Flexion test

[dreamcometrue]

What are your thoughts on the flexion test carried out during vetting?

I know of 2 horses who failed because of showing some unsoundness after the flexion test. One was revetted and passed. The other is definitely sound.

 

[BigRed]

My friend wanted to buy a horse. He vet came and it failed on several things. That vet went on holiday so she sent the senior partner in. He passed the horse with no problems. 2 points. Vet 1 is a very inflexible person, Vet 2 has a more practical view on vettings. He considered its faults were within certain acceptable tolerances.

It is a bit of a nightmare.

 

[pinklilly]

What exactly is a flexion test supposed to show up? I mean what ailments? Just curious as a lot of people don't seem to regard this as hugely important that a horse passes the flexion tests.

 

[JLav]

A Flexion test will highlight any issues with any of the parts of the leg stressed by the flexion ie a hind flexion will show up subtle issues with the fetlocks, hocks, stifles, hips and the sacral-illiac region as well as suspensory problems. These issues could be bony or soft tissue.

I know of several horses who are apparently sound on a day to day basis and competing happily in their various disciplines who would all fail flexion tests...however they all have been dignosed with problems which are managed sucessfully...at the moment!! These horses may stay sound for another day, week, month, year or forever but I would not personally buy one of them if they were for sale as it would be a huge gamble. (I hasten to add these horses are not for sale, they belong to friends and/or clients and have been lame in the past and diagnosed and treated for various ongoing conditions. I'm just using them as examples of horses that would appear perfectly sound in normal work but do have underlying problems which will probably affect and shorten their careers at some time in the future.)

I personally would not buy a horse that failed a flexion test but that's only my opinion based on my experiences. Others feel very differently about them.

The other thing to bear in mind is how the flexion test is done...an over enthusiastic vet can put too much pressure on the joints though I've still seen plenty of sound horses pass even these with flying colours.

There are so many horses that don't fail flexion tests I just don't see the point in buying a potential problem with one that does though I would add that my thoughts are based on the assumption that we are talking about competition horses. If I was buying a happy hack or maybe an older horse that was primarily being bought as a school master it would be a different kettle of fish.

 

[Brandy]

Depends what sort of horse you are buying and for what purpose, also how much money you are spending!

Personally, if the horse was fine in all other respects, it wouldn't me off if it failed on a flexion test. I said on another thread quite recently, how sound would you be if you knelt on the floor for prescribed time then tried to get up and run away?

If I was paying wads for a competition horse then I would probably feel differently.

Saying that, my elderly arthritic horse passed a flexion test. The vet was astounded. So was I. Just goes to show how 'useful' they are!