Would you buy a horse that has failed vetting?

[Niassa]

I’m still on my horse hunt…it seems to be a bit of a minefield and not all sellers seem genuine unfortunately.
I have found a ‘bargain’ horse - lovely temperament, beautiful to ride, and a very open and honest seller. The horse can no longer event due to ‘unevenness’ in one of her shoulders which is only evident in tight circles.
It had lots of expensive investigations and the vet thought it may potentially be a nerve issue, but it has not changed and there is no muscle atrophy.
It is priced to reflect the issue. It obviously wouldn’t pass a vetting. I’m looking for a happy hacker, potentially TREC etc.

Would you run a mile? She has good breeding so could potentially be a brood mare if needed.

No, unless you can afford to keep a lame horse doing nothing, the horse is lame on tight circles for now, but there is no telling whether the issue will worsen, and a lame horse is a lame horse, I wouldn't expect it to work, or breed.

No personallyI wouldnt. I agree with pp about not breeding if the horse is not sound

There is no such thing as a "bargain" horse sadly. You wouldn't be able to get it insured if it wont pass a vetting so thereby setting yourself up to pay £££ over the lifetime of the horse.
With this sort of damage you have no idea whether it will come right or not and you definitely shouldn't be breeding from it.

Thank you all - that’s definitely another no then!
I’ll carry on looking.

I did.

Horse is absolutely lovely. Totally useless for what I purchased him for, but for other reasons. The reason he failed the vetting 15 years ago has never shown itself.

A field ornament is never a bargain.

From what you’ve said absolutely not.
I was always told you can have two of the three things, but never all three.
Cheap
Sound
Sane.

If it’s sound and sane it ain’t cheap!

Im also personally very very wary of competition horses being sold to happy hackers due to injury (or just being bloody lame).
Generally these horses have loads of blood, and have spent their whole lives with incredibly competent, brave riders in hard work and going to someone who maybe isn’t as brave, to do much less work, plus an injury, can very very quickly result in a very overhorsed rider and a very stressed/bored horse

Also people need to stop putting their lame mares in foal. It drives me demented.

Agreed! Too many poorly bred horses from mares who should never have been bred from eg mares with KS, navicular etc.

Depends what the issue is. If it's lameness - no.

I did.

i had it vetted, it didn’t “fail” as such, but the very made it very clear it was hacking only, and may have a short working life.

the price meant it was worth it. It was a nice horse so I took the risk. It was my first horse despite working in yards for years so I wanted something to ease me in.

bloody thing went for years. Fab horse. Yes needed careful management but no more trouble than some of the other horses on the yard.

I didn’t have my last horse vetted but I knew she was probably broken winded. It turned out she wasn’t but did have respiratory issues.
I didn’t have her insured and there were a few vets bills. But basically she was a great horse for me, did what I wanted on her mainly hacking and I kept her until she died of old age.

Do you mean won't pass a 2 stage or a 5 stage vetting? My oldie wouldn't pass a 5 stage, but he has been an absolute cracker. He has been a light hack for the past 12 years, never sick or sorry, but probably wouldn't manage heavy work/schooling.

No. A field ornament is the longest living horse too

Just coming here to say if you want a horse for TREC, buy a sound one. In fact, if you want a horse for riding, buy a sound one. There are many reasons a horse might fail a vetting, but lameness is a big no as far as I’m concerned if you want to ride the horse at any level at all.

Have you looked at SB rehoming on Facebook? They have lots of time and patience in matching the right horse with rider x

depends on the issue with the failed vetting. I bought one of a friend (home bred) with known COPD (or whatever they call it now). I’ve had her years. I didn’t want to go round badminton or jump 1.40 showjumping. She is my horse of a lifetime. I adore her and wouldn’t part with her for the world.

in terms of a physical unknown injury - I probably wouldn’t but some others may.

"Im also personally very very wary of competition horses being sold to happy hackers due to injury (or just being bloody lame).
Generally these horses have loads of blood, and have spent their whole lives with incredibly competent, brave riders in hard work and going to someone who maybe isn’t as brave, to do much less work, plus an injury, can very very quickly result in a very overhorsed rider and a very stressed/bored horse"

hear hear !

Agreed, particularly when it's an unusual problem with no clear cause.

I can sort of accept it if it's a one off injury caused by an accident (vs not standing up to the work required), but otherwise you're just breeding more problems. And potentially causing additional health problems for the mare as well.

Yes I did. My highland mare failed the vetting on slight lameness. Vet was unsure of cause and she then came sound a day after.
I already had a wonderful highland gelding and was looking for a very safe pony to be his companion and for novice husband to come out on gentle hacks with me.
She was everything I’d been looking for and I trusted her seller ( who was only selling due to her own serious chronic ill health) and I knew the mare’s entire history so I had her on trial and she was perfect so bought her.
A year later she went lame again on same leg and needed surgery on both fronts on her annular ligaments. Two months box rest and she was sound again but I was really worried about her coping with ridden work so retired her as my geldings best friend.
Never regretted having her because she was so special.