**To Vet or Not to Vet** - that is the question ...

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JULESMGARNER

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As the heading says really, when you are buying a horse, is it really worth getting it vetted? Whoever I speak to about this half say yes, definitely have potential new horse vetted, other half say, I've never had a horse vetted in my life, waste of money just take someone experienced with you!

The people who seem to be anti are that way "because of the wretched flexion tests, that otherwise excellent horses are failing a vetting because of these ridiculous tests when really there's nothing wrong with the horse."

I'm not looking to buy a competition horse, just nice allrounder/new friend and I'll be spending about £3000 - £4000 max.
 
i would get a vetting. it doesn't have to be pass or fail as such, any problems picked up can be discussed as to wether or not it will affect the horses ability to do the job purchased for.
 
Do have the horse vetted. If you buy without vetting there may be a health problem that isn't obvious to you. Your vets bills could then run into thousands of pounds. I can't imagine an insurance company paying out for a horse without a vets certificate.
A vetting will also warn you of any pitfalls of buying a particular horse. Saying that just because something is revealed in a vetting it doesn't mean you shouldn't buy. It all comes down to a horse being fit for purpose. A happy hacker won't need a horse that is vetted as suitable for 3 day eventing!
Good luck in your search for a lovely new horse.
 
I would only not vet if the horse was only to be used as a companion and even then I would feel I was taking a risk! I have never bought without vetting, for the money it costs I would far rather have piece of mind that a qualified person had given the horse a clean bill of health. Yes it might fail the flexion test (although none of mine have) but that would leave you with the decision as to if you think the flexion test is a worthy test. There are so many other things a vetting could pick up esp for a competition horse, what if it had a heart murmer etc, no 'experinced' person could tell that simply by looking at the horse.

In short I'm pro vetting
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I don't bother vetting anything under £5k as a rule, as my insurance company insures without vet cert under that amount. For an allrounder/happy hacker, I wouldn't bother, no, but I am competent and do trot ups, etc, myself.
 
I've only had 2 stage vettings because the first time I ever got one done the vet recommended it. She said unless you want a serious competiton horse then 2 stage vetting is good enough. As I only buy riding club type horses that's what I do.
If I was buying my one and only horse to ride I would definitely get a vetting done unless it was really cheap i.e. under £2000
I didn't bother getting my my youngster vetted when I bought her and if I bought in volume I wouldn't bother either.
If I was you I probably would get a 2 stage vetting done but I know a lot of people think you should get the 5 stage one. Saying that, I think my vet seems to give a very comprehensive vetting compared to others I have read about.
 
An nice allrounder could end up costing you that again if there's something wrong with it - so I would always vet (personally).

Very few us are knowledgeable not to risk it imo.

And what's another £200 for piece of mind?
 
Depends on your knowledge/experience really, as others will tell you, many insurers don't ask for a cert under £4K purchase price and if you know what you are looking at it may seem an uneccessary expense. I would add that it isn't straightforward pass or fail, the vet should make more of an evaluation depending on the brief you give him. In other words if you want to hunt or event make sure you tell the vet of your aims, the opposite also applies!

I have only ever had 2 vetted and they both developed problems within the first year, so it isn't a guarantee!
 

We only had one horse we didn't vet who we had known for years and remained sound until his late 20's. I think we were lucky and I would always vet now. I would be concerned that I might have missed something. The horse may not pass but at least it gives you something to think about.
 
I would vet anything over £3k

For one - you then know what you are getting (to a point)
Two - you can get a lower price on a horse that has a minor problem so you might be able to buy yourself some negotiation
three - if you are spending £2k+ on a horse why would you not spend the extra £200?
four - you can get bloods done & xrays should you wish. Invaluable for the future IMO.

Having said that, if I was buying a lot of horses I wouldn't bother. For the average horse owner I think it is worth it, reagrdless of how experienced you are.
 
Just a little story from me.....

I paid under £2000 for my 1st horse and didnt get it vetted.

Fab beginners horse (although ex racer).

2 years later (Sept 08)- 2 weeks ago he had to be put down bless his soul - and after me and insurance had shelled out approximately £12,000 in vets bills for various problems.

Get the vetting - its sooooo important even if you decide that you still want to buy if it fails but can still do the job. As you can see 6 times his value was paid out to the vets. My second horse passed 5* vetting - i couldnt have risked another disaster like my TB.
 
I would agree that if I was spending more than £3K on a horse, I would get it vetted.

Having said that, I have never spent anything like that much on a horse and therefore have never had a pre purchase vetting.

Another thing to take into consideration is whether you know the horse and its history. Some horses just seem to be more sound than others. If I had know the horse for a number of years and it had never had any problems that, to me, would be more reasurring than any vetting.
 
Just remember with a vetting not all serious problems will show up and even if something is missed in the vetting, you have no come back on your vet or anyone else.
 
I'd always get vetted - as said before how would an "experienced person" know if the horse had a heart defect (unless they have training & their own stethoscope !!).
 
Mine was advertised for over 3K. We had him vetted, and due to the results (nothing damming, horse needed more time to develop to be fit for purpose) we managed to get quite a nice chunk knocked off, about 20% I think.

So definitely worth it. Horse has never 'touches wood' been sick or sorry in the four years since. I prob wouldn't bother if it was under 1K, but anything over that amount would be a serious investment for me - I am not made of money!!!
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Just remember with a vetting not all serious problems will show up and even if something is missed in the vetting, you have no come back on your vet or anyone else.

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This is very true, but a vetting gives much more of an idea than a layman's eye! I would rather know as much as I could - same as I wouldn't buy a house without a survey.
 
I would always have a 5* vetting. It wouldnt stop me buying a horse if it failed but i could have a conversation with the vet as to whether it was worth a calculated risk
My recent experiences are:

Cob- failed 3 flexions, really bad feet from a severe laminitis attack, thick in the wind and a list of other things eg cellulite and varicous veins
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BUT the vet was really keen that i should buy him as he felt he was "worth a punt" and said that i could sort him out
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The price was agreed and after a year i have a smashing chap that i couldnt afford to buy now. *touches wood* never sick or sorry
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17hh Tb x ID gelding- cheap as in dire need of some tlc, feed and kind handling, nearly didnt vet but did- Vet found he was lame in both front legs and had a severely irregular heartbeat
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We walked away.

16.3hh 3/4 bred- dished like a olympic butterfly swimmer
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but ticked all the boxes
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5* vetting (our vet travelled to do it)passed everything barring one flexion. Vet advised further investigation as he could see how suited the horse was to my OH so xrays were done and some arthritis was found
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We went away to think about it, had long discussions with our and their vet (with permission) and decided to go for it
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Again the price was heavily readjusted as they knew we have a lot of experience managing arthritis(
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) and we genuinely offer a home for life. Lovely horse who someone has clearly spent ages schooling, good hunter for my OH- we just have to avoid hammering on the roads.
 
I would always have a horse vetted whatever the value as it is another opinion from someone that is qualified to identify any current or potential health problems withn the horse.

Yes! insurance companies may pay up but it is the mental anguish and time spent caring for a sick horse that is not covered by the insurance policy.

In the past I have had several horses vetted before making a purchase of the one that passed. The first horse lasted me 18 years and the second horse I still have and am riding 18 years later.
 
What you have to remember too is that a vetting is absolutely NO guarantee that there is nothing wrong with the horse. It is a snap shot, an hour, of a horse's health. Just because a horse trots up sound one day does not mean it will the next, just because its wind is good one day does not mean it will be the next, etc.

There are some of us that are confident in our own abilities - Christ, there is a user on here who had her horse vetted and then it came to light the horse was blind - vets are NOT Gods and are not infallible!
 
depends if you can afford to lost the cost of horse if you did not have it vetted,

i paid £2500 for a horse 10 years ago, did not have it vetted, 2 years later i sold it due to work commitments, to only get less than half after the new owners vetted it and it was found to have a bad back that could go anytime.
 
I would def vet regardless of the price. The horse I was going to buy was only £1700 but thanks to the vet, I found out that he was AT LEAST 25 and NOT 13 as was stated on his passport! Needless to say I didn't buy that horse.
I only had the 2 stage vetting but it was worth every penny and probably saved me loads of money in the long run!
 
I didn't get mine vetted.... any of them, as the vetting would have cost more than the horse. I was willing to take the risk but did for the sake of the insurance get them a healthchecked when they were home. this seemed to satisfy my insurance company
 
I would and have had all my horses 5* vetted, however my last experience with the vet and the knock on effect with my insurance would make me ask more questions.
He passed his vetting no problem, it was the vets add on notes that caused me problems and consequently arguments with the insurance company on what they will or will not insure.

An example of this was his feet were in need of the farrier, this was noted at the time of examination now the insurance company will not cover in hooves until my renewal.
It was noted that he had a small wart on his chin, the word possible sarcoid was mentioned however he thought this was highly unlikely, it has since disappeared, however again the insurers will not cover for any wartlike or sarcoid treatment full stop. I have had huge trouble trying to get this lifted had it reexamined by the vets and they confirmed no sarcoid but again it will be relooked at when my insurance is up for renewal.

There were a couple of others like a dirty sheath which I got a letter from said insurance reminding me of a certain clause about keeping said horse in a fit condition. i sent them a letter explaining that unfortunately I was not responsible for the horses care pre purchase.
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So yes I agree with vettings I just think that the vets should perhaps think of the consequence of there add on points to the insurance companies etc.
 
I would always get a horse vetted. 5 stage, no matter what. I agree Vets are not gods and cannot find everything but they could find something that is useful to know about.

My current horse passed a 5 stage but had a couple of issues that I can now manage with foresight and touch wood he has never been sick or sorry.

My other two horses passed 5 stage vettings and I never had problems with either of them.

Just to note as well - you may not notice something is wrong with the horse if it is not obvious. We had a horse move onto our yard last year that had NOT been vetted at all, and it turned out it had strangles!! The whole yard was quarantined for 3 months and none of us were happy with the person who brought that horse on. It has caused her a lot of vet bills to get it right and it still has behavioural and seperation anxiety issues now because it had to be quarantined in a field miles away on its own for months. Bet she wishes she had paid £200 for a vetting!!
All horses that move onto our yard HAVE to have been vetted and HAVE to go into quarantine for 10 days. It's common sense and a false economy to not get a horse vetted!
Good luck, I hope you find a lovely horse
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I have never had a horse vetted and we don't insure them either. If you have horses you have to be prepared to pay the bills.

I think vettings have their place but don't always pick everything up.

I think it does really depend how confident you are that you can pick up potential problems when viewing horses.
 
When i was selling my foal the lady got a small animal vet to vet my foal, she failed!! I was pure gutted and couldnt find the faults the vet was saying, apparently she had a twisted leg and more.

Got my own vet out and she passed her, he mainly does larger animals. So wouldnt trust all vets! He couldnt find the faults either.

I would recommend getting the horse vetted, my friend bought a horse about 2 years back, 4 days later it had a foal!
 
Some insurance companies only cover you if the horse been vetted, if insuring over a certain price.

Depends how much you value your money and how much you trust your own experience or someone else's, I'd be just as gutted finding out there is something wrong with a horse that cost say £2000 as opposed to one that cost £8000 or more etc, otherwise what be the point of buying it in the first place...regardless of if you want it just for plodding around on and not using it for a competition horse etc....your still riding it, still ploughing money into feeding it and caring for it ...so you want a good strong healthy one at least.
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We've never had a horse vetted but then have never paid over £500 for a horse (all ex racers straight from race yard). The pony cost £1500. I'd never pay over £2k for a horse that was only for hacking/possible one or two hunts. I am a happy hacker why would I need to spend more on a horse? We have them insured but don't need a vets cert as their value is not high.

If I ever did come into money and decided to get a 'proper' horse
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to do more with I would definitely get it vetted.
 
A cheap horse's vet bills cost EXACTLY the same as an expensive horse's ones do. I always do a vetting no matter what.
 
I would if it was over 4 or 5k but have had some shocking experiences with vettings that make me very dubious!!

A few years ago I bought a lovely horse, passed vetting with flying colours, vet comment said small lump on outside of cannon, of cosmetic significance only. Insurance had no probs...
Selling 2 years later the vet that vetted him took nearly a week from date of vetting to decide whether to pass him or not....
Then failed him for 'Potential for resale' the reason being that the small lump may be considered a splint even though it wasn't and the buyer may have problems selling him in the future for this reason!! I hadn't changed in the 2 years I had him and was only hte size of a pea. I was fuming I understood the vetting was to determine of the horse was suitable fo rthe job it was being sold for.. the woman wanted it as a RC horse and BE upto PN.... not to sell!!

Also a friends horse was failed as vet said he was nearly blind from a cataract.... friend got him looked at by specialist, he had no eye probs at all it was a minor scratch that was healing really well!!

My lovely Irish horse can over from Ireland with a vet cert from the sales, I bought ber from a dealer and took an experienced firend with me and she was a star sold her for a large profit 3 years later!

On the flip side we bought a mare in 06 didn't get her vetted and she then became intermittently lame Xrays showed Arthritis in joint due to a fracture (She was only 5) since found out on here from her old owner (Not the one we bought her from) she was sold as a 3/4yo before as a broodmare due to the intermittent lameness caused by an accident!!
 
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