Bangagin
Well-Known Member
I've been looking for another horse for several months now, and finally found a really lovely mare who is quite local. She is very green for her age (9) as she was backed late but she has the kindest temperament I've seen in a long time.
After riding her a couple of times I had her vetted. I knew she had some sarcoids, and the owner was happy for me to speak to her local vet, which I did. He told me that he removed a nodular sarcoid from her belly under sedation by laser. The others are occult sarcoids which were dormant at the top of her back legs.
When my vet looked he said the sarcoid on her belly (which is a hard lump now and could be scar tissue or could be sarcoid tissue) he said that had not been removed by laser - it seemed more as if it had been treated with Liverpool cream. I'm sure I didn't misunderstand the conversation with their vet, so this seemed a bit odd. She did have a laser scar on the inside of her back leg so she had obviously had something removed there.
Anyway, she was flying through the vetting - flexion tests no problems - but when she was lunged on the concrete she was slightly lame on her left fore.
My vet stopped the vetting there and then, said there was little point in continuing - although with hindsight I wish we had continued with the ridden work. He told me she was a lovely horse, could see why I wanted to buy her, and recommended I ask the owner to get her vet to look into the lameness.
Now her owner is lovely - she knows I really want to buy her, but obviously I'm already taking a risk buying a horse with sarcoids (although her price reflects this) and so I can't buy a horse with an unknown lameness. She's asked her vet to come and take a look but I know how difficult it can be to diagnose a slight lameness without lots of expensive investigations.
I suppose deep down I'm a bit worried that we won't get to the bottom of the problem easily.
So two questions - what evidence would you be looking for from their vet re diagnosis of lameness? (I'm bit worried about just having a phone conversation after the sarcoid discussion) - and will I be getting any vetting paperwork from my vet if the process was stopped?
After riding her a couple of times I had her vetted. I knew she had some sarcoids, and the owner was happy for me to speak to her local vet, which I did. He told me that he removed a nodular sarcoid from her belly under sedation by laser. The others are occult sarcoids which were dormant at the top of her back legs.
When my vet looked he said the sarcoid on her belly (which is a hard lump now and could be scar tissue or could be sarcoid tissue) he said that had not been removed by laser - it seemed more as if it had been treated with Liverpool cream. I'm sure I didn't misunderstand the conversation with their vet, so this seemed a bit odd. She did have a laser scar on the inside of her back leg so she had obviously had something removed there.
Anyway, she was flying through the vetting - flexion tests no problems - but when she was lunged on the concrete she was slightly lame on her left fore.
My vet stopped the vetting there and then, said there was little point in continuing - although with hindsight I wish we had continued with the ridden work. He told me she was a lovely horse, could see why I wanted to buy her, and recommended I ask the owner to get her vet to look into the lameness.
Now her owner is lovely - she knows I really want to buy her, but obviously I'm already taking a risk buying a horse with sarcoids (although her price reflects this) and so I can't buy a horse with an unknown lameness. She's asked her vet to come and take a look but I know how difficult it can be to diagnose a slight lameness without lots of expensive investigations.
I suppose deep down I'm a bit worried that we won't get to the bottom of the problem easily.
So two questions - what evidence would you be looking for from their vet re diagnosis of lameness? (I'm bit worried about just having a phone conversation after the sarcoid discussion) - and will I be getting any vetting paperwork from my vet if the process was stopped?