To vet or not to vet..?!

D

diddy

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 March 2011
Messages
277
Visit site
Hello again everyone.

For anyone that remembers my first post(!) about whether to go DIY or part livery, I have now found a lovely pony that we would like to buy.

Just wondering what everyone's views on vetting are. When I bought my last horse, the vet got his age completely wrong and missed an ongoing issue on his back which we never really managed to sort so I'm a bit conflicted about whether to go for it or not!

Basically, we're buying a young-ish native pony. I was thinking of maybe doing the 2-stage vetting just to make sure that there's nothing immediately obvious wrong with her. I understand that some people say that the flexion tests that come with the 5-stage vetting can actually hurt them. Is that true..?

Also, would you insist on using a different vet practice from the one the seller uses themselves..?

Oh, so many questions..! You can tell I'm very excited!

All your vetting stories welcome :)

Thanks for your help again!

Diddy x
 
Hi congrats on finding a pony. I personally have never vetted a horse before purchase but thats because I always spent less than £2500. My rule is to vet a horse on anything £2500 or more.
I would also find a independant vet that doesnt know the previous owner or know of the horse. If from a area your not familiar with see if you can find a vet from recommendation. If your area and you dont use the same vet then get your own vet to check horse over. Least that way you know and trust the vet with his findings.
Depending on the price of the pony if I was going to vet I would either get a 2 stage vet check or in my area you can get a heart and eye check done. It doesnt cover everything from a 2 stage but you can check the vitals of the horse if worried.

Sorry if not much help as I never vetted a horse but thats what seems to happen with my friends and the horses that gets sold on from my yard.
 
Hiya, I have recently bought a pony..I was like you and wasn't sure what to do..
In the end I decided to go for a 2 stage vetting...a flexion test was included in the 2 stage vetting..I also paid a little bit more to have a blood test done too..
My boy is 12yrs old..

Some people may think with you buying a young pony nothing should be wrong with it..

My thinking at the time was..a 2 stage vetting isnt expensive and its peace of mind..vets bills would be more expensive than the vetting if something was wrong with the your pony.

Im not very experienced and found it reassuring having a vet give the all clear.

I was advised to use a different vet to the one that the dealer suggested..apparantly it has been known that some dealers can have an "Arrangement" with their own vet..so I got my own independant vet...dont get me wrong..the dealer who I bought from was lovely and has a very good reputation.

Good luck..keep us posted!

Trekker
 
If you can afford the vetting, have it vetted.

I think your natives are a bit more robust than horses, plus the fact that it's a youngster, if it's a show animal or your wanting to breed and the price is high end then yes it pays to have them vetted by all means.

Regardless of the price of the horse or pony, they all cost the same to fix ;)would be my 'sensible advice' but if you give the pony a good once over and he seems fit and sound for his age, I'd probably not bother myself unless my gut told me otherwise.

Sorry...wasn't much help there was I.
 
I have had all of mine vetted. The way I look at it a huge vets bill for a problem that could have been foreseen costs the same for a cheap horse as it does for an expenssive one. Unless you are looking for a companion pony, there are many underlying conditions that would make the pony unsuitable for the purpose you are buying it for and the hope is that the vet would pick up on that. Clearly vets are not infallible, but that doesn't mean it's not worth vetting.

I wouldn't use the seller's vet, there are plenty of equine vets around. I would get my local vet to recommend someone in the area and ask for one of the senior partners.

Some people do think that flexion tests incorrectly performed may make a horse temporarily lame. On the other hand, many lame horses don't show until you flexion test them, so you have to make your mind up on the day depending on what you come across.
 
Whatever you do get it vetted and also get a blood test carried out for ragwort poisoning. So many horses are turned out on ragwort infested fields or fed hay with ragwort in it. Ragwort is a cumalanative poison so each time a horse eats ragwort some more of it's liver cells are destroyed.
 
Depends on your knowledge and whether you will take a punt

I took a view on my last horse not to have a it vetted as was prepared to lose the money, she made a noise cantering, had a scarcoid, capped hock so I knew what I was taking on

I also flexion test myself, so pretty much covered your basic vetting with the exception of heart murmurs

However if this was to be my only horse and I was paying livery, then I would have vetted, unless cheap enough to send to potters if it all went wrong!!
 
Hello! personally all my horses have had a 5 stage vetting but perhaps thats just me being paranoid.
But sometimes i doubt how relative a 5* vetting is to a pony that isn't necessarily going to be used for high level eventing /dressage etc.

My first pony had a 5* vetting and the vet suspected a problem with a hind leg. He suggested that we have 4 x rays of ALL 4 legs. which would of cost us a fortune! Seeing as we were only going to pay £1500 for him we decided against it and bought him.(he passed overall strangely!) However in the vetting form which we had to send to the insurance company the vet had written every little problem he had found so his legs were excluded from being insured!
6 mnths later he went permanently lame due to suspensory ligament damage and degenerative joint disease after many different treatments at the vets:(

My current horse just passed a 5* vetting although the vet was concerned whether his unlevel movement was due to an underlying problem or due to him just being unfit. Now he is fit, his movement has improved alot!

So both times we were still uncertain after the vetting, obviously with different outcomes...

I would probably now just get a 2 stage vetting for a pony just to check for anything major which could cause a problem.

Hope that helps and my disaster of a horror story about my pony hasn't worried you. Good luck :D:D
 
im having a pre purchase vetting done on wed,my last horse has just been retired,i didnt get her vetted and she has arthritis in her hip prob due to an old accident that happened before i got her.im spending £2500 on him and having it done for peace of mind really.ill let you know how he gets on.
 
Worth noting that if you want vet insurance the company usually ask for a vetting certificate so if you are going down that route may as well have it done before your committed to buy :)

Having said that I have only had one of my horses vetted despite paying not insignificant amounts for them :rolleyes: The one I had vetted has since developed a sarcoid. The others never had a days sick (other than our old boy who we lost with colic) so I suppose its down to how much of a risk you are prepared to take :-)

Good luck with your purchase
 
OWLIE185 said:
Whatever you do get it vetted and also get a blood test carried out for ragwort poisoning. So many horses are turned out on ragwort infested fields or fed hay with ragwort in it. Ragwort is a cumalanative poison so each time a horse eats ragwort some more of it's liver cells are destroyed.
Click to expand...

Do you realise how much it costs to get bloods analysed? It's £250 - much more than the vetting; unless you can get a specific liver function done cheaper? My last 5 stage cost £162. I suspect my horse was doped but unless you intend to follow up with a law suit and want to send the horse back there is little point in a blood analysis.
 
yep i agree with pretty much everything that they've said above! I would get it vetted just a 2 stage just to be sure you dont want the vet bills ending up more than the pony cost! Think flexion tests are extremely important too.. but as regards having your horse vetted badly previously aging by teeth is an extremely dodgy way of aging! Like people some horses teeth grow/ decay faster.. as a general rule it works well but there are ALWAYS exceptions... i would say just get a vet who knows horses.. :)
 
I would definitely vet. They are human and they do make mistakes, but most of the time they get it right and it is worth it for all the expense and heartache you could be saving yourself down the line if there is something wrong. Buying a horse will always be risky but taking the opinion of a good vet will make it that bit safer.
I would use your own vet if the pony is in your area. If not, I would ask your vet to recommend someone local to the seller who has a good reputation. Personally I wouldn't use the seller's vet. My friend did (the vet was also my vet who I trust absolutely) and I asked the vet if there was a conflict of interests. She said not, either the horse passes or fails and she will tell that to both of her clients quite happily. However, if the horse does fail it can damage her relationship with the seller so she prefers not to be put in that position. I guess if the vet is less than scrupulous this might be a bit risky for you as the buyer so I would definitely use your own vet.
Good luck with the new pony and I hope it all goes really well for you.
 
Vet - always. A problem costs money to fix whether the horse was £150 or £15,000. Insurance - they will require a vet certificate for horses over £2 - £2.5K depending on the insurer. Never ever use the same vet as the vendors, ask for the vet details and then ring them and ask for a practise recommendation - vets have always been happy to do this. I always had bloods taken so could go back and test for doping/bute if the horse suddenly went very wrong. Also if you don't vet and then find yourself with an unsaleable horse, not only have you lost the money you paid for said horse, but have to make a call on how to deal with it too. Granted vetting is not a panacea or guarantee but a good vet will pick up things you just would not see.
 
I'm a bit ambivalent about vettings - the only horse I've had vetted was my last mare who cost over 3k.

The other ones I've bought I've not had vetted and not had a problem - both passed vettings with flying colours when I sold them [though ironically one of them ended up being PTS with Kissing Spine less than 6 months after his sale, so goes to show how futile they can be.]

Think for a horse over 3/4k I'd probably get a vetting done and underneath just take the chance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top