I get whu the whole “pro, only willing to talk to another pro” gambit is becoming so common in sale ads. A good pro can do so much to smooth out the first weeks/months a horse arrives with a new owner.
I’ve been seeing this more and more, too. I understand the meaning behind it, but I also think it’s contributing to trainers buying horses for themselves, and not the client.
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When I rode at a lower-level (largely) hunter show barn, I saw a number of ponies and horses taken on trial, even one to a show (obviously with the owner’s permission). Most of these were for potential lease horses, although one was for a potential buy. The owner of the barn was well known locally, and I think she was relatively friendly with the sellers, who trusted her. I assume the trial was for a fee, though. I saw a few horses sent back as not being what was advertised.
At a lesson barn-type place, I also saw one or two trials that were taken and sent back. In that instance, I hate to say, it was a situation when someone with too many horses was desperate to make a sale, so the seller allowed a trial. One of the horses was sent back as being too green for the job.
All of these were about 5-7 years ago, though, and since the market is so overheated, I imagine trials are far less common, even if there is a relationship between seller and trainer. Kind of like (I assume) people are willing to take bigger risks buying houses!
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When I bought Charlie last year, I was able to negotiate with the seller to have him haul him in (about an 8 hour drive) for me to meet him, ride him, PPE him; this was over the span of a Thursday/Friday, so not exactly a trial.
I put some money down on him that would be applied the his purchase price provided I went through with the purchase, paid for the hauling, and I paid for a hotel and per diem for food for the night he and his wife stayed here. It would have been cheaper for me to drive to meet him, but timing was iffy with covid/traveling and I wanted to try and streamline things. Everything I had seen via video, photo, and in conversation with the seller had me in a place that I was ready to buy provided he passed the PPE and wasn’t a fire breathing dragon (which seemed to be very unlikely).
When I was younger, the second horse I had we were able to get on a 30 day trial through the relationship with my BO and the seller at that time. Day 31 the horse turned into a total terror and didn’t stay for long after that making my trial experience a bit jaded haha 
Back in the 80s and 90s, I ran a small local barn and assisted a lot of students buying their first horse, both kids and adults.
In this situation, matching sure it’s a match is critical, and there are lots of factors beyond the seller’s control that go into making the match. So I negotiated a trial whenever I could. It also meant that the buyers were a little less anxious about pulling the trigger.
There were a couple of key elements that led to me be successful negotiating trials: 1.) my reputation and ability to provide references 2.) binding the horse over on a full mortality policy for the duration of the trial and having a contract in place 3.) have safe individual turnout while the horse was on trial.
At that time, we didn’t do the PPE until the trial had been successful and we were sure the horse was a fit. I have not idea if that was a wide spread practice then or now; it just seems odd to me to pay for the PPE before you know if the horse is suitable.
All that said, I would be very reluctant to let a horse go on trial or out on a lease unless the barn was local to me and the reputation was impeccable. Way too much to go wrong.
ETA: re: PPE after the trial - the down side is your first time buyer is in love with the horse, sure it’s the one, and the vetting finds something unacceptable/unmanagable and their heart is broken. So there’s an argument for doing it either way.
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It’s not unreasonable to ask. But I’ve certainly never done a trial and doubt I would ever allow one (outside of people I knew well or with a local trainer I trusted).
It only takes a few rides for the new rider to mess up a horse’s training. I think I just agree with @Scribbler. There will be a few to a week of settling. There will be a week or so of lighter happy rides where everything seems lovely. Then there will be holes/miscommunication/issues. The timeline can range, but there will always be something you have to work through with a new horse.
Of course, I’ve never purchased a horse for more than $1500 as I like projects so I may be more willing to work through those issues than others. YMMV.
I can understand how it would make sense to do a PPE before a trial, it would protect both the buyer and the seller. The seller for sure would know if they were getting a broken horse back, and the buyer would have a better idea if what they were trying, or not depending on the PPE.
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That’s my line of thinking as well. Until the new horse, I’d never bothered PPEing before – I’d always gotten my horses free or ridiculously cheap. This time, between PPEing two horses I spent more than a lot of people spend buying a horse 
The idea of taking a horse on trial, getting attached to it, and then discovering it is a no go based on the PPE is almost unfathomable to me as a buyer. And as a seller? Yes, I could get my own baseline done on the horse to document its condition prior to sending it on trial. However, I can also imagine the buyer making the argument that my vet didn’t perform the flexion correctly, etc.
I would never do a trial as a seller because a lot of people (even ones with good references) suck, and you would never know if you were dealing with one of those people until it’s too late.
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I had the PPE first because I didn’t want any controversy if the horse came up lame or showed another injury. I wanted it to be absolutely clear the horse was sound and healthy when it left my property.
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