seeing a horse after a recent vetting failure...........

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hollyandivy123

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so i was having the argument with a friend, if you were going to see a horse you had been interested but it has recently failed the vetting on one thing for someone else (i'm not saying what on).

What would make you think nope warning flag...........sarcoid, lame on hard circle, flexion test..............would you still consider it.............my point is the vet only says on that day the horse was fine or not, now no horse is perfect and i'm pretty sure as the vendor has declared this, that there is nothing else underhand going on. obviously this does depend on what it failed on.

But what would you do, go and see it obviously getting re vetted, but would this also be a problem for insurance?

would you suggest loan with view to buy after x months.....?
 
depends entirely what on. 1/10th lame could be stone bruise never to reappear. Caracts / heart murmour / sarcoids unlikely to change.
 
Unless I could actually see the written vetting report, then in most circumstances I would walk away. (And as a purchaser is unlikely to release this without fees and they might use a vet that I wouldn't touch, getting a copy is often unrealistic)
That said, for things like sarcoids I'd still steer clear.

Vettings can be subjective; we all know of animals which have 'failed' and then been passed a week or more later by another vet, and vice versa! And those who pass and then break, as well as those who have an issue which could be an insurance issue but are still purchased.
 
I think it entirely depends what you want the horse for and as others have said, we all have a bad day.
The two best horses I ever owned in my life failed their vettings and I bought on gut instinct. They went on to lead full and busy lives, the first retired from jumping at 18, but continued to be shown and hacked for a further seven years, sadly died of a virus. The other I still have and have just ridden, almost 17 years old and a fabulous, forward and safe ride with no issues (today).
 
I did and i bought.
The horse was 14 and failed a 5 stage on a hind flexion. The original buyers pulled out and the price was dropped. The seller was very honest and open and had taken the horse round a 90cm ode between failing the vetting and my viewing (less than a week)
 
I walked away from one horse who failed on hind flexion, nearly kicked the vet in the face and was virtually unmanageable during the entire vetting process. My friend took a punt on him, offered buttons, brought him into work slowly and got a lameness workup that showed no problems other than weakness and poor muscle tone. Friend resold the horse a year later with full history declared. He passed a 5 stage including X-rays.
 
Difficult one this........ because if you go to view it, pre-armed with the knowledge that it's failed one vetting, then you'll have to keep ssscchtuum about that won't you??

If you could - ehm, discreetly - find out what it had failed the original vetting on............. that would be interesting! I'd ask the seller if the horse would pass a vetting, that might open some dialogue!

It all depends on what the asking price is. I went to see a lovely horse last year, it was perfect in all respects, but trotted up 1/10th lame on the day. Owner was asking £3000 but this was deffo for temperament not necessarily looks! He was a super boy, just what I wanted. But as well as the 1/10th lameness, vet found windgalls to boot and as horse was 13yo, with great regret, I walked away.

Your choice your punt basically. IF you view the horse and like it, and are prepared to take pot-luck and go for it for a knock-down price, then I'd say good luck. But you might be buying a walking vet's bill........
 
Depends what it failed on. Sarcoids - the horse would have to be seriously cheap and ticking every other box for me to go and look, slight lameness... I could be tempted!

I've bought a horse that failed a hind flexion, but I knew his history (had spoken to previous owner to vendor), knew the competencies of the vendor..... paid about half the asking price. Spent some time getting him stronger and muscled up. He has been awesome, has never taken a lame step in the entire time we've had him, and is still sound at 21, having been in work since he was 4, hunting and eventing.

You can only negotiate if you know they have failed the vet prior to your viewing, or if they fail a vetting for you. Unless you are asking if it is too high a risk to purchase??
 
Depends what you want him for as others have said.

Mine has an arthritic hock (was a pain with the farrier this morning) but has never been lame on it, never seems to have any pain apart from which it is lifted high for trimming, does everything I need and is up for anything. He hasn't seen a vet about it because it doesn't appear to limit him. However, I suspect he might be unlikely to pass a hind flexion test on a bad day, although he did when I bought him.
 
My horse of a lifetime failed miserably on a front flexion, I walked away but went back weeks later and bought him as I couldnt get him out of my mind. He never had a days lameness from buying him to him being PTS 12 years later for something completely unrelated. I did ask my vet to flexion him when he came to do his jabs a week or so after I bought him and he was fine. Vet said an inexperienced vet can make a horse lame by flexing incorrectly, even a very slight deviation on the correct way and that although flexion tests can be useful, they are very controversial.
I think it depends too, on how much the horse is, if it was expensive then I would want further investigations done tbh.
 
Depends on the issue. A horse I know failed vetting for having a very small hernia on the umbilical. Once fixed assuming it all went well, the horse would fly through a vetting. Owner dropped price considerably to reflect the issue as long as new owner would do the surgery (meh....)
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Difficult one this........ because if you go to view it, pre-armed with the knowledge that it's failed one vetting, then you'll have to keep ssscchtuum about that won't you??

If you could - ehm, discreetly - find out what it had failed the original vetting on............. that would be interesting! I'd ask the seller if the horse would pass a vetting, that might open some dialogue!
Click to expand...

The OP says the seller has declared the issue. So depending what it is then no, it would not necessarily put me off viewing it at all. If I liked the horse, and the issue was something like flexion results, I'd probably get a different vet for the re-vetting though.
 
Would not put me off at all! If the owner is being honest then what's the problem? A vetting is a snapshot in time. The issues could be resolved by the 2nd vetting. Or the issue could be somethinig you can live with anyway.

I had exactly this situation. My pony failed a vetting on flexion tests. The buyer walked away. I called my vet out who found no problems and said he would pass her on flexion tests. So I readvertised and at the next viewing I told the buyer about the failed flexion tests and my own vet's opinion. Viewer re-vetted with a third vet who agreed to do those tests first to save money if she failed again. But she was fine. I didn't even drop the price. Why would I when 2 vets found no issues? No idea what the first vet saw but the pony was fine.
 
I bought my old girl and she had failed a previous vetting. She was kicked the day before the vetting and was lame.

Passed my vetting no issues, so it entirely depends on what the horse has failed on.
 
I bought my horse in January, she was lame when presented for vetting. Her owner/seller who has a good reputation and whom I trusted was mortified, however she had been reshod the previous day and we put it down to that, she came right and passed one week later with flying colours. When I had her reshod 6 weeks later my farrier commented that he could see why she had been lame as one of the nails had been driven in too close to the white line.
 
A horse I was selling failed he had a small bump just above his knee. He had had it all his life but this is not taken into consideration and he was never lame. This didn't put off the buyer and they bought him anyway as ofcourse I could have been lying and it might have just developed. I think with lameness it could be intermittent so the buyer has to be a little more careful.
 
It would depend on what my hopes for the horse were and if the price reflected the condition of the horse.

If I wanted safe to potter around on happy hacking a sarcoid (in a non-awkward place) wouldn't particularly bother me. If I wanted a competition horse and it trotted up 3/10 lame I'd walk away.

Horses for courses and all that...
 
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