would you vet a horse you know?

If the horse is currently (and has been for some time) doing exactly what you want to do with him without problem then - I would just get the vet when he's next on the yard to check eyes, heart and lung - not call it a vetting and be £50-80 rather than £300 for full vetting.

You know he will 'fail' a vetting with the sarcoids, no vet could recommend purchase with open/ unhealed sarcoids.

if you have any niggling doubts on other areas then get the vet to look at those to
 
My vet always listens to the heart when they do vaccinations or come for any other reason as a basic check.

I think it is a tricky one as most people are worried about things that may cause lameness, so depends on how confident you are about picking up subtle lameness.

I would always get a horse vetted because I am not that confident in my own ability to make a judgement. I also think just because someone is honest does not mean that there is not an undiagnosed problem with the horse that they are not aware of. If the horse appears fit and well and is doing the job you want it to do and you have know the horse for a long time it might be worth the risk.

The cost of the horse does not come into it for me as vet bills costs the same for both expensive and cheaper horses and the level of sadness at not being able to ride does not necessarily rise with the cost of the horse.

You could go for a basic health check that some vets offer owners who want an annual health check. My vets offer this and it is heart, breathing, eyes, trot up, and blood test and worm count. Normally they include vaccinations and teeth rasping too.

vallin said:
I did, had know the horse (and ridden the horse on and off) for a year. IMO they're not that expensive and it's good to be alerted of any possible problems, e.g, how regularly do you listen to you horses heart and check for arythmias etc? Lol
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I bought my horse from someone I know, I decided to have him vetted. Both for my peace of mind and so that there would be no doubt in the future if a problem arose that the horse had or hadn't been sold to me with an issue.
 
The only horse I ever had vetted, passed but he turned out to have behavioural problems. So, I would say no.

At the end of the day, it is only that vets opinion on that day, so I would tuck the money away for the the other bills that will inevitablly come your way.
 
As far as I'm aware, sarcoids won't fail a vetting, but would be an 'advisory' (like on an MOT). At least, this is what I was told when I had a prospective horse vetted. He had sarcoids, but he failed as was lame in the initial trot up (had an infected cut on his leg, of all things).

It depends how much I was paying for the horse and how long I'd known it as to whether I'd vet a horse I knew.

I would always vet an unknown horse.
 
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