Do you think it is silly not to have horses vetted before buying?

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We never do, but don't buy expensive horses (not cheap ones but no more than 4k) probably because we are too skint and too tight!
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Most horses have been fine, one developed lower ring bone about a year after we bought him.. but would this have been detected by the vet?

On the other hand we had a 4 year old mare on our yard some years ago, she failed the flexion test twice yet has been sound ever since then!

So does anyone else not have horses vetted, or do you think the idea is completely insane?
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no ive not had one vetted before i've bought...but loads have been vetted that i've sold...

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Same here, and they always seem to pass, thank god!! It must be so gutting if you think you've got a buyer then you can't sell it or have to sell it loads cheaper!
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have only had buster vetted. the rest were no more than £1500, all turned out to be stars competitivly and never had anything physically wrong *madly touches wood!* with buster i didnt pay to much for him (4K) but as i wanted him to event i wasnt prepared to take a risk and had him vetted ... he failed
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... he had his pelvis out (which was easily fixed) but even with his pelvis out he still passed the flexion test!
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I stupidly bought my last horse without having him vetted! Ended up in a total disaster, horse went lame (amongst other things) and was eventually put to sleep!
I thought "it wouldnt happen to me"!. However, we learn from our mistakes I guess.
I had my new current horse vetted - so peace of mind if nothing else!
Would now never buy a horse without having it vetted first.
 
well i just paid £270 for a vetting for a horse who passed, i then bought him and a week later discovered a sarcoid which in all likelihood was there at the time of vetting. not amused!
 
I have only ever had one vetted and that was 30 years ago
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and was my first horse. Since then I haven't bothered. I had my Arab for 19 years and he raced and then was an advanced endurance horse, he never had any problems. The big horse I bought two years ago went lame 7 months later, but it wouldn't have shown up on a vetting anyway. She is now sound btw. If I were to buy an expensive horse now I would probably have one vetted.
 
We brought Paddy from a Dealer and we later discovered he had ringbone too
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I'm not sure because had we had Paddy vetted then we would probaly never of brought him.He has done so much for me in the terms of regaining my confidence and improving my riding.So i'm still not sure on the subject really.
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but even with his pelvis out he still passed the flexion test!

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Bless - he must have wanted you to buy him!
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When i sold my last horse he was slightly lame on one leg first time in FT but he let him have another go and he passed - *phew*
 
of the last three horses I have bought, two I had vetted and one i did not. The two I had vetted went lame, one was diagnosed with ringbone a month after I got him, he had passed the five stage vetting with no problems.
I think if I were going to buy a very pricey horse I would get it vetted with x-rays, but as my lad I have now was dirt cheap I never bothered as he would have failed at the time as he was such a state.
 
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well i just paid £270 for a vetting for a horse who passed, i then bought him and a week later discovered a sarcoid which in all likelihood was there at the time of vetting. not amused!

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Didn't you vet him yourself? Or are you not allowed to vet your own horse? (I'm thinking insurance)
 
My last horse had a couple of Sarcoids, we had pointed them out before hand though, the vet didn't fail him for them - just pointed out the risks/that they were there to the new owners..

A bit crap he didn't even notice it!
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no ive not had one vetted before i've bought...but loads have been vetted that i've sold...

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Same here, and they always seem to pass, thank god!! It must be so gutting if you think you've got a buyer then you can't sell it or have to sell it loads cheaper!
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TBH, if it has a small problem that might cause it to fail...then it is priced accordingly...
 
I think it depends on the value of the horse, your own experience and knowledge, plus what would be the result if the horse went unsound.

Scenario 1: You have only been around horses a couple of years, have no land of your own and would have to keep horse at livery, the horse will be your only riding horse and you have nothing else to fall back on, the horse is worth a reasonable amount of money and you are soft-hearted and would not send the horse off for meat if turns out to be unrideable. In this case you would be a fool not to have it vetted!

Scenario 2: You have had horses for many years and know all the obvious signs of bad conformation, disease and injury, you have your own land so cheap to chuck horse out to recuperate if necessary, you have other horses to ride if necessary, have no qualms about having horse PTS/sent for meat if permanently unsound, horse is dirt cheap. In this case, probably not worth paying for a vetting!
 
The dealers yard I bought my first horse from insisted we had a vetting before they left the yard. We had to use their vet which was annoying. The second horse I had I had vetted by my own vet who passed. She had a sarcoid and ringbone. That was 11 years ago now. More recently I bought two brothers IDxTB from a good breeder who I didn't have vetted and they are both fine. I think it depends on what you want to do with the horse as well.
 
One Five stage, two their eyes only (I have a thing about them being able to see properly
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) and two not. No problems so far with any - well non that a vetting would have picked up!

One we did have on loan for three months, first, though!
 
not really if you know what your looking for i dont see the point even vets are human and miss things, and tbh my experience with vets to date dont exactly fill me with confidence in their ability to diagnose a problem. only reason i wld have one vetted would be for the piece of paper tht allowed me to insure for a high amount. i however advise other people i dont regard as knowledgable to have horses vetted everytime, vetting does have its uses
 
the only horse we ever had vetted is the only one that has had problems - shivers which the vet hadn't noticed... would never have horse vetted again.. It is only an indication of what they see on the day ...
 
i always have eyes and heart done, want it to be able to see where its running!!!! dont kno enough to do this myself so 'always' have my vet do it or one he recommends... Would never buy anything i didnt have vetted cant afford to take the risk, i know my luck isnt good enough to take the chance!!!
 
My first two horses weren't vetted because they were cheap one £1.5k and one £800 (ex racehorse), but both went wrong and I ended up with my ex racehorse being PTS, after trying to sell her and her failing a vetting. So if the people who were trying to buy her didn't have her vetted then they would have ended up with a very broken horse that could only be a field ornament or they would have had to make the same decision as I did and have her PTS.

So having 2 go wrong, I decided to have my current horse vetted and he passed with the only notes being a small splint and allergy bumps. The splint is not a problem to me and the allergy bumps have now dissappeared after putting him on ride and relax feed. If the vet had failed him then I would not have gone through with the sale due to insurance reasons and why pay for a vetting if your going to ignore what the vet says and buy the horse any way? Or am I getting the wrong end of the stick to what a vetting is used for?
 
I suppose it depends on the horse, and the experience of the person that is buying the horse. If you have owned horses all your life, know exactily what to look for etc, then you can use your own judgement. Me however am only 16, most riding done in a riding school, loaned a 3 year old and bought my first horse, after being vetted and her passing all of the vetting, I wouldn't know what to look for ina horse so far as flexion and soundness etc!
 
Depends really on alot of things , If I suspect something before hand then I will get a vet to have a look especially if its a horse I really like, and also dependso n the price of the horse .


Have only ever had tommy vetted , but that was due to a cough he had, wanted to make sure it wasnt some underlying problem ,which it wasnt luckily enough .

Missy was 6 mths when we bought her , got the vet to give her a quick once over when we where getting her vaccinated .
 
No very rarely, but then i have never paid much for anything and everything i have sold has always passed! If your not very knowledgable then you should prob get a check especially if paying alot of money, but i have known vets make very bad mistakes, failing for things which have never been any detriment to the horse.
 
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well i just paid £270 for a vetting for a horse who passed, i then bought him and a week later discovered a sarcoid which in all likelihood was there at the time of vetting. not amused!

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Didn't you vet him yourself? Or are you not allowed to vet your own horse? (I'm thinking insurance)

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yep, my insurance company wanted a 5 stage vetting certificate and not from me, so i didn't bother looking him over particularly carefully (learnt from that mistake), i trusted the 5 stage vetting to pick up anything to worry about - another big mistake. vets are human (I should know) and we do miss things, but this one is about to cost me a lot of money.
 
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