To vet check your horse or not

My friend was looking for a dressage show prospect and knew she’d found the perfect horse after just one ride. He was going to take her to the upper levels! A cute little Thoroughbred who’d won many ribbons, he only cost twenty-five grand, which in the dressage world is a good price for a show horse. He even passed his pre-purchase vet check.

But my friend made a huge mistake. She didn’t get radiographs.

To x-ray or not is a big question to consider. If you’re not buying an expensive horse, you might not need this extra precaution. But if you plan to show and dole out your college education fund or spend more than a few thousand on a horse, x-rays are worth the money. If my friend had taken this step, she would’ve discovered an old injury in this horse that would prevent him from moving up the levels.

Hundreds of dollars of vet bills later, my friend came to the terrible realization that her dream wasn’t to be realized. She sadly sold the horse for a pittance of what she’d paid, and unfortunately I don’t know what became of him.

We chose to do a pre-purchase exam on Misty, the first mare we seriously considered. These checks will usually run a couple hundred dollars, so it’s not something we took lightly. Unfortunately it was money we couldn’t get back after the owner decided not to sell, but we were glad to have taken the precaution anyway, since we did not really know what to look for.

We should have vetted Sky, at least a minimal checkup. But instead we were able to have a 30-day trial written into our contract. We figured we would probably notice any problems in that time. It was a risky choice I know now, and we lucked out with a keeper.

What happens in a vet check?

It varies from vet to vet, but in a basic check the doc will check the horse’s teeth, body condition, hooves, and look for potential sore areas of the back. They’ll often perform flexion tests and ask you or the owner to trot the horse off on a lead rope to see if there is any lameness.

In a more comprehensive exam, blood tests, x-rays, ultrasounds or even an MRI can be included. Most casual horse owners can get by with a general checkup, but if you are buying an expensive horse, you can never go wrong having a veterinarian do these more extensive tests. However, make sure the vet is reputable and doesn’t perform tests you don’t need or want. Even then you can’t be 100% sure, but you’ll have a better chance of discovering potential problems the more tests are run. One trainer I know suggests every potential horse owner have their horse drug tested since, unfortunately, horse sellers are known to drug their horses to make them appear calm.