is this right (small rant)

[horsetime]

We had a horse vetted today (selling him as our daughter has gone to uni and has lost interest) - he's nothing special, just a nice gentleman hack, but he's never had a days lameness in his life, and done all sorts.

So the vet came and did the normal vetting, including flexion and the lunging on a hard surface - and now the poor horse is as lame as a dog!

I accept that the vetting is so that possible future problems can be assessed (and in this case it looks like he might have an underlying problem which might (not would - might) get worse in the future) - but how can it be right to destruction test something and then reject it because it is now broken.

As I said - he's never had a lame day in his life, and now he's injured through the vetting!

For what other purchases do you deliberately stress something to see if it breaks first!

ok rant over (newbie poster - been lurking a while)

 

[Munchkin]

I suppose it depends entirely on what the suspected underlying problem IS - what did the vet say?

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

unfortuantly there are not many things that we pay 2-3K plus for either, and they often come with a warantee, or for e.g. a house - you often pay to get a survery done.

A vetting is like a horse survey, but unfortuantly to assess things it requires stressors to identify any underlying problems.... (sort of like jumping on a patch of damp rot or something in a house to see if it will cave through or not) but its the only way to assess underlying things....

it is not purposefully destroying or trying to injure the horse it is just trying to assess any current problems that may not be obvious that could lead to future injuries/damage/problems that the new owner would want flagging up prior to purchasing a horse (which often doesnt come with a warantee or return's policy if something goes wrong)

Its sometimes cr**py when something like this happens (I am sorry that it has btw, I hope your boy gets better soon! Did the vet tell you what was wrong?) but it does happen and I can honestly say the vet won't have caused your horse injury or pain on purpose!

 

[merlins-mum]

Thanks.

The vet said it might be a ligament problem.

I do understand that people need to know what they're buying, but it just seemed a problem that the horse got broken in the process.

 

[Booboos]

Do you suspect that the horse was damaged during the vetting? Why would you think this? Did something happen, e.g. slip and fall during lunging?

From what you say I would assume that the horse had an injury which was not obvious and which became obvious during the testing, so it's a good thing all around because at least now you know and you can get him treated. What does your vet say?

 

[Brandy]

Its one of those very annoying things sadly. I personally wouldn't trot/canter/lunge on hard ground - problem or not, not would most people put the stresses on a horse that a flexion test does, so you would never know these things, If you had been hurtling about on hard ground, and the horse went lame - it would cause you to investigate further, which may be what you will have to do.

Maybe he will be fine after a few days rest. My horse would be lame too.

 

[Horseback Rider]

TBH a lot of horses won't pass a vetting as they can't take 2 lot's of flexion tests in a row and also the work on concrete. However a lot of them will never have a days lameness in their life !

I have seen really expensive horses and the much cheaper ones have this happen to them.

It really depends on what the buyer want's the horse for, ideally there would be different vetings depending on the horses job, not how much you are paying for the vetting !!

 

[glenruby]

I would suspect the horse has had a low-grade lameness - probably not visible to the owner but probably to a trained eye. They usually do. A flexion test will not "make" a sound horse consistently lame - or even in most circumatances the lameness will be no worse after 5-10 steps post flexion than it was before.
If your horse does not stand up to trotting on a hard surface or lunging on a hard surface then maybe (if its not a genuine lameness problem) your horse's foot balance may be off and he might need better shoeing.

 

[Birker2020]

I think they (MRCVS) are planning on doing away with flexion tests as part of the vetting process as this has been highlighted before. To be quite honest with you even though I have had every horse I've bought five stage vetted (and wouldn't buy without this safety net) I would consider still buying a horse that failed on flexion tests.