What would you do? ( A just out of interest Q )

[TicTac]

A lady I work for, Mrs G, went to buy a top class 3 year old gelding from a well know dressage rider. The dressage rider bred the horse and is asking serious money for him, and I mean serious! Mrs G tried the horse several times and took him out hacking as well. She had him vetted and he failed the vet on a few minor issues, like generally being in a rough state with a skin condition and such like but also on a major issue of some bony growths around the hocks and fetlocks.

Mrs G was seriously disapointed. The vet told her that any vet would fail the horse on the bony problems but suggested that Mrs G should ask the owner if she would pay to have x rays on the growths ( cost about £250.00 and neither party short on cash, so money not an issue) Stating that this problem would occur at each vetting, but if X rays were carried out and there were no problems then they could be offered up at any subsequent vetting.

The dressage rider refused to pay for x rays, saying it was the purchasers responsibility. so Mrs G decided not to buy the horse as she didn't feel that she should have to bear the cost of the x rays and used the scenario that if you went into a car show room to buy a Ferrari, you would expect that car to have had everything done to make sure that it was in perfect working order. ( as I said, we are not talking about a £1500 horse here)

The dressage rider can either keep the horse herself and take pot luck with him or come up against the same problem unless she can produce x-rays to prove otherwise.

As a buyer, what would you have done?

 

[milliepops]

I would also have walked away. There are always going to be other seriously nice horses, potentially with more helpful sellers. If you are spending that kind of money, you'd want everything to be right anyway.

 

[Nailed]

I wouldnt touch it with a barge pole. Not if, as your suggesting, we are talking alot alot a money..

Why pay such amount for a horse thats got underlying health issues. There are plenty others out there without the issues.

Id say lucky escape.. and Dressage rider wants to sort priorities.

I definatly wouldnt be paying for Xrays.

Lou x

 

[BFG]

I might be wrong but if i was paying serious money for a horse to do a serious job I would probably have x-rays done as part of my vetting, i don’t mean on this horse but in general.

 

[AmyMay]

Same as Mrs G.

 

[SpottedCat]

Having heard all kinds of horror stories of pros being screwed over by other pros, if I was spending serious money on something with no recent record, I would be having joints and back x-rayed, and scans done as standard before I bought the horse. So this question would never have arisen for me as I would already have booked the x-rays alongside the vetting - but I would probably have halted the vetting and walked away at the point the bony growths were noted unless a) the vet was pretty convinced they were nothing serious and b) the seller would negotiate on price (regardless of findings of x-rays) prior to continuing.

 

[f_s_]

Why buy a horse with problems? and, if the horse had issues that would cause serious problems in the future, why would the buyer even consider this horse?

The seller is not obliged to prove the horse's soundness, it's a case of buyer beware. If the buyer really wanted the horse she would have to take steps to check the horse thoroughly with the vet and pay for the x rays.

If money is no object, then surely the buyer could find a sound and healthy horse.

ETS - a horse is not a ferrari, which is an inanimate object, and therefore you cannot compare horse buying to car selling

 

[Kayfm]

I wouldnt touch this horse. Its a shame but there is always plenty of good young horses around. I would have x rays as standard done on a vetting, with the purchase of an exspensive horsie

 

[Kenzo]

Well you'd think the seller would want to know exactly what would show up on these x-rays anyway if selling the horse on as a serious dressage prospect, specially when the owner bred it and if its always going to show up on future vettings, its not like its a huge cost to have it done.

As a buyer and what you'd be buying the horse for, then no I wouldn't go any further with x-rays, I too would expect the owner to want to know exactly what the potential problems could be, obviously this will effect the price and the horses future (as to what its been sold for).

 

[Booboos]

As a buyer I would have x-rays done for a certain price horse and over. I would not be happy with the seller getting this done in their own time/by their own vet. I would want my vet who had identified the problem, to x-ray the correct area and let me know whether this was likely to be a problem or not.

If I was a seller and had come across this problem, I would get my own vet out for a second opinion and do whatever he recommended next.

 

[BBH]

Walk away.

I can't understand why a valuable youngster has untreated skin conditions etc you'd expect them to look amazing to ask serious money for.

There are many more places to get ' clean' horses from. The riders loss i'd say for being so inflexible.

 

[Kenzo]

[ QUOTE ]
Walk away.

I can't understand why a valuable youngster has untreated skin conditions etc you'd expect them to look amazing to ask serious money for.

There are many more places to get ' clean' horses from. The riders loss i'd say for being so inflexible.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I thought the same, even at any price, an untreated skin condition when your selling a horse

 

[TicTac]

Personally, I think the dressage rider who is selling the horse should have x-rays done if only to satisfy herself that she has a saleable horse. She must have noticed the lumps surely?! However I also agree that when you are spending serious money on buying a horse, x rays would be a matter of course and not an issue.

But as we all know, there is absolutely no guarantees when buying a horse, even when all the precautions have been taken. I will be interested to see if this young horse makes it into the arena and if so, with whom and at what level, Watch this space!