Would you x-ray?

Sussexbythesea

Sussexbythesea

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I’m hoping to get a 9yr old SJ vetted if second ride goes well.

If ok on flexions would you still get x-rays or and other scans done? Price is high for a RC type I’m looking for but not BS.

I was thinking hocks and front feet but if he’s otherwise sound what would be the benefit? Also I’m paranoid about SI injury having had that before but no easy scan / test for that afaik.

Thanks
 
Pros and cons.
You could easily find ‘something’ on X-ray but knowing whether it is, or might become an issue is not so clear cut. But once you have that on file it will be excluded from insurance. In that situation are you walking away (because you might need to walk away from a few!). Sometimes if they vet really well on a 5 stage and you are under the 10k insurance mark you are better off not knowing and spending the X-ray money on LOU cover for the first year.
 
I wouldn't bother. I think it's normal to be worried about bits you've had go wrong before buy I think you can fairly guarantee it will be a bit that you don't xray that goes wrong!
I too would consider spending the money on loss of use cover for the first year I think.
 
ester said:
I wouldn't bother. I think it's normal to be worried about bits you've had go wrong before buy I think you can fairly guarantee it will be a bit that you don't xray that goes wrong!
I too would consider spending the money on loss of use cover for the first year I think.
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Same. Presumably the horse's current workload is similar to what you will want it for?
 
If he's fit and currently out doing what you want, at the level you want I would go for LOU insurance rather than x-rays. It won't save you the heart ache but they can trip off the lorry and do a tendon arriving and no xray will protect from that !!
 
I’m definitely consider x-raying this time round. I’ve had such a run of bad luck that I want to limit my risk. I’m finding vets quotes for this do vary quite widely tho.
It’s quite interesting seeing sellers reaction to me wanting to consider this.
 
I always swore I would x Ray my next buy as my sisters horse was irreparably broken even after being vetted. I know vetting doesn’t prevent this and I don’t blame anyone except bad luck. But when your spending upwards of £1000 which is a lot of money to you, on what will be your only horse, having to be kept at an expensive livery yard, you have to minimise the risks of something going wrong. And we all know that buying the horse is the cheap part. But I’ve just read IHW’s comment who said that if you look for something you will find it. And my farrier used to always say that to me too. So I dunno. I still might do feet and hocks. And my vet once told me that one of the best “guarantees” is to buy something that’s already doing the workload that you will want it to do Cos then you know it’s up to it. I think that was also good advice but definitely narrows the search especially if there’s a budget! I definitely think buying a horse for someone like me is a gamble
 
ihatework said:
Pros and cons.
You could easily find ‘something’ on X-ray but knowing whether it is, or might become an issue is not so clear cut. But once you have that on file it will be excluded from insurance. In that situation are you walking away (because you might need to walk away from a few!). Sometimes if they vet really well on a 5 stage and you are under the 10k insurance mark you are better off not knowing and spending the X-ray money on LOU cover for the first year.
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That’s sort of what I’d be afraid of that it would show something that may never cause a problem and then a difficult decision would need to be made.
 
milliepops said:
Same. Presumably the horse's current workload is similar to what you will want it for?
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It’s difficult to know. The girl has lost interest and so the last year has been erratic work wise and I don’t think he’s competed. That could be alarm bells for he’s no longer performing well so they’ve given him a break or simply she’s at an age she’d rather do other things although she works with horses and mum was keeping him ticking over hoping she’d get renewed enthusiasm.
 
ester said:
I wouldn't bother. I think it's normal to be worried about bits you've had go wrong before buy I think you can fairly guarantee it will be a bit that you don't xray that goes wrong!
I too would consider spending the money on loss of use cover for the first year I think.
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That’s true also - Horse I had before that passed a 5 stage but had wobblers. Luckily I did have LOU on that.
 
I would ask the sellers to release the horses vet history to you (or your vet) and have a good read. If he's had some questions with soundness which the sellers have addressed through rest they might have consulted their vet at some point - then there would be a record of it. It won't rule anything out but a cheap way of finding something if they have had him checked.
 
I leave the decision to X-ray up to the vet .
It’s just too expensive to X-ray everything at every vetting .
It’s easy to say as a poster above did X-ray the spine but by the time you get the horse to a surgery and X-ray the whole back it’s likely each vetting will be costing not a lot short of 1k.
 
Polos Mum said:
I would ask the sellers to release the horses vet history to you (or your vet) and have a good read.
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Just be advised that a canny seller may find a way round this - recently heard of a very expensive young horse being sold that had joint injections done by someone that wasn't their usual vet so wouldn't show if vet history was released.
 
TGM said:
Just be advised that a canny seller may find a way round this - recently heard of a very expensive young horse being sold that had joint injections done by someone that wasn't their usual vet so wouldn't show if vet history was released.
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Ahh the world is full of grim people ! But very true I'm sure. So sad when you're looking for something sound and this is the level of miss-trust you have to expect !
 
and even if not planning it per se, I do know plenty of people registered with more than one vet just because one is cheaper for some stuff etc.
 
Thanks all for views.

The owners are happy to disclose vet history but as others say they could always have used another vet for issues, so not sure it is worth it.

I tried again today and have decided to buy subject to 5 stage. I’ll chat to vet re X-rays etc. and see what they say.

Fingers crossed he’ll pass.
 
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