In a right dilemma!

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GREYSMEADOW

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... I’m not sure which may to go!

Had a 5yo vetted a few weeks ago and he ended up being 6-7 10ths lame (ridden on circle) and so vetting came to an immediate halt.
Vet suggested horse to be re-shod and still be exercised and come back in 2 weeks to re-vet. Owner got horse re-sod after 9 days and I was asked by owner to re-book for vetting the following week bearing in mind this is 13 days. Got re-vetting and is now 1-2 10ths lame (average 1 10th lame) so he’s made an improvement in this amount of time (whilst being stabled). The vet thinks that he’s probably just twisted/jarred himself on the hard ground (which is also rutty) and so the vetting came to a brief halt again. Suggested month off in field and start light exercising and the vet again in say 2 months time.

The thing is this horse is really really suitable for me and I have a feeling that he may become lamer if he’s going to be turned out in a rutty field (probably with others). I don’t think the owner will rest him in the field for this amount of time either. I reckon the owner will just do field rest for 2 weeks and then start exercising and ask me to have him re-vetted the 3rd week.

A friend of mine suggested offering £1K off of asking price and take a risk – he will probably come sound in a couple of weeks if he was with you. Thing is I want to be able to get him insured. I expect the vet hadn’t got as far as the heart checks for the vetting.

I haven’t put any deposit down (they don’t work like this) even though we have formally agreed and shaken hands on the price. I’m thinking whether the owner would be prepared to have him over at my place for approx. 1 month if I was willing to pay an amount say between £1-£2K as a deposit but with some kind of warranty that’s if he is not vetted sound in 6-8 weeks then he’s returned and I would get all my money back. I have access to a sand school (within 50 metre away). The horse could have some light work at walk on the lanes/bridleways after a period of field rest (in his own field with other horse/pony (split by elec. fencing)). He could be vetted again in my neighbour’s school (they can come and ride him for vetting) as they don’t have the facilities at the moment and also vetting in the field. So it would become a kind of ‘loan to view to buy’ – subject to vetting basis. I wonder if I could get any insurance cover for this situation.

What would you do? Have you purchased a horse who failed the 2nd vetting (5 stage) and still purchased perhaps at a reduced price and then had horse vetted 3rd time?

I would welcome your comments in all directions.

Feel free to email me at greysmeadow100@aol.com if you wish.

Many thanks.
 
Honestly I wouldn't do it. Horse has failed vetting twice and there's no guarantees that it would come sound.

I'd walk away.
 
as you have asked for opinions, here goes:-

if you have him on loan for a while, will you get so fond of him it will be difficult to let him go if he doesnt come sound?

how much do you want to do? if its just a bit of hacking then you could take a chance BUT if you want to compete, even at a lower level, i would be a little wary.....


i would also worry that you would have trouble getting your deposit back if he didnt come right.....

sorry to be so negative but this is just my opinion for what its worth. good luck whatever you decide..
 
I had a similar situation with a mare I really liked. I had her vetted and she trotted up (very) lame in the 5th stage. Everyone was shocked (including the vet) and thought maybe she had knocked or strained herself during the work stage. So we waited a week, she was trotting up sound, so we re-vetted. Again, she trotted up lame in stage 5, although admittedly not as bad as the first time.

The owner thought maybe she should have rested the horse longer, but the vet told me quite clearly not to buy as her instinct was that it was an underlying problem that may only show up under the strain of vetting at this stage, but could become worse with time.

I walked away, even though it really upset me. I did not want, and could not afford, to buy a horse that might end up on lengthy box-rest or possibly retired. I also could not risk insurance not paying out for any future problems due to the vetting. Now maybe the mare would have been fine for the rest of her life, or maybe it would have been years before anything surfaced, but maybe within months or even weeks I would have ended up with a serious veterinary problem.

You just don't know, so it is up to you whether you want to risk it. I didn't (and wouldn't) for the reasons I have explained. You have to ask yourself, why did you get the vetting?
 
Not sure if you read my reply on your previous post to say you were having a horse vetted (I'm assuming it is this one?) as you only wrote the post but never replied to any posters who commented...I still stand by what I said in the last post, see below:

MY REPLY TO YOUR PREVIOUS POST
As regards flexion tests (or anything else that the vet would regard as a fail) even if you were to get money off, I would still say don't do it. I know some people may disagree with me BUT a very good friend of mine had a horse fail on flexion. She had fallen in love with him and decided to buy him anyway at a reduced price

She was advised by her own vet to tell the insurance company she HADN'T had a vetting and that way she would have no exclusions on that leg. She did exactly that.

All was well until the horse went lame on that leg :( yes she was insured but quite frankly that's not the point. The horse was on box rest for 9 months and had PRP treatment etc. He did not improve and his fetlock started to collapse, the vets said there was absolutely no choice but to put him down :(

After all the heartache I saw her go through I am more than a little miffed that her own vet advised her to do the above, they would have been better off advising her if they had spoken to the vet who did the vetting and get the vets version of the failed flexion test rather than just say "Tell the insurance company you didn't get him vetted"

My own boy was PTS last August after various lameness issues and quite frankly I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

If you buy this horse then you are absolutely mad, I'm sorry to be blunt but really you need to get a grip :(

The horse may well be perfect for you BUT will it still be perfect if it's lame?

I can't understand why people have horses vetted, which then fail only to throw more money at subsequent vettings at which they fail again. I agree with you having 2 vettings as the first could be tweak but come on why would you have a 3rd vetting done? The owner clearly wants rid sooner rather than later hence not wanting to rest for too long...maybe that's because they want rid before it breaks completely!!

I'm also assuming your friend isn't a qualified vet? in which case I'm surprised that your friend can be so sure that the horse will come sound with you? I apologise for being harsh but I don't think your friend is helping you at all!!

Yes it could come sound with rest but you want a horse to ride don't you and who is to say that it will stay sound after it comes back into work if there is some kind of weakness with this horse.

Yes you could rest it, get it sound, pass the vet only for it to go lame once in work and the owner could then turn round and say you'd worked it too hard too soon etc and you have lots of hassle, heartache and a lame horse.

There are plenty of horses out there you just need to be patient. I spent 2 years looking for my horse and you might think that is ridiculous but I walked away from horses which failed vettings and I do not regret it one bit.

One horse was fantastic and we loved her, she failed the vetting and the owner was very angry and said it had never been lame before and it was probably a tweak. She was local and it was awful when 3 weeks later I bumped into her at a riding club showjumping training session. She was quite snotty with me and said "look at my wonderful horse you've turned down" well her wonderful horse was STILL lame, even if she couldn't see it!! That horse completely broke 2 months later and is now at the blood bank as will never be ridden again due to the lameness. I was really disappointed as we so wanted to buy her, she was everything we were looking for but would be no good to me now so I'm glad I walked away.
 
i certinally wouldnt pay 1-2 k as a deposit far to much dosh to lose if seller turns bad.

does vet have any idea where lameness is coming from??

why was owner not willing to get a lame horse investigated??

see just too many wat ifs/questions
 
Absolutely no way. Walk away. They break easily &often enough as it is,without getting one that's already questionable.You will find another and you will get over it.
Good luck:)
 
A 2k deposit with a bit of paper saying they'll return it if the horse doesn't come sound? Good luck enforcing that when they've spent the money and decide they don't want a lame horse back.

You could make a reduced offer and take a chance, but a lame horse is only worth meat money, so would the seller take that? If you're talking about a 2k deposit I don't think they would. And unless you'd be prepared to sell for meat if it doesn't come sound then you still lose out financially.
 
Walk away, if 2K is a deposit it's not a cheap enough horse to take a chance on IMHO

There are plenty out there that don't come with problems

(in saying that I've just bought a pony with problems which I don't regret!)
 
Sorry GreysMeadow, I know you've been looking for ages but it's just not worth the risk. If the owner will let you have her on lwvtb with no deposit, then maybe it would be worth it. As the others have said though, best advice is to walk away :(
 
Walk away. The fact that it was very lame at the first vetting and the owners didn't highlight this fact so costing you the price of the vetting in itself is reason for me to walk. If it had been minorly lame first time round on a flexion test that is different but in this case I would walk away as I suspect the horse would not stay sound long term.
 
Thank you for all your comments – very much appreciated. I think I must have had my brain in my knickers when I was typing this post regarding the deposit.

FYI - the flexion tests on both vettings were both sound (no lameness) but prior to the first vetting he got kicked by a visiting mare who got through the fencing.

I have since been in touch with the owner (a dealer who has a very good reputation on this forum) and the horse is coming over to me for a period so that I can keep an eye on him etc etc to hopefully become 100% sound for vetting etc.

I did try him originally when he first arrived and decided then he wasn’t for me (he looked sound then). Had always had him in the back of my mind through whilst I continue to search. I then went back about a month later and he had changed/improved hence the reason why I want to buy him. I have been looking since earlier this year for a suitable horse to ‘happy hack’ around the lovely countryside and perhaps do a few local sponsored rides and a bit of flatwork; and if the horse is up to a bit of jumping, or dressage or even showing then I have lots of horsey friends I know would jump at the chance as my competition days are over but any jumping/shows etc is really not essential. The plan is loan with a view to buy subject to vetting. He ticks all the other boxes for me. However, it will not stop me horse hunting when he is in my care.

When he becomes sound (hopefully he will) and has had some level of exercise to keep him ticking over I am thinking of having a 2 stage vetting and x-rays of his fronts. Having had a chat with Mr Farrier today he has advised me to get all feet x-rayed at the same time – could have feet x-rayed one at a time so that you can see on the screen virtually straight away and then if all is clear/well when go into vetting stage.

Neddynesbitt – I believe I did reply back earlier this year but I’m wondering if it got sent as for some reason when I type a lengthy reply I loose it and have to log back in to this forum. This is a different horse from the previous one which had a 5 stage vetting with broken tooth, a number of lumps and bumps to the extent that insurance would exclude.

We will see how things proceed.
 
Fingers crossed for you OP, I really hope it works out. Its heartbreaking to find the perfect horse (if there is ever such a thing!) only for it to fail the vetting.
As your only looking to hack and the occaisonal fun ride/show I can see why you're taking a chance on him, and as long as you go into it with very clear aims and limits its probably worth a chance. Fingers crossed for the little chap :)
 
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