When the horse you want to have vetted lives two hundred miles away...

chillidragon

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...do you ask your own vet to go? And if so, just how much do they charge for dragging their sorry carcass all the way round the British Isles for you?

Or do you use a vet close to where the horse lives, and hope that you can have the results passed on to your own vet afterwards?

Or something else?
 
Use a vet close to the horse, preferably by recommendation but not from the owners of the horse you are vetting!
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Ask who the owner's vet is but dont use that one. Find another in the area so its not a biased vetting. The vet will call you with his results and send you it in writing.
 
I have used my Vet all over the country. He is a good friend though so we made a day out of it!

Goodness that sounds awful!

Perfectly innocent though!
 
I used vets near tothe horse as my local equine vet would not have travelled that far.

Luckily one of the ones I had vetted was up the road from the Royal Vet College in Herts so I was happy with that one (it failed the vetting by the way!)
 
When I had Finella vetted I used a vet near to where she was kept, but not the owner's vet. I spoke to the vet on the 'phone and explained exactly what I wanted the pony for. The vetting report was very detailed and I spoke to the vet again about it and decided to go ahead and buy Finella and it was absolutely the right decision. Good luck with your vetting.
 
Find out who the regular vet is and, as someone said, do not use them! Try and see if your vet can recommend anyone else is that area as generally your vet will understand you do not want to fork out all the extra for them to travel the distance. If it does happen to be the regular vet they suggest though then i wouldn't have a problem with using them.
 
I think, these days, you could use the owners vet and it wouldnt matter. The vets cant afford to pass horses that would otherwise fail, and tbh they would know the horse better than a strange vet, and would have to disclose anything that may affect the horse in the future that they may have had to treat it for in the past.
 
Agree with Maisy. Where I live, there are only two local vet practices that are considered any good with horses, so it sometimes happens that the owner's vet is also your vet. In today's litigious society, vets cannot afford to vet an animal sound when it is not and, to be honest, I have yet to meet a vet who would be morally comfortable doing so. The vetting process is very thorough and they take bloods too, so if any NSI (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories - bute etc) have been administered and the horse goes lame a few days after purchase, these will be detected.
What I would say is that, whichever practice you use, speak to the actual vet who will be doing the vetting and make it very clear what the horse will be doing and what you are looking for.
 
Patches was an hour and a half's drive from me.

I googled the local equine veterinary practices in her area and called one of them to do the vetting. I met him at Lucy's yard (P's old owner) to witness the vetting and discuss any findings.
 
Where's the horse? I asked my regular vet and on here for recommendations, the one I picked was lovely with over 40 years experience and not un reasonable fees.
 
Can I just say that if you use the Vendors own Vet then by law the Vet has to tell you everything that has happened to that horse whilst in their care so long as the Vendor agree's to this before hand - if they decline then its worth wondering why!!! (my OH is a Vet so thought this might help you)
 
If you can its a good idea to attend the vetting yourself if at all possible not just rely on speaking to the vet by phone - you can discuss any issues there and then, also makes sure you are getting the right horse vetted not a ringer!
 
My new horse was a couple of hours drive away so I asked my regular vet if she knew any one in that area, she was able to suggest two whose work and reputation she could trust.
 
We had one vetted 200 miles away, but found a good equine specilaist vet via a recommendation.
The certifiacte has a diagram of all markings, and we discussed things pre and post vetting via phone.
 
i had this twice and used other vets but aimed specifically for those NOT known to the owner. however, luckily for me on one of the occasions the vet recognised the horse and owner and tactfully and cleverly asked the owner "do you have any objection to me checking old records and talking to the buyer" so it put her in a difficult position to say no....vet knew there was a dodgy past and he was right, she had lied loads and thankfully i didnt buy that one. good luck - make sure you or someone you know attends, its well worth doing and driving all the way.
 
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