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Original poster

five stage vetting

280 replies

Puppymouse · 01/04/2016 19:37

I posted a while back about buying my first horse and had some very useful advice. I've since found a beautiful boy I want to buy and he's being vetted on Tuesday. I have been warned that many horses don't pass vetting and this is fairly common. The yard he's at are hopeful he will but he's 16...

My question is are there degrees of failing where you would still purchase? So if he fails on X you still go ahead but if he fails on Y you walk away? And will the vet advise whether to go ahead in these circumstances or do they have to just leave you to decide?

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Original poster
Puppymouse · 23/04/2016 19:39

My main concern is tack. I have three different saddles to try and no breastplate yet. His saddle slips if he's not wearing a breastplate because of his shoulder apparently. And he has some soreness around his lumbar area so I'm wary of hurting him.

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Gabilan · 23/04/2016 20:07

After my recent crappy saddle fitting experiences I'm wary. Otoh a quiet poddle out round the lanes might be fine. I think if a horse is used to working it sometimes settles better if it's worked. It's like they say 'oh that's why I'm here, fine, I can do that'.

Original poster
Puppymouse · 23/04/2016 23:36

The plan is to take him on a loop round the village with one of the others in the morning. Just have to hope we have a saddle that fits him. He's so ridiculously calm and placid. My loan mare loathes him and has been charging at him straight up to her fence line and he just carries on grazing. Sad

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Gabilan · 24/04/2016 08:59

Your loan mare knows he's a usurper. Wink

What did vet say about lumbar pain? Apparently pain further up the body can cause muscle spasms in the lumbar region. Also (sorry) but he's lacking topline. I'm sure that will build up but IMO he needs a slightly too big saddle now and padding underneath to allow the muscle to develop.

IsItTimeForGinYet · 24/04/2016 10:21

Hooray!! New pony!! So pleased for you! Have a lovely potter on him today and start getting to know each other.

Original poster
Puppymouse · 24/04/2016 12:10

Gabilan I've ordered a lunge aid that the owner recommended helps him build top line so I can only take one step at a time. Vet said she thought his pain was purely muscular and he'd be sorted with a bit of physio. She didn't seem concerned or think there was a worrying underlying issue. I have left a message for the physio.

He was good as gold this morning out round the village. My saddle is a pretty good fit and he had a thick saddle pad.

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Booboostwo · 24/04/2016 12:18

That's great news! I hope you have a lot of fun with him!

Gabilan · 24/04/2016 13:50

That sounds great Puppy. Really pleased that things are going well. He has a very kind face.

Original poster
Puppymouse · 24/04/2016 14:22

He's very tolerant and good natured. Eager to get out and about and will get bored when in I think but not scary about it. He barely spooked or flinched out hacking this morning so I am feeling positive. Just slightly stressed until my loan mare goes back!

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frostyfingers · 27/04/2016 11:11

How's he getting on? I hope you've been having some fun.

Original poster
Puppymouse · 27/04/2016 16:25

He is such a poppet - everyone who's met him thinks he's lovely. Hacked him round the village and did once in the arena. He was nervous in the arena but so willing.

But he does have a sore back so he had physio last night. Vet who vetted him is sure it's just muscles but physio not 100% sure he doesn't have more of a problem. He has a follow up session in two weeks and saddler coming out weekend after next.

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mrslaughan · 03/06/2016 21:18

Puppy mouse - you need to stop worrying what everyone else thinks - and also looking for there opinion.

You are a very new partnership - 6 weeks?
It takes awhile to build relationship (I would say a year at least - I am not talking about being the sort of rider that can get on and ride anything) I am talking about having the sort of partnership where you trust each other...... This takes time.

You didn't want a cobby plod - so stop treating your horse as one- I go back to my advice - set your horse up for success - only have the battles that you are mentally up to win...... Don't let peer pressure push you into doing things that you are not ready to do.
From everything you have said you are in it for the long haul, so take it slowly.
Also think about who you have instructing you.....
Everyone thought I should by a little safe cob - but I wanted to do dressage - I am also very tall , wanted I ended up buying was a beautiful warmblood - lots thought I was crazy, but j have had amazing support and we are getting on really well. Hacking is still my weakness - she is as steady as any horse, but when she spooks it's big and fast . With hacking I have just built up - a little hack around a farm track to the arena (not the direct route) , then a different route back to the stables . Building up the distance and our confidence . Start small......

Original poster
Puppymouse · 06/06/2016 15:32

Brilliant advice Mrs thank you. I am exhausted trying to accommodate all the people involved. I have a good instructor and a plan at the moment. He's pain free now and our big hurdle is to manage to get out on our own. I tried it first time with someone walking behind me and he was great apart from a certain fork in the road and wouldn't go forward. Led him and he was fine to let me back on a bit further up but wouldn't go with me on him. I intend to keep to company for now and then start little and often and have a hacking lesson with instructor on foot to try again round the village.

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Floralnomad · 06/06/2016 15:42

My first horse went through a stage when we first had her of not wanting to go past certain points on hacks ( ex race mare) and she was the type that you were definitely safer not getting off to lead her , what worked for me was ( traffic permitting obviously) turning her in a couple of tight circles then going straight into trot , or if that failed making her go backwards past the 'spot' - worked for us 99% of the time . She turned into an excellent hack , which was good as she was pretty impossible to do anything else with !

Gabilan · 06/06/2016 20:09

The other thing that often works is this:
Make it clear to the horse it can't go backwards/ spin round/ stop and graze. Present it with 2 choices but don't pressure it to do either. Make it clear you're happy to stand and stare at the spooky thing all day. In fact you're happy to stand there until Ragnarok. Or it can just walk forward.

This doesn't work with dhorse who prefers to be told what to do. But some horses, when told you're happy to stand still for as long as it takes, will give up and walk past.

Original poster
Puppymouse · 06/06/2016 20:46

Previous owner has said he needs a couple of hard cracks on the backside if a good boot doesn't work. I'm not mad keen on whips but if it worked for her - she says he did exactly the same with her.

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Floralnomad · 06/06/2016 21:09

If I'd cracked mine on the backside with a whip she would have deposited me on the ground and trampled me ! She was quite a character .

Original poster
Puppymouse · 06/06/2016 21:26

Well that's what I'd assumed to be honest.

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Gabilan · 06/06/2016 21:58

My mum's old horse would deposit you on the floor if you smacked her. Dhorse just goes "fine, look, I'm going forward, you just had to say." With some variants tell a gelding, ask a mare, discuss it with a stallion and pray if it's a pony holds good.

mrslaughan · 06/06/2016 22:13

In the early stages of the relationship with my mare, if I had cracked her on the bum, she would have let me know in no uncertain terms, that that was not how it was going to be - infact the merest tickle or brush with a schooling whip would result in a buck, a crack - I would have been put into orbit!.....now I am allowed to use the schooling whip, I think it's funny that she had boundaries in the relationship, that have moved as our relationship has developed!

Original poster
Puppymouse · 06/06/2016 22:33

Previous owner seems to think I need to get in there hard and firm to avoid future issues. But again you get all the different opinions.... I think he is trying to dominate me and needs telling but just unsure about smacking a sensitive TB Shock

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Floralnomad · 06/06/2016 23:36

I do agree that he needs to know who the boss is , when we got our mare ( I was 14) we really let her run rings around us for a few months and it was getting that we couldn't handle her at all unless my dad was present ,we then had a couple of quite nasty incidents ,a very frank family discussion and I managed to find my backbone - she turned out to be the horse love of my life although she was still an absolute cow with my sister ,my mum and anyone else that she thought she could scare .

Original poster
Puppymouse · 06/06/2016 23:40

What did you do differently to the others that made her respect you Floral?

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Floralnomad · 06/06/2016 23:53

i started approaching her with the attitude of 'you are not going to mess with me ' whereas they stayed very wary of her , with good reason as by this point she had fractured my skull ( hairline / with concussion) and shown herself to be quite dangerous . I'd just got to the point that we were approaching our first summer holiday with her and if I couldn't manage her alone it was going to be wasted waiting for my dad to come home from work . She was IMO the cleverest horse I've owned .

frostyfingers · 07/06/2016 09:27

You need first of all not to be afraid of him and let him know that you are the boss but this can all be done without resorting to a crack on the backside. I think doing that at this stage will be counterproductive - there may come a time further in to your relationship that this may be appropriate (when you know for instance that he is just messing about), although unlikely but right now you'd be setting yourself up for further confrontation. My horse can slam the brakes on out hacking and try to whip round and I just get him to stand there while he thinks about it (and it becomes boring) and then encourage him to walk on - the most I've had to do is say firmly "get on with it" in a deepish voice and he sort of shrugs and goes "oh, ok".

I was quite scared of mine at the beginning when he was barging me around and waving his legs at me and I could feel myself adding to his stress which is why I sought help but he's settled into an almost different horse now with only the occasional re-emergence of his loutish behaviour.

Above all go with your instinct and do what you want to do - I know we're all busy offering you advice here as well but ignore it if it feels wrong. I was helping a novice owner a few years ago and kept saying to her that there is no prescribed "right" way of doing things, you have to find what works for you and your horse.

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