Gutted - horse failed its vetting :-(

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Riverboy

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Had what I thought was my perfect new horse vetted today and he failed on his flextion test on his left hind - was quite clearly lame and the vet failed him. Having had soundness issues I think I've decided to walk away - said I'd sleep on it the sellers are friends and are happy for me to do so... but I am gutted. I've been riding him on and off since Feb and he's a little cracker of a boy... ho hum...

So if any of you are bored fancy horse hunting for me... looking for a nice sane all rounder - not a world beater just capable of doing a prelim/novice dressage test, popping a jump and hacking out... age - not to bothered 5 to about 13 height 15.2 - 16/2hh but cant be chunky as I have a hip that dislocates itself for around 3k (vets bills killed my horse fund :( )...

Have a hot choccy and the home baked cakes I made for the vet/sellers... xx
 
Flexion tests are a bit of an odd one. A vet can easily make a horse lame by holding the leg incorrectly when another vet will hold it differently and the horse will be totally sound. Is it worth getting another vet to have a look at the leg in question?
 
You have my sympathy, I had my "perfect horse" fail the vet a month ago, absolutely gutted and still haven't found anything else.

Failed on the left hind too and was noticeably unsound.

You have done the sensible thing but it is no consolation. Where in the country are you looking?
 
Don't worry the first horse I had vetted failed too and it was a blessing in disguise as I then found an even nicer one a few months later. Look on it as a positive you have missed out on one but possibly avoided lameness issues and there might be something more suitable out there for you as well.
 
My friend got a horse vetted by two different vets ... first one pasted as sound second failed on flexions as it came up lame on both hinds! It was stabled at our yard and was always lame one day fine the next, so they had a lucky escape! ... But i suppose it does make a difference in how the vet holds the leg
 
It depends on why the vet thinks it failed/what caused the lameness & if there are any quick/cheap ways of ahving a look to see if there is a real problem there.

It is a shame when you have fallen in love with a horse.
 
My horse failed his vetting yesterday as well, funnily enough on his left hind!
It's annoying, he had flexion done 3 weeks ago and passed :mad: and the people who wanted him are lovely, but don't want to risk it :/ it was barely noticeable, lame for 3 strides VERY slightly, and the vet was only allowing 2 oh ffs :(
 
There are plenty of horses out there that will fail a flexion test. Ever knelt on the floor for a bit then got up quickly and tried to run away???? ;)

Seriously, if you are not wanting to compete and the horse doesn't have a history of unsoundness then it may not be the end of the world?

If you have made your mind up good luck in your search.
 
My mate's current horse failed a flexion test on initial purchase - she cried for a week. She then had a different vet look at it a week later and nothing showed up. Turned out the horse injured itself in the field the day of the inital vetting. She bought the horse, never been an issue - that was 2 yrs ago.
 
sorry for you esp since you have liked and bonded with horse no one can really say or advise unless had previous unsoundness issues which has made you walk away you dont want to go through that again neither would i ,chances are you could be ok could not ,if you sleep on it and really want a try ,you could get a second opinion if they agree to take the second vettings cost of the price if you buy ?
In the mean time as you said, start looking again
 
If you really like the horse I would look into why it failed. Perhaps the horse had tweeked something and will pass on another day - what did the vet have to say regarding severity of the lameness and cause?

ClarePauling: I am surprised at the vet failed on that! What bad luck!
 
I think a lot of horses fail on the flexion test. If I'm not spending a fortune I would still consider it - especially as you've known the horse for a few months and don't want to do too high a level of competeing with it... Would they negotiate on price due to this?
 
Hi all - sorry for the late reply I was having trouble with the forum last night and only just managed to get back on...

He was really quite lame on the flextion and then unlevel when being ridden. This was odd as he'd been fine on Thursday when I had an awesome hack on him. The trouble is I've lost two horses due to soundness problems since Oct 2009 and I am very cautious about it... Vet said I could X Ray but in his opinion it was good money after bad. He said it was likely to be something with his joints as he then flextioned him after riding and he came up significantly more sound... its such a hard decision, they've said to take my time making up my mind... I know the sensible thing to do is walk away - mainly due to what has happened before... but he's such a character I really like him.

My friends are all cautious because they've seen the heartache I went through with the other two and this one is GOING to be the fun one... Need some more sleeping on it, thought I might go and see another one or two and see how they compare to him - they are in no rush to sell the lad and are happy for me to take me time.

Thanks for all the helpful replies though - its interesting to read others experiences...

T xx
 
Reading your posts again, I think you have made up your mind.

It reads to me as though you know that the right thing is to walk away but you wish you didn't have to. I know how this feels, I've been there, and after six months of searching I really didn't want to walk away from the perfect horse. It is gutting.

You know only too well the implications on owning an unsound horse, there are plenty out there who are sound within your price bracket and you will find one, it may take a little time but you will. There is always a chance that a horse will encounter problems in the future but at least if it passes the vet you have done everything you can to ensure you don't buy yourself a problem.

Really sorry to hear about this, but hopefully there will be something even better around the corner.
 
It's not only gutting, but expensive when a horse you have set your heart on fails a vetting. I can't offer you any advice, except to say that I had 2 vetted last year, both who failed and I was gutted. However I am now so glad that they did as otherwise I would not have found Harvey. I have had him for 7 months now and am absolutely besotted! And he is a million times nicer than the 2 that failed! I am a big believer in fate and if it's meant to happen, it will.
 
FMM said:
Flexion tests are a bit of an odd one. A vet can easily make a horse lame by holding the leg incorrectly when another vet will hold it differently and the horse will be totally sound. Is it worth getting another vet to have a look at the leg in question?
Click to expand...

I agree with you ! I am rather dubious about these tests too. I wonder how many sound horses would also fail this test.

By the way my ned failed his vetting and I went ahead and bought him anyway. (It wasn't the flexion test it was his back that failed him needed the McTimmony lady to treat it)
 
What will happen to him now, then? Could you loan him until such time as his 'lameness' either gets worse or resolves. If you haven't got a comptition career mapped for yourself and future horse, will he fill a gap? He has been fine up until the vetting? His owners may not have the confidence to advertise him again.

To muddy the waters further, a pony we really, really wanted failed badly on a foreleg flexion. The vet had a chat to their vet who re-flexed it (on their request as they were as shocked as anyone) and he was very undecided if lameness was present. My vet still advised walk away, so we did. The pony was subsequently sold, unvetted, and spent two seasons hunting hard and showing with never a lame stride. Gah and Grrrr.

A blind man on a foggy night could have spotted the flexion failure as the pony reared on flexion and was still lame on the trot back!
 
oooh dear, never mind probably for the best, better to find out sooner than later, is a shame though.

Good luck with your search, the perfect horse will be out there. :)
 
Has he had any lameness in the time you've been riding him? If he hasn't then I wouldn't be put off by the vetting result. A friend of mine was selling a horse recently and he failed a vetting as the vet diagnosed cataracts in both eyes. Coincidentally, the horse was having his annual vaccs the next day with his usual vet and friend mentioned the failed vetting to him. They arranged for the horse to go into the surgery and have a proper eye exam done under surgical conditions and it turned out that it wasn't cataracts at all but some anomaly from when he was a foal. It was a completely static condition, would not progress and did not affect his eyesight at all so the prospective purchaser bought him after all although they deducted the price of the vetting from the purchase price.
 
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