What would you do??

[Tilly06]

Was talking about vetting today witha friend, who went ahead and bought her horse even though it had failed its vetting. It only failed on the flexion test (think thats what its called) as after the time was up when the leg was released and the horse asked to trot away, it trotted away a bit short, just for a few strides. she bought him anyway, and hes never been sick or sorry. What would you have done?? just curious.

 

[kildalton]

IMHO flexion tests are a waste of time. You'd be lame for a few strides if you'd had your leg held up for half a minute. I know plenty of horses that have failed and have never had any problems, including my own.

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

my horse rock failed on everything possible but i bought him anyway and all in all hes been perfectly fine

(apart from his current bout of lameness possibly due to hard ground)

 

[Tilly06]

thats what i thought, how ridiculous to have ur leg hoisted and stretched for minutes on end, then be expected to trot away straight after! it was literally for a few strides, no surprise really! x

 

[vicijp]

I always wonder why people pay for a vetting if they arent going to listen to a vets advice.
IMO vettings are crap, a vet can tell me nothing more than I can work out myself.
If people arent able to assess a horse themselves of course they should pay a vet, but to then ignore the vet goes against all reason.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Yeah, but you have to admit that flexion tests are, at best, a controversial topic of discussion, at worst, a total waste of time. If the vet had found something dodgy on x-ray then fair enough, ignore the advice at your peril, but "failing" a flexion test is not reason alone to reject a prospective purchase.

Beth

 

[vicijp]

Thats fair enough if you go in to the vetting making an informed decision. 'Hey Mr Vet, no need for the flexion bullsh#t unless there is any doubt in your mind.'
But if you have liked the horse enough to have it vetted, then you go away and speak to people who say they are rubbish (who probably werent even there), then of course you are going to want to believe them.

 

[henryhorn]

I agree with Kidalton, flexion tests are a silly way of assessing a horse. You can make any horse limp if you hold it's leg up long enough!
It wouldn't put me off.
Far more telling is what our vet does, he lunges them on a hard stony surface if possible. I won't let him do that to any of ours as all will go lame on the rough ground on a tight circle here as it is large stones on our car park and I am worried may they may get bruised, but if I were buying I'd send him every time!

 

[Ginn]

I didn't even get my girl vetted - I knew she'd fail on her "blemishes" which were still a mess at the time and as she was only 15 months I didn't see the point. I did however have a long chat to my vet who had also been treating her (with her owners permission) and he assured me that her injuries were cosmetic and that as far as he was aware (and he'd been treting her most days for a good few months!) she was more than up to doing what I want with her.

 

[Alibear]

Nope when I get a horse vetted it has to pass and even then they still go wrong!

I might if I thought the horse was something extra special pay for a scan/xray to find out what was going on.

 

[Rambo]

Most vets wouldn't fail a horse on the outcome of a flexion test anyway. They'd simply advise further investigation such as xray's to identify if there is a 'real' problem or not.

As to whether or not you listen to the advice of the vet...well, that's your choice. You're paying after all

And remember, a vetting is only a check at a moment in time. Like passing an MOT, a passing a vetting doesn't necessarily mean a healthy horse.

 

[MagicMelon]

I probably would have bought the horse too, I would have looked to see if it had competed regularily (and not had big gaps where it may have been off lame etc.).

Flexion tests are crap. Loads of horses 'fail' them when they are perfectly sound. Obviously if the horse is badly lame then maybe it needs closer inspection but otherwise, try holding your own leg up for a while then running away - you'll limp too!

 

[Claireg9]

It depends really, i too am under the Opinion of whats the point of paying for a vetting to ignore the advice!
But i always tell the vet why i want the horse and to do what on her, then the vet normally makes an informed judgement for you. Even if it failed id ask her is that fail enough for me to not buy this horse or is it going to be perfectly fine for what i want to do!
My mare has a slight breathing default, if i wanted to do burghley length XC on her it would effect her and she would not of passed but as it was im looking at just doing RC and maybe bsja if things progress enough so theres no need to worry!
She's been fine so far... she touches wood!