site
When buying a horse, who has asked to speak to its vet or asked to see it's veterinary notes?

The owner says that the vet has never been out to see him, apart from routine things like vaccinations.

Would it be OTT to ask to speak to the vet to confirm this?
 
If you get permission from the current owner then you can. The current owner has to give explicit permission to the vet for them to discuss any medical history with someone else.
 
The only reason for vet to refuse to do so is (reasonably) client confidentiality. So you would need the current owner to give vet permission to do so. Once you have that permission (might need to be in writing and phone) you are fine.

If owner wont give that permission I would think twice about the purchase of the horse.
 
With the youngsters I've always said I'd be happy to give permission. If there's nothing to hide it's not an unreasonable request.
 
i was lucky with a vet once when he came to do a vetting her recognised the horse / owner and knew something wasnt right, he asked the owner outright in front of us if he could check something and let us know direct, if they said no it would have looked suspect and thats why he asked, so they said yes and hey presto we didnt buy the horse due to a lump that had been advised for biopsy...

can u somehow find out who the horses vet is / might be if there arent too many in the area and ask for them do the vetting but without them realising why?
 
Thanks, I was just going to ask the owner if she would give me permission to speak to the vet to confirm that he has only ever been seen for routine things.

If she gives permission, then surely the vet would?
 
I kinda did it in a roundabout way as I used the seller's vet for my vetting and they won't do this if there was a conflict of interest, i.e. a known problem I assume. She had only ever have vaccinations. But that, of course, requires you to know its a very reputable vet. Oh and I guess a way round this is to used one vet for your vaccinations and another for any problems.

Paula
 
Some vets won't do a vetting on a horse of the clients - may be nothing to hide though. Our vet won't vet any of his clients horses for potential buyers, he says its not worth the potential loss of client over a one off vetting fee as sellers don't like it when the bad stuff is disclosed! However, we had Donny vetted by his registered vet - i would rather do that if they agree to it as they then have to disclose the history.

I don't see why any seller would object to you knowing the vet history unless there was anything to hide. If they give the vets permission they should be able to disclose to you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top