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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
 
Location: SW MO | Another just for fun post- What are your "must do's" when you are looking at a horse for sale? What do you test and check when you are looking at a horse for the first time? What are your deal breakers? |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| I don't buy very often and when I do they are here to stay usually, so I really have to love the horse before I do a vet check. The last vet check I did, the vet watched him move on hard ground and on grass, flexion test, and because I wanted a base line for this horse, I had the front feet, ankles, knees and hocks x rayed. I can't remember if we did the stifles. The horse passed the visual and flexion test, and the x rays were clean. I pulled blood just in case there was personality change. This was suggested by the vet. He wasn't going to charge me unless I called within 30 days. Of course, I didn't. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Biggie for me is front feet. Seems like I have had a lot of front feet issues over the years. Hocks maybe, but they can usually be treated easily, repeatedly, and can eventually fuse and become problem free. Front feet however and coffin joints, once they have issues they cannot be cured. Only managed. And you cannot simply keep injecting high motion joints etc. I pull blood just to make sure the horse was not drugged for the exam. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | The last vet check I did was sketchy and the vet was pushing the horse; so glad I looked at the x rays with my own eyes because I spotted an issue that was trying to be glossed over by the vet. Huge pass for me.
With hocks, most of the time injections will work unless there is a spur. I have had 3 with spurs, one was manageable, the other two required injections every 3 months.
I guess with this post I was just wondering what people look for before they decided to do a vet check. I have a list I like to do but I haven't had much luck so I am wanting other opinions.
The search for a sound horse begins lol |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 599
| X-RAY THE FRONT FEET!!!!!! Even if horse passes all flexion tests with flying colors!!! X-RAY THE FRONT FEET!!!! |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| I will say, I really check out my sellers before I even go look at a horse. The lady I bought my horse from was really nice, honest woman. I asked about several sellers and got mixed replies except about her and a pro to not be named, because I got unanimously bad reviews about her. |
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Expert
Posts: 5290
| GLP - 2017-03-02 12:47 PM
I will say, I really check out my sellers before I even go look at a horse. The lady I bought my horse from was really nice, honest woman. I asked about several sellers and got mixed replies except about her and a pro to not be named, because I got unanimously bad reviews about her.
LOL sometimes the ones you see at the NFR can be the most dishonest sellers. Trust me...  |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| FLITASTIC - 2017-03-02 2:51 PM
GLP - 2017-03-02 12:47 PM
I will say, I really check out my sellers before I even go look at a horse. The lady I bought my horse from was really nice, honest woman. I asked about several sellers and got mixed replies except about her and a pro to not be named, because I got unanimously bad reviews about her.
LOL sometimes the ones you see at the NFR can be the most dishonest sellers. Trust me...
Right?! And some of them are great ladies. It just goes to show that the rodeo world is no different from the rest of the world. There are crumbs and there are diamonds. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | Well I am going to try one tonight. Many mutual friends, and I have asked several people about the seller. Only good reviews, every person says they are trustworthy. We will see though. I'm curious to see if the horse is what they say it is.
My biggest concern is soundness. I really am not picky what the horse is beyond that. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 599
| No matter how trustworthy, you can't SEE navicular. Seller may genuinely not know, so do X-rays. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | I have had two that are navicular, sometimes it is not easy to diagnose, but there are a few things that can tell you if a horse may have it. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 784
Location: USA | FLITASTIC - 2017-03-02 12:17 PM Biggie for me is front feet. Seems like I have had a lot of front feet issues over the years. Hocks maybe, but they can usually be treated easily, repeatedly, and can eventually fuse and become problem free. Front feet however and coffin joints, once they have issues they cannot be cured. Only managed. And you cannot simply keep injecting high motion joints etc. I pull blood just to make sure the horse was not drugged for the exam. I bought a colt sight unseen, but had a friend go check him out for me. I asked the breeder and her if he had good feet. They both said yes he had great feet. My fault for not getting a vet check.. he was a coming 2 yr old. I get him home and his foot care was nonexistent. I took a look at his feet and he had a dish in both front feet. First thought that popped in my mind was founder. Had my farrier look at him he thought it was because his feet were not cared for. So that thought went out of my mind.... Took a while to get his feet looking better... He has big flat platter feet, thin soles, thin walls, has a hard time keeping shoes on.... fast forward to a week ago. Colt comes up lame front right. Take him to a lameness vet and long story short. He HAD been foundered in both front feet and had rotation. He had been this way for a while.. so my first gut reaction was spot on. I have been cursed with bad front feet in several horses... all dtf bloodlines. So get the feet x rayed!!
ETA: This colt also has a slight club foot on the right and pulled/strained his check ligament, which was the cause of the lameness. So he has 3 strikes against him and I haven't even done anything with him yet.
Edited by Lookin For Diamonds 2017-03-03 9:12 AM
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