No they aren’t a must to find a healthy, sound , useful horse you will be happy with. Horses were ( and still are) bought and sold for a long time without them and both buyer and seller came out of the deal a winner.
People do a PPE and some still manage to end up with a lame, or neurological, or sick horse anyways.
You just need to do what makes you feel comfortable in the buying process. Just be prepared that there is still a chance you could end up with an issue. Nothing is guaranteed.
I’ve never done a PPE and never bought a bad horse either, so I guess I have been fortunate.
PPEs are rather new for the run of the mill horse buyers.
Not that long ago we didn’t have the technology to easily learn that much on a PPE and what we had was really expensive.
Not to do a PPE today is taking a gamble we used to take by default.
Not necessarily smart today not to use that little bit of an edge when buying a horse.
With the cost of horses increasing and the upkeep so much higher, to have one more way to decide if that horse we are looking to buy has something wrong with it we can’t tell by looking and guessing only that all is ok as we used to is a huge improvement for a buyer.
Who needs the financial and emotional heartache of buying a horse that we thought was fine and a few months later shows up with something serious, that could have been easily ruled out with a basic PPE today?
There is plenty we still can’t learn from a PPE, but our chances that we get it right and the horse is suitably sound are increased with one.
Just because we have taken our chances all our lives doesn’t mean that we can’t learn to do better today.
Especially as a trainer helping a client buy a suitable horse.
PPEs only report the status of the horse at that particular moment. As we all know, horses are horses and can have their PPE done, come through with flying colors, and then get turned out and break themselves, or colic, or get bitten by a lyme-carrying tick. PPEs are not necessarily predictors of what you will have 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year down the line.
That being said, I did PPEs on all three of the horses I bought. I just wanted to know, to the best I could know, what I was purchasing.
At certain price tags, they are required if you want to get the horse insured for $$$ amount.
For those who aren’t spending big bucks on the horse, the purchase price and PPE cost will be the least expensive part of owning a horse. PPEs aren’t absolute predictors but they are a good way to avoid buying an easily discoverable problem that might make the horse unsuitable for your needs. They should always be considered in relation to the horse’s age, performance history (if any), temperament suitability, and the buyer’s performance goals.
The PPE doesn’t just look for lameness or potential lameness. You check eyes, heart, teeth, respiration, overall body condition. Things like is the horse a roarer? The exam can be basic or extensive.
If you can only have one horse and it needs to be a performance horse and your care budget is tight, it is worth it to save for a pretty thorough PPE. It can save you in the long run. And the one you don’t buy based on the PPE will be expensive but so much less expensive than it might have been if you hadn’t done a check.
I’m wondering if any of the more experienced horse buyers and sellers on this board have an estimate of how often something is discovered in the PPE that stops the sale. It seems to me that statistic gives some idea of the value of a PPE. If it’s only 1 in 100 where some hidden problem is discovered, a buyer might conclude it’s worth the gamble to skip a PPE.
As a parent who has seen a lot of horses come in for trials and PPEs at our hunter jumper barn, my impression is that it’s quite often something is discovered in a PPE that thwarts the sale. We had 2 “perfect gentleman,” seemingly sound horses at the barn on trial–one turned out to have a heart defect that could cause sudden death, and the other had something bad with the coffin joint. We had a mare where a chronic suspensory was discovered on the PPE–she was moving nicely but the vet detected it during the lameness exam. If I had to guess, I’d say at least 25% of purchases go south on the PPE, but that’s a rough guess based on a very small sample, so I’d love to hear what others think.
Last three performance horses we looked to buy, two vets found something that made them unsuitable for us.
We bought the third one.
Last two horses we sold, PPE found small possible problems.
PPE vets said that was there, may never cause any problems.
That meant price had to be lowered on one because of those questions PPE brought up.
The buyers liked them well enough to buy them anyway.
A PPE is only done after you are sure you want that horse, as a last check, not up in front.
As such, it can be a deal breaker if something is found that you don’t want to take a chance with.
PPE is but one more tool in the buyer’s corner, a handy one, use it.
A horse “passed” (I hate that word for it but whatever) a PPE for the job the buyer wants. So for example, you get a PPE for a horse for your daughter to do the 3’6” hunters. Horse is not recommended by the vet to do that job. I vet the same horse for trail riding (lets pretend I have more money than sense) vet endorses that. Same PPE results but I get a green light to purchase because of my intended use of the horse.
PPEs let you see where the horse is at that moment. They can and do cancel a sale. However that is dependent upon what the buyer wants the horse for. If buyer A wants the horse to be competitive in the A/Os and buyer B wants that same horse for say fox hunting the vet may recommend passing for buyer A but not for buyer B because of intended purpose.
With the caveat that intended purpose is very relevant, and mine is strenuous, I’ve had to vet between 4 and 10 horses before purchasing one - so 75% to 90% are not purchased as a result of input from the vet. Some of those the vet never puts hands on, because I email the video of the trial ride and there is a visible lameness. Many go south on the physical exam or lameness/ridden exam. Very rarely do we make it all the way to imaging and walk away because of something we find on an x-ray or ultrasound, although it has happened.
I’ve had many conversations where the vet said something like, “I’d recommend this horse if you were looking to keep him at his current level, but have concerns about his ability to move up to the level you need him to.”
I know someone that spent a lot of money importing an expensive horse. Didn’t do a PPE, felt they’d already spent too much money. Horse had cervical arthritis and is now a (very expensive) pasture pet. I would never purchase a horse without some level of PPE.
Based on her poor advice, I think I’d be looking for a different trainer, too.
Let’s see, out of the five horses that I’ve purchased, there were two that I had vetted that I passed on because there were issues I did not want to live with. There were three others that never made it the official vetting because there were subtle things about the way they moved that I didn’t like or that my vet friend or trainer saw on the video.
No horse will be perfect, but your goals and your tolerance for risk are critical. Where you buy a horse from is also part of the equation. Most of the horses I’ve bought have been from people I know and trust. A few years ago someone I know bought a horse from a sales barn with a sketchy reputation. I told her to do films and draw blood at the PPE. She declined because of expense. That horse put two people in the hospital a few weeks later. By then it was too late to know if it had a long-term tranquilizer in its system. The sales barn took the horse back and offered some credit toward a new horse. She walked away and lost the full purchase price but at least she wasn’t stuck with the horse.
I have purchased horses without a PPE, but was lucky. Id rather spend $300 than $3000 and find out the horse had something glaringly wrong. to me, it is about the age and price of the horse and how much work it has had. If I have room in my barn and it is a young horse with no work, maybe. Too many times it is about what you can live with, as in, a horse I looked at was sound but had bone chips in her knees. Maybe fine for backyard, but not for hunting. I’d rather spend the money and know what I am dealing with, and know that it might not reveal everything that might happen, but at least you know.
If I am looking at spending over a certain amount, I want everything. If it is a cheaper horse, just a basic PPE will do.
Believe me, if you buy a horse without a PPE and it has ringbone, you are screwed. Just an example.
You don’t need a PPE if you have the wherewithal to keep the horse regardless of its health condition or a willingness to put the horse down if you are unable too support it in its chronic state. A basic PPE is pretty helpful for identifying many common potential problems. If you can’t afford a PPE, it’s not a great idea to buy a horse. Any trainer who does not recommend a PPE is not doing the buyer any favors.
The majority of horses that I had PPE’s done on failed (I’ve been horse shopping five times in the last 15 years), as in had something seriously wrong and prevented them from being a trail horse.
^ but then don’t we all know some horses who “failed” one or more PPEs due to issues that should have been career ending and yet the horse continued to perform soundly for many years? I personally know quite a few in this category. Most were mature horses with some wear and tear from an athletic life.
That said, I do think PPEs are a good idea (though I haven’t always followed this advice myself). One thing that surprises me is how often some people will vet pretty obviously lame horses or continue to pursue extensive diagnostics on a horse they don’t yet own to discover the exact cause. You can stop a PPE without going down ever rabbit hole and I think it is a good idea to have some cut off points for various /common findings in mind before you get started.
Well my current horse occasionally, slightly, bobbed her head while being lunged during the PPE (I never saw it during the two times I rode her). Turned out it was due to her bone chip, so the sellers dropped the price and I used that money to have my vet remove the chip. She’s been fine ever since and I’ve had her for two years.
I’m just an amateur rider, and I do take someone with me when I look at horses but there’s still stuff I don’t know or will miss. Neurological disorders can be hard to spot, but a PPE will find them. You really don’t want a neurological horse.
Lots depends on intended use. If you have one, it is as important to pull urine and blood as much as is the physical. That seems to cause all kinds of amusing stories of accidentally giving meds to the wrong horse, through all types of price tags and situations.
NEXT on that “trainer”. She would absolutely fail a trainer’s PPE. She’s LAME! Find a trainer who has your best interest in mind and has the knowledge to actually help you find a suitable and usable horse. This one doesn’t have those basics. If she doesn’t know the value of a PPE, what other totally wrong things is she promoting to her students?
The purpose of a pre-purchase exam is to unveil any defects in the horse that will prevent it from performing it’s intended job, and so that you don’t buy a money pit lemon that you end up having to pay retirement board on, give away or put down. The more thorough your PPE, the more confidence you can have that you are not buying a horse that has big problems.
Your “trainer” needs a lot of training herself. She recommends no PPE? WTH? Next, she’ll be scamming you into buying her horse that wouldn’t pass a PPE. Would you rather spend $800-$1000 on a PPE with some xrays and not buy the $2500 horse, or spend $300 on a basic exam, buy the $2500 horse only to find out a year and $6,000 in basic maintenance later to discover after $1,500 in vet bills that the horse has career-ending problems? Then you’re out at least $10,300, but probably more, and you still don’t have a ridable horse.
So, what do you consider to be a basic check? Vitals, and lameness exam? If the horse flexed a 2 on one leg that day, do you walk away, buy it, or come back another day for another $300 basic exam?
its cost me one sale out of probably 25 in the last 7 years…and it was a conclusion drawn by the mother of the rider who was a nurse and decided she could read x rays better than the vet they hired. 🤷🻔♀ï¸ðŸ¤¦ðŸ»”♀ï¸
Otherwise I have not had one I sold “fail” a vetting or otherwise have the purchase price reduced as a result of the vetting. I would say that’s pretty good.
