Buying a horse without vetting it first ????

burtondog

burtondog

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www.michellehudson.co.uk
I've just read today's H&H. In it there are (at least) 2 articles regarding disputes following the sale of a horse. In both these articles the buyers didn't get the horses vetted on their behalf and it subsequently turned out the horses had serious medical problems. One horse was even advertised as 12yo turned out to be 19.

I can't imagine buying a horse without vetting it first, especially with all the horror stories you hear, and yet so many people do ?

Surely the £300-£400 ish cost of a vetting is nothing compared to the cost of keeping a horse thats not fit for purpose ?

Plus, don't you usually need a vet certificate to get insurance ?

What do you think ?
 
I say always get a horse vetted, but i dont always take my own advice.. we bought my current eventer w/o a vetting, a bit impulsive in hindsight but luckily worked out!
 
I'm afraid you're not always covered when you do pay out for a vetting. I know someone who had a horse vetted which later turned out to be blind in one eye!
 
I would always get a new horse vetted, it would just be my luck to buy something that fell apart a week later and needed thousands of pounds of vet bills!!
 
I bought my first one without (stupid love at first sight thingy!!) turned out he had mild arthritus, but he is ok on no-bute. The second one had vetted and passed and he is now testing me on napping probs.... he also had a hobday that the vet did not pick up on???!?! prob do not test for this??
 
Totally agree. I would NEVER consider buying a horse without a full five stage vetting beforehand - But I know plenty of people that have to their detriment
 
We've bought 3 who we never got vetted and all were fine. No problems getting them insured either. Maybe we've just been lucky? 2 were from dealers who said the horses had guarantees (dont know if that would have been true or not, but we believed them) - 2 week money-back guarentee if we weren't happy / there was a problem, or after that, we could part-ex. With the 3rd mare, we had known her for 3 years, so never bothered with a vetting.
We've just had our latest mare vetted though, as we've had her on loan for a year and suspected a couple of issues. Only had a 2* though.
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A friend of mine bought one, which passed it's vetting. Vet said the big belly was due to her having had foals (bet you can all see where this is going.....
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). Mare continued to get bigger - another vet exam - definately not in foal - mare continues to swell - blood test said not in foal... 'Just keep working her, the belly will disappear'

Guess what Alex found in the box , 6am one January morning? A strapping great coloured colt!

And guess what - the belly was vastly reduced in size.....

Hmmmmmm.
 
I know I should have them vetted, but I never have done! I had been riding both horses for a few months before buying them, and I only paid £300 for Maddy, and it didn't seem worth it. I knew and trusted Flash's previous rider who was selling on behalf of the owner, they've been family friends for as long as I can remember
 
In theory I'd say you should always get a horse vetted....but 2 of the three I've bought haven't been.

My first pony I got from a riding centre where I'd been riding him for a week on a holiday thing, and he'd been fine, so we didn't bother. Never had any problems with him other than a mild mystery lameness for a while.

Taz I didn't get vetted either, simply because I didn't think he would probably pass. Not that he was lame or anything, I dunno, I just assumed he wouldn't. Anyway had no problems with him either in a year and a half other than a month where he was slightly lame.

Paris I did get vetted because she was too expensive for us not to really.
 
I bought kids first pony (£400) without being vetted, as it didnt seem cost effective to pay the same amount to be vetted.... six weeks later he had to be rehomed as a companion as he had grade 5 heart murmur!!! He wasnt and never has been affected by it and even the vet was amazed.

Second pony we had heart and eyes checked... heart for obvious reasons and eyes as he had a small blue scar in one of them..... he was 100% for the whole time we had him... new owners had him vetted and he had a whole host of things listed, but still passed.

Merlin had been 5 stage vetted already!! I saw the certificate and decided not to have him done again..... all it said was he had a rubbed mane and a swollen hind fetlock.... alarm bells should have rung but as he had passed the flexion tests I thought it was just the way he was...... turns out he had a bad arthritic changes in that fetlock, but he would still pass the vet today as he is not lame and still cant be made lame by flexion, its only coz of the x-rays that we know that there is anything wrong. He hasnt had a days lameness as of yet with it!!!

I think that the insurance thing is for horses over a certain value, i think about 5k for NFU but they still insured my friends horse without a certificate!!
 
Of the five I've bought I've only had one vetted!

Three of them were less than the cost of a vetting and one we'd had on loan for a couple of years, one we knew wouldn't pass because of his breathing problems - which disappeared with proper management!, one was off for meat due to behavioural difficulties and our hearts said buy him. The only health issues with the three of them have been one bout of lami (got into the hayfield) and one set of treatment after some severe bites. not bad for three horses and four years - touch wood!

The "expensive" one I had vetted and he had an absolutely clean sheet and has had no vet treatable troubles in three years.

The filly I didn't have vetted as she was an impuse buy but again she was cheap and she has been with us for 18 months and only had to see the vet with a cut.

I have been exceptionally lucky. As for vetting any more - it would depend on what I was buying and for what price and job.
 
Bought 4 and never had a vetting - its always a question of luck and I have seen too many vetted horses turn out to have serious conditions a few months later.

Fingers crossed is the best way unless there is something you are concerned about the horse/history which doesnt ring true.
 
Never had my two vetted, i paid £900 for one as a 13yo and £200 for the other as a yearling. In the three years ive had the older one, hes never had anything wrong whatsoever, never even been slightly lame.
 
I have never had any of mine vetted.

If I was looking for a performance horse, I would probably have it vetted, but that said, and vet certificate is only good for the day on which the vetting is done as a horse can easily sustain an injury at any time.

I've known plenty of people who've had vettings done, only to find that they have problems within weeks, and I've also known of several horses that have passed 5* vettings, when I know for a fact that they have problems.

In theory, it's always a good idea to cover your back when buying, but unless the horse is going to cost a significant amount of money, I personally wouldn't bother.
 
Only had one out of 5 vetted and he passed and he's probably the worst behaved and nuttiest of the lot of them! The other 4 we didn't bother and they were fine, granted 2 were youngsters (3yos) though!
 
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