would you buy a horse which had failed a flexion test?

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DanielleP

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As the title says, would you buy a horse which had failed a hind leg flexion test on the hock? She is sound. Evented last year at intro level and perfectly sound through out also competed aff SJ and unaff dressage again sound through out the season. 13 year old TB mare. Opinions?
 
Personally and only personally I would be careful. I purchased a lovely novice dressage mare who failed the flex test with me on one front leg. she seemed sound and we didnt want her for jumping or cross country etc. so i bought her however I have had nothing but trouble and now dont think she will be sound ever again. Of course yours case may be completely different !
 
I think i would carry on looking the reason you get the vetting is to bring up theses issues.

It could mean expencive vets bill in the future and i would of though you insurance would not insure the leg which failed the flexion test, i may be wrong on the insurance.
 
Wouldn't necessarily put me off, at 13 you'd expect a few lumps and bumps and plenty of horses flex lame but are fine for ridden work. If I really liked the horse, it was a match in every other respect and I wasn't looking to do more than Intro then I'd use it to negotiate on price! Was it your vet that did the vetting? If so I'd have a chat with them and discuss the degree of lameness and how much of an impact it could have. Only thing to maybe consider is if you wanted to sell on in the future.
 
Yes. A vet once told me that flexion tests are very debateable as to what they show. Try holding your leg in a cramped and unatural position for a minute and then running straight off without taking a wobbly step. Damn near impossible.

Depending on how badly it failed (did it come sound after a few strides or did it remain lame etc) I would probably still go ahead. Talk to your vet and see what they say, afterall, thats why you pay them
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Wouldn't bother me at all. When we sold my mums horse, she failed a vetting on flexions and a week later passed with another vet. I personally, think their a waste of time.
 
I'd have thought most 13 yr old would fail a flexion test, Xray leg if you're interested. Flexion tests vary so much with different vets. Good luck any way.
 
Yes, my horse of a lifetime (Bay in my siggie, then aged 23) failed flexion but I went ahead with the puchase with a suitable reduction in his price. I competed in RC intermediate eventing, and up to affiliated Medium dressage. He then went on to be a total schoolmaster for all my friends children and a complete pc superstar. He died in his mid 20's from cancer related issues having had barely a days lameness in the 14 years I owned him.
 
Thank you to everyone who has replied so far my opinion was also that i couldn't imagine most 13 yo TB event/rc horses would pass a flexion test all round. Nice to know i'm not being completely nieve!
 
I'd consider it for the right price & so long as it was only mild. I personally wouldn't spend out on x-rays either but depends on the value of the horse. My pony failed flexion tests when going out on loan (aged 17) & had a happy life competing for another 8 years after that. Died of colic.
 
My now 20yo passed a flexion test at age 19 - he has SJ'd to Fox, BD to med, unaff to Adv

Personally I would listen to my vet - I pay for his opinion and would see what he thought
 
My first horse failed vetting on near fore but still went a head a bought him, i have had him for 5 years, hunted him 3 full seasons along with PC and unaff sj & xc through out the summer. Only ever had time off for holidays. I didn't have a problem selling him on as he went out on loan for 4 months before the offered to buy him so didn't have him vetted. The horse i currently have, only for about a month, failed the vetting on near hind flextion. After talking to the owners who said they never had a lame day with him let me look into his vet records. i decided to go ahead and take the risk, he was £1800 so wasn't worth cost of xrays. Good luck with your decision =)
 
Yes, and I did. George failed his flexion test on one of his hinds, but the vet said she could make any horse lame with flexion if she tried!! But seriously she said he was more than fit for the purpose I wanted him for (general low-key allrounder), but had I wanted to take him round Badminton (ha ha!!) that would of been a different story.
 
I would yes, i had a pony fail the flexion test aged 13 and i saw her out and about with her new owners recently. she is still sound aged 21 and has never had a lame day with them!
 
Yes, I did. My horse failed miserably on his left fore. I walked away but couldnt get him out of my mind so went back and bought him. He was 4 yrs old at the time and is now 10 yrs old and touching wood, never had a days lamness apart when he went and fractured that leg!!! Different story though.
It would depend on the price though, my horse was cheap and I was prepared to take the risk. I may have thought different if he was an expensive horse.
 
That's how it's done:

[ QUOTE ]
Try holding your leg in a cramped and unatural position for a minute and then running straight off without taking a wobbly step.


[/ QUOTE ]

Everyone can try this on his own.

Surely, the experience of a vet is necessary for a real flexion test and to interpret the result, but if in doubt and in order to save money (re-doing the flexion test by other vets) you can at least have try and look what happens.

It surely helps if once have been present in person when a real vet performed a flexion test.
 
my little sisters pony failed flexion test we werent getting her vetted just wanted to check there were no problems with her being 16 but we still wanted to use her as a allrounder pony and he said she would be fine
 
when i sold my last pony she was vetted and failed on flexion tests she was 12yrs old then the people bought her anywaythat was 3yrs ago and last time i spoke to them she was competing at showjumping succesfully she has never been lame as long as i've known her, so no dont think it would put me off.
 
Hi I have just been reading your replys re flexion test on vetting and would like to ask
my friend recently had her horse vetted 5* she failed on the flexion and he said her pelvis was out! the flexion test he did by holding the horses leg up in front and curling it around and up for 2 mins I have not seen it done in this was before and was wondering if this is a new method as I`ve not been involved with vetting a horse for many years?
She was a little off on both fronts then we did the exercise and rest and he then re did the flxion test and she was quite lame he said that it showed that after exercise and rest that the joints were sore and the fact that she put her foot down toe to heal rather than heal to toe could in the future make her lame he said 10 or 12 years down the line!!!!!
I was not too happy any horse could go lame after you have baught it for any reason but to fail her for something that could or could not happen in years down the line seems mad!! what do you all think please
 
Yes I would buy a horse that had failed a flexion test. After some work experience with a vet, a lot of horses do fail on flexion tests but are sound normally, it is quite a common thing. And for a 13 year old I would expect that. If the horse is want I wanted then i would go for it. I nearly did but someone got there first offering more money!

Also if they have failed the 5-stage vetting you could try to haggle a bit on price :)
 
My sister was looking for a horse just over a year ago. Found a lovely grey mare, who, really ticked the boxes. She got her on trial for a week, had her vetted and she failed on flexion. The guy that was selling her was crazy and wanted to know the name of vet etc, so my dad phoned him and asked him if we could get her x-rayed. Guy said fine, but if the xrays come up with nothing then you pay. Anyway, turned out she had a broken pelvis, but wasnt lme. guy went nuts, but eventually backed off when he realised the vet was someone he knew, and she did have a broken pelvis. I'm sure there are situations where failing a flexion test means nothing, but I'd be weary after our experience.
 
Yes, wouldn't bother me as different vets flexion differently and its perfectly possible to make them lame doing it. Esp. at that age, she would prob be a bit stiff if you hold her leg up for long periods.
 
DanielleP said:
As the title says, would you buy a horse which had failed a hind leg flexion test on the hock? She is sound. Evented last year at intro level and perfectly sound through out also competed aff SJ and unaff dressage again sound through out the season. 13 year old TB mare. Opinions?
Click to expand...

No I wouldnt. My mare appears sound but would fail flexion. I know what is wrong with her and would not buy her! A vet is writing a paper on her she is so complex! Fame at last!:D
 
I really don't rate flexion tests that much - its so easy to fail a horse on them, hold the leg up a tad longer etc. On a front leg I would be just a little more suspicious though - so would investigate with vet. Definitely I'd ask the vet on any flexion failure but unless their reaction was a fairly certain no no, then I'd take a view.

I recently sold a pony who though 100% in all ways, did sometimes have a funny hind action I was convinced she would fail the vetting on the flexion if on anything, so we did our own mini vetting the day before. The pony hobbled away and I thought that was that. When the vet came, the pony flew through the vetting, flexions and all and the vet said she was one of the soundest ponies he'd vetted in years! Just goes to show eh?
 
I bought my 15 year old even though he failed his flexion tests on one hind (one - two tenths lame) because all I wanted to do with him was hack.

A month later the farrier held both hinds similar to the flexion but no running involved and he said that he was sound in his opinion and I've had no lame days etc. It's only been 3 months though - so touch wood!
 
No!
I bought a horse who had been there and done it all, my ideal horse but he had arthritis in his coffin joint and things were good as long as he was only walked on hard ground. But after a while the lameness became more and more frequent and his behaviour worsened :(
Eventually he exploded whilst we were out on a quiet hack and he broke my collar bone. I decided to retire him, 3 months down the line he was looking uncomfortable. We had the vet out who diagnosed arthritic changes in his spine. He told me the devastating news that he would not make the winter. So I had to make the heartbreaking decision to have my boy PTS :(
There are lots of healthy horses out there. Why put yourself through it?
 
I walked away from a horse that I really, really wanted because he failed the test. The vet I'd used was a specialist equine vet and I had to take his advice, after all, that's what I was paying for. funnily enough though 3 days later I bought my mare without a vetting! On hindsight though I should of had the vetting as I'm sure now that she had back issues after possibly suffering a jumping accident. A year down the road of gentle hacking and relaxation though, she's the fabbyest, fittest and cheap to keep buy I could of possibly made.:rolleyes:
 
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