WWYD - 2 stage vetting

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Turks

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I am looking to buy a 10 yr old WB that has been kept at livery at our yard for the last 18 months. I have been riding him regularly for the last few weeks.
He has stringhalt fairly badly but it hasn't degenerated in the time I've known him and doesn't seem to have any real adverse impact on him.
I can buy him cheaply and he will be a lot of lovely horse for the money (approx 1.5k)
I am just looking to do similar work to what he's doing now.
He's currently owned by vet/horse dentist so they did initial vetting process themselves.
Is there any real point in the 2-stage? He's never going to pass flexion!
 
I wouldn't think it's worth it as you know a lot about him and that he will fail it etc. I had a 2 star and two months later he went lame after a £700 bill we got to the bottom if it.
However I would probably have one again if I bought another if I didn't know the horse but in your scenario I wouldn't.
 
victoria1980x said:
I wouldn't think it's worth it as you know a lot about him and that he will fail it etc. I had a 2 star and two months later he went lame after a £700 bill we got to the bottom if it.
However I would probably have one again if I bought another if I didn't know the horse but in your scenario I wouldn't.
Click to expand...

Thanks V. I had a chat with our vets about the stringhalt and he suggested that it would be worth a 2 stage whilst he wouldn't be particularly concerned. I didn't have the chance to get to the bottom of why and guess its good business for the vets! Its probably more to do with covering their backside against any subsequent grumblings from me should the stringhalt worsen... not that that would be fair to the vet in the circumstances!
 
Stringhalt aside what about the rest of him , his heart his eyes for instance I considered buying a horse without a vetting as he had had a five stage vetting from a well known equine vet twelve weeks before .
He had caught a virus it had damaged his heart he was dangerous to ride I could have sent my OH out hunting on a death trap .
Always have a vetting it's not worth the risk.
But dont turn down a nice horse with a problem if you feel it won't affect the job he does with you , with Stringhalt can get suddenly worse if you feel it's worth the risk and you can face coping with it if goes wrong go for it .
 
Well you know about the stringhalt, but it might find another problem that you dont know about that might make you change your mind.
Horses can compete well with stringhalt, so that wouldnt really bother me, but insurance wise.....if they try to wiggle out of a claim saying preexisting condition, when its not on vets report, you have a certain amount of cover.
Vettings not so much pass or fail nowdays anyway
 
A vetting is less pass or fail, more a list of observations. You know that the stringhalt will be one observation and that won't change your mind about the purchase but as others above have said there could be lots of other observations the vet identifies (heart murmer, eyes, small sarcoids etc.) that you should know about.
 
Many thanks for that.

I appreciate that they won't just do the stringhalt but I was also worried that any further matters might become later declared insurance exclusions whilst they would be unlikely to put me off.

The vet who bought him for her own use 18m ago would have performed her own basic vetting and then I know his history from that point (no viruses etc).

He is a little bit 'ouch' in one section of his back and they have had the chiro out who only deemed one treatment necessary. He's a bit cold-backed but then gets on and works through his back so I wasn't going to worry too much about that. Don't know how much a vetting would look at that?

I guess I should talk through with the vets as to what goes into a 2-stage as I've only ever gone 5 before. I've spoken to them quite a lot lately about another horse/ins claim and don't want to get a restraining order!

I've spoken to NFU about the stringhalt as its so obviously a pre-existing condition. They will exclude anything caused as a result of that but not limbs per se which seems fair to me.

What sort of cost is a 2-stage?

Am I just convincing myself for an easy ride:confused:
 
From my experience a 2 star is a very basic more of a once over and guess it depends on the vet as the standard will probably vary. The vet I chose did not mention the state off his hoofs which less than 2 months later were crippling him and had run up a £700 vet bill. I *think * I paid about £150 for a 2 star.
 
I suppose you could ask the vendor to sign a declaration to the effect that the horse is fit for????? whatever you intend to use it for and that it is sound in eyes, heart, wind and limb (with the exclusion of the stringhalt) and that it is on no medication of any sort..... as the vendor is a vet they'd be unlikly to be dishonest in these circumstances..... and if they were you'd have a strong case for returning it. If no signed document ask why?

I must confess at that sort of money I'd be selling without warranty
 
If you're going to buy the horse irrespective of whether it's blind in one eye or whether he's got a heart mumer that could mean he drops dead and injures you - it's probably not worth the £150 ish.
It costs as much to keep a bad horse as a good one as they say.
 
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