Selling horses and vettings

[thoroughlybred1]

Lovely lady wanting to buy one of our horses. Pretty much a perfect match. Lady a first time owner but with good back up, but very naive in the horsey world. Only wants him for hacking, but I suggested she have him vetted for peace of mind and insurance purposes.....When she told me who she had booked for the vetting out of the yellow pages I did think "Oh ****" as they are SOOOO picky they are untrue, but really didnt expect a problem so didnt say anything. Heart, eyes, listen to lungs and initial grope all fine (this alone took nearly 45 minutes!) Trot up and vet thought he was lame, and flexed the near fore. No difference, so flexed off hind and decided he was positive to flexion. Trotted up again in front of me (i had left an NVQ student with him as part of her learning), but apart from carrying his tail a bit to the left I couldnt really see it......but then I'm pretty crap at slight hind lameness. Horse doesnt lunge, so nvq student ran around with him on a circle Instant fail and buyer devastated. Discussion with her vet who said he was 2/10ths lame and 4/5 tenths lame after flexion, and appeared to be genuinely gutted as she agreed he seemed to be perfect for the buyer. I was taking a pony to my vets for measurement at lunchtime anyway, so arranged for horse to get nerve blocked while i was going (no more than 2 hours later....horse stayed in box until this time). Unloaded him and trotted him up - My vet asked me not to tell him which leg or what vet had seen him. Puzzled as the horse was totally sound asked a fellow vet to come and see, and again couldnt see any unlevelness let alone lameness (My vets are Bourton Vale Equine Clinic, so a very well respected and specialised practise) Flexed him on both hinds - still nothing, so obviously couldnt nerve block. Rang the buyer and gave my permission for vet to pass on their findings. She was still keen to purchase him(even wanting me to deliver him this afternoon) but was going to call her husband and her vet beforehand. I have no idea why, but her vet advised her very strongly not to continue with the purchase. Didnt even offer to revet. I can only assume due to not wanting to be proved wrong? Funny thing was, when I suggested nerveblocking to the vetting vet and told her who my vets were, she even told the buyer that they were very good vets!


I had someone else who wanted to see him, but had to tell them he was sold subject to vet - it sounds well dodgy now telling them he is available again due to failing a vetting on something that isnt actually wrong. Bloody good job he's a pony that is an asset to the yard and earns his keep (tis always our best ones that are easier to sell) but we really could have done with the money after such a hard winter to clear some of our debt

 

[Boxers]

, I had someone else who wanted to see him, but had to tell them he was sold subject to vet - it sounds well dodgy now telling them he is available again due to failing a vetting on something that isnt actually wrong. Bloody good job he's a pony that is an asset to the yard and earns his keep (tis always our best ones that are easier to sell) but we really could have done with the money after such a hard winter to clear some of our debt

You should ring the other people who were interested and just explain that the previous buyer decided not to buy him after her vet failed him on a very slight lameness. Point out that you took him to your own vet where 2 highly respected vets could not see a lameness. Invite them to view and to have their own vet look at the pony if they like him.

Always best to be honest, but you don't want to miss out on a buyer. Chances are they will not come to see him but you should give them the chance.

Very annoying though for you and a shame for the lady who wanted him.

 

[galaxy]

Had exactly the same thing with a clients mare she was selling. Had her own vet out within an hour. He did everything and couldn't see anything. His conclusion was that the vet (probably purposefully) held the leg too long and at a funny angle to make her go lame (it is possible to do on any horse). the mare had a slightly funny action, so we reckon he didn't know what he was looking at and just wanted to fail her.

Shame as although buyer was still desperate to have, they didn't proceed as they wouldn't have been able to get insurance on her with the failed cert and didn't the husband didn't want to pay for another vetting.

 

[natalia]

Vettings are subjective, and I'm afraid if the vet dosent take a shine to the horse, the yard or to you they will fail! Hence now when I'm selling there are certain vets I won't have on the yard full stop to do vettings and would rather lose a sale than spend 4 hours on a five stage vetting for a 4 yr old horse to be pulled apart by a terrible vet (believe me this happens!!!) and then failed when they flex the leg for two solid minutes so the horse can't move off sound, then declare it lame. Sadly vets tend to put the fear of god in to clients, we had one a few weeks ago that vetted a riding school pony, saw it had splints (it's 8 yrs old and well hunted and splints are very old, cold and fully formed) and told the client " This pony ha splints, I can't say that it won't go lame in 6 months because of them". Client then got the willies and had to speak to another vet who reassured her that splints fully formed would not be an issue for first pony work!

 

[thoroughlybred1]

It's a real nightmare - i can totally see why vets need to cover their backs in this day and age, and the insurance implications are far wider, but it's getting silly. I can absolutely appreciate a potential buyer(particularly a novice one) not wanting to proceed when their employed vet fails one (even when presented with contradictory evidence). After all, I trust my own vets advice beyond any other, but i had one vet (another horse. another buyer. different practise) not recommend the buyer to proceed with a sale as although he could find nothing physically wrong he felt the horse in question was abnormally quiet for a horse of her age (a laid back 4 yr old) and might therefore have an underlying cause for that.....

She didnt, and went on to another home where she remains laid back and very quiet......it's called her TEMPERAMENT!

Oh well - I took your advice Boxers, and have told the other interested party the story, but like you say, i doubt they will come and look. He's a good horse for my job so it's not the end of the world, but it would have been nice for him to go to a lovely private home and be adored now - he's done his time hauling beginners around the Cotswolds, but he doesnt know that and as long as he's fed and watered i'm sure he doesnt mind as much as me!

 

[Miss L Toe]

I think that you are genuine and are selling a sound horse so I would not mention previous vetting at all to any buyer: I encouraged a newby buyer to vet my mare, and the her vet seemed determined to find something wrong, in the end I reminded him she was sold as a riding pony not a 3 day eventer, fit for purpose and never been lame. Remember if any buyer was purchasing from a dealer she would NOT be advised by vendor to have it vetted, and may well be told some story about a minor problem which would not affect them,........ I know this from recent discussion with new owner who now has a spent a fortune on vets bills for a young COPD horse.