Buying Foals

J

JJ2

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I am currently looking at buying a foal from a local breeder.

With this being the first foal i would have bought, do people get them looked at by a vet similar to a vetting to check they are ok? I appreciate that is probably not an option as they will not be handled well enough but just wondered what people do in this situation.

Thanks in advance
 
If you aren't sure what to do, then don't buy a foal. By definition, you're not ready.
And today's cute foal is tomorrow's naughty yearling...
Sorry, but I thought I'd best be honest.
S
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Its not that i dont know what i am doing i meerly asked if people tended to get foals checked for any defects that are perhaps not visable i.e lungs/heart/eyes etc thats all!
Thanks
 
Depends on the value of the foal/youngster tbh. Personally, I would get heart, lungs, eyes and soundness assessed by a vet - if it's a very valuable one, then your insurance company will insist on it!
 
Well if you're sure..
There are two different types of vetting - 5 stage which is for ridden horses and goes through the horse's response to exercise, and 2 stage, which is for unridden horses and doesn't.
You will be able to get insurance without a vet certificate for a youngster, but it's wise if you are going to pay for this beast for the next few years to spend a few quid extra and have it vetted. Particularly if it is expensive, or the dam is not completely sound/healthy.
Good luck
S
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i would have thought so-what age foal are you getting? we have just had passports done for ours at work and despite them all being well handled by us they decided to embarrass us infront of the vet and refuse to have headcollars on!!!! but he did manage to give them a quick check over-not the same as a full vetting obviously but just checked the basics
 
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Depends on the value of the foal/youngster tbh. Personally, I would get heart, lungs, eyes and soundness assessed by a vet - if it's a very valuable one, then your insurance company will insist on it!

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.......or you can just do what i did which was buy one on the strength of a photo
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*disclaimer: this is NOT the recommended way to carry out a potential purchase*
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Foal is not extremely valuable....coloured cob. Would you still bother then? Obviously, regardless of the price of the foal i would want to make sure he was fit and healty for peace of mind really.
 
Yes i thought it would be worth getting him checked. He is only four months old at the moment but he wont be ready to be collected until xmas time so there is plenty of time to get things checked.

Thanks
 
I'm not sure what you mean by they might not be well handled enough? If they are 4 months old then they should be handled, have been wormed and had their little feet seen by the farrier every 6 weeks.....at least, what I would class as, decent breeders, will have done this.

Our homebred 4 month old, and our homebred 3 week old are both handled and have perfect manners already. The 6 others who arrived here a week ago, are between 3 months and 5 months old and are happy to be groomed and have their feet picked up already.

I don't ever have any horses vetted, whether they be weanlings or grown horses, but it might be worth your while if you don't do a lot of buying, just to get your vet to give the foal a quick once-over.

Good luck - how exciting!!
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I don't ever have any horses vetted, whether they be weanlings or grown horses, but it might be worth your while if you don't do a lot of buying, just to get your vet to give the foal a quick once-over.

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Same, I've never had a horse vetted pre-purchase. It all depends on the experience of the person doing the buying I guess, plus whether one is willing to take a gamble!
 
When we bought missy she was 6 mths old, but collected her at around 7 mths , She was already handled well, Although we didnt get a vet to check her out, She had her green book filled out prior to us purchasing her so had a check through then .
 
I ran the risk of not gettin my boy vetted,i fell in love and was very lucky,he was 8month old when i got him(wish i had photos i could put on here for you all to see,lol,no digital camera then
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,you would have thought,what did you buy that for,lmao,he looked so poor!)paid £500 for him(very late tb foal),worth alot more than that now,he turned into a swan,it certainly wasnt from experience,lmao!!!Admittedly i am not a serious competitor and looked at fillies worth a grand,couldnt afford it and at the end of the day they could have broken neck leg or back in field,vetting at that age i think comes down to personal preferance,they may not have a breathing prob at 6mnth old but who is to say it wont develop at 2yr old???hope this helps??
 
I bought my then 2 year old from a very reputable dealer she was running as a herd with other fillies the same age and had been loaded into a lorry as a herd and vaccinated the same way so therefore had never had any proper handling. I got a 3 month warranty with her so bought her took her home then did some work with her. Once she was ok I got my vet to give her a once over. This way I felt no one was being put in danger by trying to vet an unhandled 2 year old far safer IMO. Not all foals / yearlings etc are handled as many of us would handle them and this is just something that we have to deal with. Is there an option that you can have an arrangement similar to this? Alternativley if you have paid your deposit could you not arrange to do some handling with the foal between now and weaning then get foal vetted before you bring it home?
 
i would get it vetted
unless you feel confident to be able to check it yourself and probaly be able to explain to the insurance company about the animals health.i suppose if its less than a certain value the insurance wont ask for a certificate,but i think will foals they do as matter of course!
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- even if the horse is cheap, the vet could pick up on something that could cost a fortune in vet bills later

then the money spend getting a vet check is well worth it!
 
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