Horse vetting , to buy or not to buy ?

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Lottiedots

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I've been looking for new horse for a while as my old boy is now getting on a bit. Lots of horses seen and finally find one that I think is perfect for me. Had a vetting, she was low grade lame on trot on circle at start of vetting. To cut a long story short I had the vet back twice more to see if it was just some thing on the day but at last visit he said she was still 1/10th intermittent lame on circle. He said there was a good probability that it would never be problem. After a lot of thinking I decided against purchase as I knew it would bother me and I want to know that I have a horse that at least starts out 100% sound. But I know I have missed out on really lovely horse and hope that I don't regret my decision,
so the question is this....
Did you buy a horse that failed its vetting ?
and was ,
A, the best decision you ever made?
B, the worst decision you ever made!
 
I bought mine for £1 after he failed a vetting 3 years ago. Best decision I ever made! He is now competing elementary affiliated dressage and schooling medium...

BUT!!! I am a vet!! And knew exactly what the cause of the lameness was (bone spavin), it was pretty subtle and I also know that a different vet might well have passed him (I pick fussy vets!) He was only lame on flexions ( for a couple of strides) but did have changes on X-rays. I took a gamble. I'm not sure that I would recommend following my lead though- especially if the horse is lame on a circle on multiple occasions and you dont know the cause.
 
Such a silly test when they never use that trot on a small circle at any other time for a soundness test. But I have to accept their reason for doing it, even the vet said if I bought her he would never do that to test for lameness other than at a vetting!
 
Lottiedots said:
Such a silly test when they never use that trot on a small circle at any other time for a soundness test. But I have to accept their reason for doing it, even the vet said if I bought her he would never do that to test for lameness other than at a vetting!
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I work with about 9 vets on a fairly regular basis, from 4 different practices and they all trot on hard ground on a tight circle during a lameness work up
 
Sasha was 1/10 lame on small circle. But fine otherwise, we bought her, and 5 months on she is a super polox horse for my lad... Vet stated was only just one tenth, but she did not have shoes on and that probably contributed to it. I never regret buying her.
 
First pony failed flexion test big style, reared up and nearly flipped herself over. Bought her anyway for meat money. It wasn't a perfect decision, I couldn't leap on and razz her around like a lot of teenagers, but we still managed to hack for hours, do low level jumping and dressage and have a wonderful time. And I learned a huge amount about how to keep a horse sound. Pony was with me til she died at 39.

Current pony was also mildly lame, thought to be caused by mud fever scab being irritated by flexion. Bought him too and it was the best decision I ever made.
 
I don't usually pay a vet to do my vettings unless the horse is hundreds or thousands of miles away and even then I only do it because I have to, to be able to import the horse. This horse you have looked at OP, if you think it's perfect for you apart from the slight lameness then why not have it xrayed? Almost every grown horse that I sell to far afield has xrays taken as a matter of course.
 
I bought a Sec D stallion some years ago. The seller told me he didn't like the horses being ridden in their own fields, but after he had sat my then very young daughter up on his back (!) and I did see someone ride him briefly he said I could take him on a two week trial. Of course in the two weeks I fell in love with him and he was perfect in every way apart from a tendency to rush off when you first got on.

Had him vetted at the end of the trial and he failed!!

He had done a lot of driving and the vet thought he had probably fallen in harness and damaged his pelvis. I can't remember all the details now but the seller's reply was that he had been absolutely fine when he left his yard and it must have happened while he was with me. My sensible head said send him back but he was such a lovely horse I couldn't and bought him anyway.

He had several months of physio and came completely sound and I never once regretted buying him, even though I found out the reason he rushed off was because he had never been broken to ride, only to drive!
 
Spring Feather said:
I don't usually pay a vet to do my vettings unless the horse is hundreds or thousands of miles away and even then I only do it because I have to, to be able to import the horse. This horse you have looked at OP, if you think it's perfect for you apart from the slight lameness then why not have it xrayed? Almost every grown horse that I sell to far afield has xrays taken as a matter of course.
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well yes probably could have had xrays but by the time the vet had been 3 times i decided i had spent enough on this horse, we thought it was because she had been poorly shod/foot imbalance which is why I gave her another chance. Maybe lesson learnt but I dont do this very often so hard to know what to do for best.
 
For me it would be based on the age of the horse - if it was a 15yr old then I would be more suprised if it actually passed the flexion test!

But if it was a youngster that failed I would probably think twice......

Good luck with whatever decision you make.
 
Sidney said:
For me it would be based on the age of the horse - if it was a 15yr old then I would be more suprised if it actually passed the flexion test!

But if it was a youngster that failed I would probably think twice......

Good luck with whatever decision you make.
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I agree with this..it also depends on the price. How many horses are 100% anyway?
 
Did the vet do pressure tests on the foot, as you would in the case of wondering if it was an abscess or something? I had low grade bruising in one hoof, that several months later blew into an abscess, then the lad was perfectly sound
 
the horse is 8 so really should be sound and I was offered some money off but a lame horse is no good to me at any price, but agree if it was 15 then i probably wouldn't have worried, and would have been cheaper. The problem also is that I then have exclusion on my horse insurance.
 
elijahasgal said:
Did the vet do pressure tests on the foot, as you would in the case of wondering if it was an abscess or something? I had low grade bruising in one hoof, that several months later blew into an abscess, then the lad was perfectly sound
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yes did this first time and no reaction to hoof testers
 
Was there any indication of *why* the horse was 1/10th lame? (e.g. hoof imbalance, bruising on the sole, poor shoeing, etc). For me, that would be a big factor in deciding whether or not to go ahead with a purchase. I don't necessarily expect/require a horse to *pass* a vetting, I just want to know what I'm likely to be dealing with and let that inform the ultimate decision.**

(**This may be down to extreme cynicism - I have an in-work 15 year old with hock arthritis who comes up totally sound on a flexion test and a retired 14 year old with perfect hoof xrays and MRI scans, who is consistently lame on one or both forelegs but comes sound when the feet are nerve blocked. Go figure...).
 
It only 'failed' as you've decided not to go ahead (at the moment). For me, I think of a vet test like a surveyors report when buying a house. They are going to tell you everything that's wrong with the house/horse; they have to as you've paid them to. If there was a serious issue - like subsidence for a house/kissing spine for the horse then move away. If there is a 1/10 lameness on a short circle that the expert has said 'it won't cause a problem' then it is in your hands to make the decision. I'm not saying its any easy decision to make, but you've already said you've seen a few before finding the 'one'. Good luck with whatever you decide, if it were me, I'd go for it!
 
I might buy a horse that failed a flexion test but don't think I'd buy one that was lame on a circle on more than one occasion unless I knew the cause.
 
To be honest I've never had any of mine vetted and never had a problem, but there again I just want them for hacking now, but my old skewbald bought off a meat man had him for over 22 years, we did most things from x-country, hunting, jumping and a little dressage that he wasn't to keen on and he only developed sidebones in his 30's.
 
Yes, my dads horse. Long story, but when we went looking at said horse he was in a right old state and lame. We couldnt leave him, so agreed with the seller a 2 week trail, in which time we got him shod (he had 2 shoes missing and one hanging on) and got him vetted. We knew he was unlikely to pass, but wanted to know if he was fixable. He failed, vets advice was to walk away and take him back, but we couldnt. We managed to get a small amount of the purchase price off, but not alot.

Anyway that was 12 years ago and he's an amazing horse, we would have struggled to have found my dad a better horse, so yes, it worked out for us!
 
I paid for a 5 star vetting and my horse passed. Bought horse. Then horse begun to show problems with hind legs. Rung vet up, said it had passed vetting so there couldn't be anything wrong. Am still having issues. Never had any of previous horses vet and they all turned out fine. So, the jury is out for me on that one.
 
exracehorse said:
I paid for a 5 star vetting and my horse passed. Bought horse. Then horse begun to show problems with hind legs. Rung vet up, said it had passed vetting so there couldn't be anything wrong. Am still having issues. Never had any of previous horses vet and they all turned out fine. So, the jury is out for me on that one.
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This, for me, is the reason vettings are not worth the time or money involved. I prefer to make my own judgement and, if I buy the horse, get it home, insure it and then deal with any problems as they arise without having a prior exclusion on the insurance to deal with :rolleyes3:

Having said that I would want eyes and heart checking first if I was paying any significant amount of money.
 
I bought my gelding after he failed the vet.

However I'd had him on loan for a year, is an older horse and failed on flexions/small circle on lunge. He had to be mediated for arthritic hocks a year down the line, but given his age and that i already knew him, and adore him, it was a risk worth taking.

he is a saint and currently competing BE novice.
 
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