Horse selling vetting nightmare - opinions

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My friend has had a real night mare trying to sell her horse lately and I wondered what other people would do in this situation and what people thought....

She has a 16.3 TB gelding for sale and he is the ultimate happy hacker - he is the most fab horse you could wish for and has a gentle temprement to die for - he is 10 years old seen and done everything and is up for 2K including made to measure saddle and all his wardrobe - he really is 100% clip box shoe traffic - acr breaks and a angel to be around - also shows nicely and hunts and does sponsored rides - a real good allrounder !!!

She had a lady come out wanting a happy hacker and offered her full asking price subject to a five stage vetting - which he failed as he had some old tendon scar tissue and vet said even though he sailed through the whole vetting barring that he wasnt worth 500 quid - which I think is harsh as he is deffo worth 2K - anyway - woman would only offer my friend 1K and friend kindly said no thanks and that was that.

Lady number two came to see him on friday and arranged a two star vetting to be done - friend happy for him to be vetted and told lady that she needed to make sure vet was on time as she was working at 12pm and vetting was at 9am. Vet turned up at ten to 12 - no explaination why - lady wanted my friend to leave the horse with the vet - so my friend could go to work - my friend said no way as if anything happened to him - she would be liable etc - lady buyer went mental and is now trying to take my friend to court for the vetting costs????? Do you think this is ridiculous???? I think so - she also wants petrol money off my friend and a days full livery charge as she had to pay someone to do her horse whilst she was viewing this one? Also if the horse has passed the vert she wanted my friend to keep the horse for another two weeks until she had come off holiday ---- for free!!! Are people mad????

Also - if you wanted a happy hacker - would you walk away from a horse with tendon scar tissue - even though the vet failed it but said it would be more than up to the job of hacking?

Thanks for the thoughts xxx
 
I would tell the second lady exactly where she could shove her money! If she is like that over a vetting then think what she will be like if she gets the horse home and god forbid it spooks at something.

As for the tendon scarring, presumably this is from an old tendon injury? The horse will most likely stand up to a hacking home just fine but I can see why the buyer would be cautious.
 
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Also - if you wanted a happy hacker - would you walk away from a horse with tendon scar tissue - even though the vet failed it but said it would be more than up to the job of hacking

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Yep, every time I'm afraid.
 
tendon injury was when he was a four year old - all the vets reports and notes are still with him regarding what happend so they can see it wasnt a major injury BUT I agree I would have a horse with tendon scarring either
 
a minor tendon injury for a happy hacker wouldnt bother me no!

Christ you should see the tendon injuries that the racehorses get, properly bowed tendons, yet they go and stay sound , albeit with carefull management, for many more years racing.

Sounds like a whole lot of hoo ha to me, both buyers were timewasters really. The second lass sounds a complete cow, the owner must be gratefull that her horse didnt go to her!
 
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would you walk away from a horse with tendon scar tissue - even though the vet failed it

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I'm afraid I would. It may have been a condition of insurance to have a full vet certificate. I recently walked away from a nice pony with a minor failure because I would not have been able to get the insurance I wanted without the vet certificate.

As for lady No 2 - NO your friend should not pay her anything. She should stand her ground and repeat to her that the vetting was booked for 9am and she had advised them that she had to leave for work at 12noon. Porbably wasn't the lady's fault that the vet was so late, but it certainly wasn't your friend's fault. This lady should seek compensation from the vet, not your friend. Having said that, the vet probably booked the vetting for 9am but warned the lady he could be late if an emergency came up or something. But DEFINATELY NO, your friend owes her nothing.
 
Mmm. I know a lot of people who wouldn't bother getting a horse vetted for £2000 and would just take the risk.. The second lady sounds like a difficult person - I'd just say no, not prepared to sell to you and not prepared to cover your costs under any circumstances. It's not like you should have to pay someone to come and view your own horse?! If she throws a hissy fit, tough. Tell her to see you in court - she'd be laughed out of it. To file a claim in the small claims court, you have to prove that you have exhausted all reasonable means of arbitration and clearly that's not happened here.
 
Bless - sounds like temprament of my just retired TB.

I bought him unvetted 18 months ago, and after a year of him being ok everything went wrong - kissing spine, unlevel pelvis etc etc which would have been detected at the vetting. I have loved my time with him (and will pamper him to the end), and he learnt me to ride, but the heartache, stress and financial implications have been enormous.

I recently had my new one 5 star vetted and if failed, simply wouldnt ahve bought him, regardless of what the ailment was - it was the whole point in spending a few hundred pounds - to save me thousands in the long run.

Now vettings arnt simply pass or fail - you tell the vet the intended use and they pass or fail accordingly - for example my new cob is slightly cow hocked - would have failed as a show cob, but he passed as a riding club horse. So there may be more to it.
 
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Sounds like a whole lot of hoo ha to me, both buyers were timewasters really

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I agree that the second one has been less than reasonable - but how can the first one be classed as a time waster? She paid for her vet to assess the horse - he said don't buy it. Should she now ignore that advice??
 
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Sounds like a whole lot of hoo ha to me, both buyers were timewasters really

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I agree that the second one has been less than reasonable - but how can the first one be classed as a time waster? She paid for her vet to assess the horse - he said don't buy it. Should she now ignore that advice??

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Fair point I suppose, but to fail a £2k happy hacker because of a minor amount of tendon scar tissue, . Also assuming that the horse has passed all flexion tests and stayed sound trotting on circles. Don't forget that vets are so frightened pf being sued nowdays, that they will fail anything that has the slightest thing wrong. Sometimes a buyer has to just weigh up the odds.

There have been top racehorses that have had minor tendon injuries that have sold on for big money despite a well healed tendon injury, yet the owners trainers have been happy to have taken the risk with them. I should think that if a racehorse with minor tendon damage can stay sound, then a happy hacker most certainly could.

Of course there is always a risk with whatever horse you buy, tendon damage or no tendon damage!!
 
The difference being that most people that buy decent racehorses have a fair bit of cash and are after short term success,

whereas a more typical happy hacker is looking for a long term sound partner and doesn't necessarily want the risk of huge vets bills ... esp when insurance wouldn't cover that tendon!
 
yeah - I agree there too and so does my friend - first person deffo not a timewaster - she was nice and came a LONG LONG way to see the horse -

I was at the first vetting - vet was cow - said she has to fail the horse BUT as a hacking horse it technically passed - vet was just being an ar$e - even the prospect buyer was saying to the vet - do the five stage for my intended pupose - I dont want it for jumping -

but never mind - lol - he will sell - he is ace xx
 
i'm def a competition horse girl , but i think £2k incl saddle sounds a very reasonable price for a sound reliable hack with a past injury that the vet says is up to the job , so i wouldn't turn the horse down , to me there are very few horses about for that money that don't have some sort of 'issue'
 
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... I'd be tempted to take the 1K offer if I thought it was the right home

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I would do likewise but would re-think the tack. Once you have thrown that in you have virtually given the horse away.
 
for 2k i would let that slip, the horse that failed the vetting for me last week was classed as 8/10 lame after the flexion, lame on the lunge, had a cyst in his eye and enlarged glands and he was 6k and no tack, and i still felt guilty as hell saying no. it is no fun for the buyer not being able to justify buying a horse you really want.
 
this horse is worth the 2k asked for esp as comes with tack, as for tendon injury, thats the risk you would take buying a horse for 2k + tack, i would expect something to be amiss the price reflects the old injury!!!

people are insane!!! i was offered on a horse 5 times that price we arranged a vetting, and then she tells me she wants me to keep him for 3 months while she raises the money to pay for him!!!! She got guzzumped !!as was offered same price but immediate payment!!
 
I think for a 10 year old horse with an old (healed) tendon injury that 2k is a fair price esp if includes tack so I think your frined should just wait, the right buyer will turn up. We have an ex racehorse (24 yrs old) who we 'adopted' cos his owner was going to have him PTS 5 years ago (she didn't have anywhere to keep him). He broke down in NH racing many years ago, they 'fixed' him and re-raced him but from his records it looks like he was pulled up so don't know if his tendons went again. Anyway, his owner had him for many years did xc, sj and hacking with no problems (he also had an accident with a gate and did further damage to his tendons!). He has visibly swollen/bowed tendons although they've hardened up since he's out on hilly fields 24/7.

He's hacked for miles with us, done a few small showjumping events and even a small xc and he's not been lame in the 5 years we've had him. i wouldn't rule out a horse if i just wanted it for hacking and it had an injury like this. Vets can tell what damage was caused and what the state of the tendon is now so can advise if ok for the job. A horse that passes a vetting can breakdown/rupture a tendon or break a leg etc that's just horses. If i liked a horse enough it wouldn't bother me for that money if he was perfect for me in every other way.
 
I think the price is more than fair if all you say is true - ANY horse can sustain any injury unfortunately, and as the damage occurred so long ago and there are full vets notes available AND tack thrown in I would say he is a bloody good buy!

I agree with above that vets are WAY too over cautious these days.
 
Sorry but minor tendon injury can become major issue, a year out of work for e.g if horsey goes blowing about the field. I would walk away
Second buyer sounds like one to steer clear of and don't give her any money!
 
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