Incorrect horse or rubbish vet?????????

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Victoria25

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Hi guys

Not sure what to think at the moment:

Brought a 10 year old TB last year, came with passport as normal, markings are EXACTLY the same so never any reason to look into any further. I bought from a very inexperienced home who never rode him (too scared) and I later found out she bought him off a lady whos daughter kept being thrown from him (I spoke to the mother after getting her details from the passport). She said she bought from a rehoming centre.

So that all adds up and we’ve started from scratch with him since.

OK, fast forward to yesterday when the said TB had to have x-rays on his face due to a large lump appearing on his nose. Luckily, no tumour present or sinus issues but he confirmed that not to worry, just seems as though he’d had a bang and now he’s on medication etc to deal with it.

BUT and this is a big but he said how old is he? I said 10 – he said he’s more like 20 going off his teeth as the roots should be a lot longer. Are you sure he’s 10? To which I can only say well so his passport says. So out came the scanner to check his chip. Couldn’t be found. Vet came away saying its not the same horse and that at some point he thinks the horse has been shot and been replaced.

As you can imagine I was a bit upset. I don’t care if he’s 10 or 20 as he;s now part of the family but he certainly doesn’t look 20 but I was more upset that just when I thought I’d managed to piece together his past felt like I really didn’t know who the hell he was.

Sooooooooo I then went back to the rehoming centre and they’ve seen his pics and said yes, its deffo him that we rehomed and last night she emailed pics of him jumping etc from when she had him.

It’s the same horse. She even said we always wondered where he’d gone and said that if I ever sold him, she’d want first refusal as her husband wanted him.

So first initial reactions??????????

xx
 
Ask the practice for a copy of the images and show them to another vet/dentist. (I never trust vets if my gut says differently!). Good luck, must be very frustrating to not know.
 
bit of an odd situation i must say - but my first reaction is that it is still the same horse, judging by the research you've done into previous owners.

teeth are a good way to 'estimate' the age of a horse but i wouldn't say its always overly accurate - someone else on here would probably be better to advise on that as i'm not expert on teeth!

maybe you could get a proper EDT out to look at his teeth instead of a vet and see what they think??

sorry you've had to go through this confusion, must be really stressful :(
 
Ah thanks for your replies so quick 
His teeth were an absolute state when we got him – I did another post on here a while back showing them … see below …
But do chips ever fault? As surely they’d be able to find it? He also had literally no mane when we got him, just a fw wispy bits (fully grown back now though)
x

205981_10150736471740464_763485463_19673641_7581288_n.jpg

205981_10150736471735464_763485463_19673640_8310909_n.jpg
 
i would defo say have a dentist look at him, when we bought our now oldie we were told he was 6years old, i want to add this was 20 odd years ago and we were a family of 3 children who just had riding lessons so tbh not really very clued up.. we had 2 different vets look at him once during vetting and confirmed yes he is 6 and a second once we had him home and started to have a few issues to which they still confirmed he was 6..

so dentist time came and to our amazement he was 3... i know is only 3 years difference but i would say at this age should be bit easier to determine age of horse... yet 2 different vets still confirmed the same age...

I think is probably the same horse and vets just taken a punt at age.. either way he sounds like a lucky boy to have an owner so keen to find out his past and take care of him no matter what age :) hope you get this resolved
 
I have heard that chips can migrate and be difficult to find sometimes. I have also know of situations where fake passports have been made up from part of one passport and part of another passport so the markings on his passport could be genuine but the other details and chip number could be from another horse. What did the passport Pete say when you sent the passport in to show change of ownership?
 
No, we didn’t get him vetted. He was literally a bit of a rescue mission as he was going to be PTS if we didn’t bring him home. They did tell me he was un-rideable but we well in love with him and brought him home regardless as a companion for my arab should we be unable to do anything with him.
He’d been perfect since and we’re well on way with his schooling.
My question really was to so see if such a thing is done (or if anyones heard of it) horse being shot and replaced. The markings are exactly as the passport (he’s got a very distinct funny shaped blaze).
Like I said I don’t care if he is 10 or 20 as we love him anyway
:D
 
maresmaid said:
I have heard that chips can migrate and be difficult to find sometimes. I have also know of situations where fake passports have been made up from part of one passport and part of another passport so the markings on his passport could be genuine but the other details and chip number could be from another horse. What did the passport Pete say when you sent the passport in to show change of ownership?
Click to expand...

Nothing, I sent it back to Wetherbys and they changed details and sent it back as normal :confused:
 
My question really was to so see if such a thing is done (or if anyones heard of it) horse being shot and replaced.
Click to expand...

Yes it does.

But also raises questions about the origins of this horse - if it's not the one on the passport.

Ring the re-homing centre and ask them about the chip.
 
Trading standards are investigating my friends horse passport at the moment. They say its a regular scam to use a passport from a dead horse rather than pay for a new passport.
 
Victoria25 said:
My question really was to so see if such a thing is done (or if anyones heard of it) horse being shot and replaced. The markings are exactly as the passport (he’s got a very distinct funny shaped blaze).
Click to expand...

Rumour has it there are a lot of 'spare' passports floating around - I have a couple here belonging to horses who have died or been PTS and I haven't got round to sending them back! I wouldn't let anyone else have them or use them for 'dodgy' purposes myself BUT I did once meet a chap who had 'connections' with the knackering trade who had a box of 'spare' passports in the front of his lorry! :rolleyes:

The tooth pics DO look like those of an older horse but would need front pics of the incisors to be clearer on it.
 
Ageing from teeth after five years is difficult the more like twenty teeth particularly in a TB does not necessary mean he's not ten TB often have a very unnatural diet from a young age and bad teeth are quite common with them.
You could get a dentist to look at the teeth but he could say looks like twenty year old teeth it that's does not necessarily mean they have a twenty year old horse attached to them.
He may have been DNA tested when first registered in which case you can check but it will cost you money.
I think the likely hood is you have a ten year TB with poor teeth.
I have had unfortunatly a lot of contact with a professor at one of the vets schools who speciality is equine dentition who said told me teeth vary enormously as they age I would not worry dig around his background if you want and find his history and it's easy enough to ask if the rehoming centre chipped him when they moved him on.
 
Yes the passport does show the chip number with the little barcode thing above it but the problem was they couldnt find a chip full stop.

Thanks for that Goldenstar ... very useful to know. :D

All very strange if you ask me ... if Im still posting pics of him in another 15 years then we know he's 10 :rolleyes:
 
was it from the xrays that they concluded he was 20 rather than 10? do you have the xrays ? would be interesting to let a dentist look at them. although a bit of a shock and a mystery it's nice to hear you say it doesn't change anything as far as his future with you goes.x:)
 
See if you can get the horse checked with a different type of chip scanner - some of the older chips can be tricky to read.
Not sure about horse microchips but dog chips do occasionally fail - we had one fail on a dog we'd had since puphood so we knew her whole background. It was a bit of a job getting the pickle sorted out.
TB microchipping became mandatory quite a few years ago, not sure when. If no luck with different scanners your best bet is to try to sort it out with past owners and Wetherbys - good luck.
 
Yes, we had no reason to believe he was anything but a 10 year old with a few issues. It was only when they xrayed him he said the teeth look like that of a 20 year old. Then they tried to find chip and nothing. :(
 
like others have said i'd def try a diff scanner. old chips can be really hard to find! i'd also get the vet to ring chip company and see what details are on the chip, you should be able to tell if its not your horse. hopefully its your boy and the chip is just playing hard to get lol :)
 
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