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

I've always had all of mine vetted. I just want to know what I'm buying really.

For the obvious majority that don't have it done - how about insurance? My insurance company always wants vetting certificates. Do you insure them, and if so what for, and how - because I've never been able to arrange full veterinary cover without it?
 
Insurance! I was going to ask. If you buy a horse you think has a problem (and want to take it on, e.g. rescue or project) are you better off not having it vetted - and will the insurance company then pay out if no vetting was done if you get me?
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In my limited experience I was glad to have had a vetting done, as horse had sweet itch but vet was happy that it was perfectly manageable (thank god for boetts!) but did point out little things like a very slight parrot mouth, which all got excluded from insurance, which was annoying.
 
Interesting points about insurance - I have always been asked for a 5*vetting certificate as well. I suppose if you are not asked, might it be better not to have a vetting done? My boy needed shoeing badly at the vetting and the insurance excluded his feet until I got my farrier to write in saying he had had no problems after a few months!! I still feel happier having had one done though, flexion tests are controversial but they can highlight potential hock problems.
 
If I was buying to sell, then yes as I would be protecting my money to some extent. However, i think X-Rays prob tell alot more than a veting does, and would rather have that and a 2 stage!!
 
i don't, but like you tend not to spend alot, so i am happy to take the risk. the way i look at it is vetted or not the horse could break it's leg the next day and you'd be out of pocket anyway......
 
with regards to insurance, yuo're better off not getting a vetting if they'll cover the horse without a vetting certificate. i didn't get my last one vetted because i had him on loan for a year first and knew him inside out. i did see his previous vetting cert though and it picked up on his flat feet and the previous owner had an exclusion for them. i just started with a new insurance company with no knowledge of any problems with him so got no exclusions.
 
Never had one vetted and never had a problem that would have been picked up at vetting. The only big problem we had, which led to the horse being PTS at six years old appeared to be cushings syndrome that surfaced 18 months after we bought her. All the others have been fine. I'm pretty sure the old Shire/Clyde girl wouldn't have passed a vetting, but did her job with us until she was a very old lady.
 
Dont insure my horses for vets bills, if it was an excessive bill then would rather get a deal with the vet, or a loan. Most things i treat myself and regarding thing like leg injuries etc it is usually time and rest which is important and heals things longterm.
 
This is a difficult area and rather depends on what you're buying the horse for, and how much you're paying

I used to be a vet, working in Newmarket. At the Tattersall sales, we did full vettings that could include up to 42 radiographs to give us multiple views of multiple limbs... and still, clearly, there were going to be things we didn't find simply because not all lesions show up on x-ray

at the other end of the scale, if you're buying a kid's pony from a friend and have known it for 5 years and watched it go over a set of jumps, it's probably safe to take it on

the ones in the middle are the ones that fall down. I've lost count of the times recently, now I'm an ex-vet, when someone's asked me to 'just have a look' at something they've recently bought. To date, not a single one has been the age they were told - all of them have 'lost the passport' and got a new one. One had had 4 passports in 4 months when we looked back. I heard of another (but didn't actually see it, so this may be apocryphal) was officially registered as dead - it was an ex racehorse - they all have chips in - so get the microchip read and *check the history with wetherby's*.

so if you can't age a horse, at least get someone who can to go with you unless you don't care that your 6 year old is actually 12 or your 12 year old is actually rising 4.

and at least run your hands over its legs and ask it to back up, and turn on the forehand from the ground. Half the ones I look at can't do that - which says something about their physical or mental health and there are enough sound horses out there without needing to buy the unsound ones.

other than that, get a good vet who actually knows about horses. They still make mistakes, but fewer of them.

good luck

E
 
Have to say that it isan't easy to choose whether to vet or not when you buy especialling in that grey area Eceni described.

Personnally, having spent £150 only to discover that the horse had a rotated pelvis (didn't find out until I sold him) and both of us had to put up with 6months of distress and agony, I wouldn't bother again, even with my limited experience. My saddler fitted him but the new owner had someone to fit a saddle and she refused until his back had been sorted.

My mare wasn't vetted and I have had her 7 years with no problems, even the back lady couldn't find anything wrong and my mare is the longest horse in the world!

If you are not experienced enough or spending money you can't afford to loose, then the horse should be vetted to cover yourself. But it is an awful lot of money to tell you very little more than you can see yourself.

Also potentially dangerous when insuring, as idle comments can cause huge exclusions, like the flat feet example, you end up footing the bill for example hoof abcess (£200-300) which isn't covered but unrelated to the horse having flat feet just thin soles or a punture or stoney ground etc.
 
I've bought 3 horses, and two I didn't have vetted, one I did. I've obviously been lucky because I've never really had anything wrong with any of them - the first two both had minor short term lamenesses but other than that, no problems.

If I buy again in future, I probably would get a vetting because I don't have the experience to spot things that may cause a problem in future - but if I had a very experienced friend with me to look the horse over, and if it wasn't really expensive, I might not bother.
 
I should add - that had I bought the horse I had on loan for a period of time last summer then I wouldn't have had her vetted. I've known her since before she was borne, so would have felt confident buying without vetting.
 
I have only bought 2 horses in my life - one cheap one and one very expensive one.

I had both of them 5-stage vetted, and the second had 22 x-rays as well, required by the insurance company.

The second horse was only a 2yo at the time I bought him, had never had any problems and I completely trusted his owners, who are well-known judges/show-trainers and whose reputation would have been at stake. Oh - and this colt was not for sale - I had to beg and plead to be allowed to buy him.

Some people thought I was daft to waste money having this immaculate, perfect, pampered 2yo show-horse vetted, but although I totally trusted his owners, I figured there could be some hidden problem or potential problem that even they had missed, so it seemed sensible.

As it turned out, the colt passed with flying colours - the vet even rang me to gush about how super he was and how she couldn't find a single flaw, despite trying very hard.

But I have no regrets about having the vetting done, and would never buy a horse, even a cheap one, without a proper vetting. After all, the purchase price is usually the smallest of the costs involved in having a horse, and I am mindful of the age-old advice that a bad (or unsound) horse costs just as much to keep as good (or healthy) one!

In fact, a sick or unsound horse usually costs considerably MORE to keep (with all the vet bills, time off, etc.) than a healthy one.
 
I have never had a vetting done and, to date, no reason to regret it. if we were to buy something costing mega bucks, then we probably would.
 
I posted this before, but my friend bought a horse in Aug 07 and she fell in love straight away, flea bitten grey, 16 yrs, connemara, beautiful temp, cheep-ish. She got someone else to look at her, and that lady said she was a lovely horse and well worth getting. The horse came to the yard and settled in nicely and all was good, but then she started getting a bad eye that was cloudy in the 1st week. She got her vet out and that gave her drops and all sorts, but no one knew was it was. A few months later they found out it was glaucoma.
Then the next bad news was the horse had to have its eye out and cost loads!!

Thankfully now the mare is fine and getting on with life very well with just the one eye. She is still beautiful, inside and out. We asked the vet if they would have picked this up if she got her vetted but she said it probably wouldn't have shown up, its just unfortunate.

I didn't get my horse vetted when I bought him for £700 7 years ago, and now he is still fit and well with only 2 major accidents hehe!! It all depends on how much money you are willing to spend on buyng a horse I think.
 
Mine was vetted when he came over from Ireland then a couple of months later by his first owner , 5 stage then 6 months later by me another 5 stage! passed all with flying colours, but I have a friend that didn't have hers vetted and it ended up costing her a fourtune in vets bills and she eventually sold it for next to nothing as she couldn't afford to keep it any more, constantly lame!! Answer to question?? Dunno!!!
 
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