Pre-purchase vetting - yes or no?

P

Pony Partner

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I'm interested to hear what people think about the usefulness or otherwise of getting a horse vetted before buying. I'm not convinced it's worth the money for my particular situation. The horse will only be used for leisure, pleasure, hacking, nothing too demanding; I'm not going to insure him (got a vet fund saved just in case); he's relatively young, so not many miles on the clock; a vetting is a snapshot. Horse welfare is important to me and I'm not sure if a vetting, either 2 or 5 stage, would contribute to this. If a vetting included a dental examination by an expert, hoof health assessment by a professional, an endoscopy to screen for equine gastric ulcer syndrome; blood tests for inherited conditions, metabolic health, polysaccharide storage myopathy etc it might be more relevant to horse welfare.
I look forward to reading your ideas and comments. Thank you.
 
I am another who has rarely had a horse vetted, but I was in the position at the time to know I had funds to pay for quite expensive treatments should things not work out and plenty of land to retire early if needed.

Plus I have only ever spent over a few thousand on a horse anyway. And again I was in a position to lose that money.

However, if you do buy unvetted and find the horse has some pre existing health issues that a vetting could have highlighted, it might well go against you in law if you tried to return or get a refund.
 
Mrs. Jingle said:
I am another who has rarely had a horse vetted, but I was in the position at the time to know I had funds to pay for quite expensive treatments should things not work out and plenty of land to retire early if needed.

Plus I have only ever spent over a few thousand on a horse anyway. And again I was in a position to lose that money.

However, if you do buy unvetted and find the horse has some pre existing health issues that a vetting could have highlighted, it might well go against you in law if you tried to return or get a refund.
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This is absolutely true, but equally if the vetting misses something that definitely exists, and that something subsequently causes issues - it will not easy to find redress, either. Their professional association primarily looks after the interests of its members, not their clientele!
Another issue can be the vetting which notes every conceivable, out of place hair - and you finish up with exclusion clauses all over the shop should you decide to insure, or on the horse’s record if you decide to part company.
If you consider yourself experienced and aware, given the circumstances and purposes you describe, I probably wouldn’t, either.
Good luck, hope it works out!
 
Pony Partner said:
I'm interested to hear what people think about the usefulness or otherwise of getting a horse vetted before buying. I'm not convinced it's worth the money for my particular situation. The horse will only be used for leisure, pleasure, hacking, nothing too demanding; I'm not going to insure him (got a vet fund saved just in case); he's relatively young, so not many miles on the clock; a vetting is a snapshot. Horse welfare is important to me and I'm not sure if a vetting, either 2 or 5 stage, would contribute to this. If a vetting included a dental examination by an expert, hoof health assessment by a professional, an endoscopy to screen for equine gastric ulcer syndrome; blood tests for inherited conditions, metabolic health, polysaccharide storage myopathy etc it might be more relevant to horse welfare.
I look forward to reading your ideas and comments. Thank you.
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How much is the horse going to cost? Can you afford to lose that money? Can you harden your heart and PTS if the horse is a write-off or if you aren't prepared to finance a very long retirement.
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ycbm said:
Welcome to the forum PP.

Would you mind answering the questions I asked in post 6, they make all the difference to how I would answer you.
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Sure. The horse will cost around £8k, so not cheap. For me, riding is not the be-all and end-all. I enjoy it, but I get a lot of pleasure from non-ridden work and if the horse turned out to be unsuitable for ridden work, we'd do other stuff and I wouldn't think of it as losing money; I'm lucky, I can afford it. If the horse was in pain, distress and couldn't live a happy life, he'd go to heaven.
 
As someone who bought a horse and found the dealer had drugged it up, I would always have a vetting with blood pulled. This was our proof of what had been done and we were able to get our money back and also all our expenses for travelling to Scotland twice as well as keeping the horse for 6 weeks until she had him picked up from us, a total of just under 3k.
 
Not having even a 2 stage is foolish IMO - it's not that expensive and horse could have a grade 4 heart murmur you know nothing about, or respiritory issue, or be going blind.
Yes it could also have horrific hock arthritis missed by not having a 5 stage, but for something so cheap and simple, I'd like to rule out the basics.
 
& also, how experienced are you ( or the people viewing with you).
Can you definitely spot a lame horse ( plenty can't)
Vettings won't pull up everything, but if using a trusted vet you are paying for someone's experience to spot many basic problems - lameness, eyes, breathing, heart, basic dental check etc.
 
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