Uh, can I get a quick ballpark estimate on what people are paying for a PPE on a sport horse that would be used for hunter/jumpers at around 2’6"-3-6"?
Eta: Doh! Sorry. We’re in the Northern Virginia/Maryland area.
might want to provide an area of the world you are looking since cost vary greatly by location
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I second what Clanter said. Need area of the world.
IME the cost of the PPE is directly related to how many rads you want.
For basic physical exam and flexions, I expect to pay @ $200 plus farm call. Images run @$50 apiece (roughly, I believe some body parts are pricier) with some price break if you’re getting a relatively large number done.
ETA: I’m in NW FL so your prices may be wildly different. Also, a few extra bucks if you want blood drawn. I would expect that cost to vary depending on if you just want a sample held or if you request tests.
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My answer may not provide much insight as I am from Ontario, but prices are comparable directly across the border in USD.
For general exam and flexions, I paid close to $250/hr. Mind you, general exam did not take long so I think I paid for 45 minutes ~$200 plus HST.
Radiographs were offered in packages, so for hocks, stifles, front feet, naviculars (multiple views of each), I think I paid around $600 plus HST. Additional views ran $50 - $60 a piece. I did not have the options to do neck or back, but I have had them taken in the past. Typically, a GOOD set of neck x-rays with oblique views ran me close to $500 with a set-up/archive fee, so would likely be an extra $400 realistically. For back, tack on an extra $200 - $300. Overall, for my PPE on a youngster came to just under $1,000 CAD. With neck and back, would have been closer to $1,600 - $1,800 CAD. The sky is really the limit, depending on what you want to see.
Also want to add that we did not pursue bloodwork, which would have ran us an extra $180 plus waiting on the lab.
North VA area is expensive. Most vets have a package around $350 for ppe exam not including farm call, then add in x-rays. I spent around $800 for an exam and full hock xrays (based on flexion results) on a lower level horse.
My last two PPEs have involved x-rays of neck, back and all four legs. Each cost approx $4000, one in SoCal and one in MA.
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My friend just did a PPE in NY state. Xrays on most joints, but not back or neck. No drug screen or bloodwork. Her total cost was $1900.
I had a PPE done in VA in the spring. Xrays on all joints, no back or neck since previous owner had them. Did a CBC and drug screen. Top Sporthorse vet, my total cost $2800.
I paid ~$800 (including farm call) for one in Florida back in May. No rads or blood.
Meanwhile, I just paid 400 euros for a full exam + fresh X-rays in the Czech Republic, including blood. Now that was a steal!
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Ah, ok. I had a minor freak out this morning when I started filling out the paperwork online. Based on y’all’s comps, not only was it in line with the norm, but actually quite reasonable considering which practice it was. Unfortunately, the horse didn’t make it past the flexion/motion portion. 
We were all bummed out.
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That’s disappointing. Tough luck
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Vet thinks it’s suspensory ligament related… Trainer & I both made it clear that horse would still easily meet our needs once treated… Hoping that the owner opts to rehab. It’s a mare from really good bloodlines, though. So depends on what she might fetch as a broodmare, I guess. 
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Wow, so $800 for basic physical and flexions? South FL?
Ocala area. It was Peak Performance Equine, the subsidiary of B.W. Furlong up here in NJ (who does a lot of the Olympic horses and charges accordingly, lol). Just looked at the bill—$29 for the stable visit, $770 for the PPE.
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Oh, yes, I know them. They are expensive.
That’s about what ours ended up. We didn’t get to radiography. The clinical exam was more careful & thorough than I remotely thought possible.
(If they weren’t so gosh darned nice it would’ve been easy to feel like the poor country bumpkin 3rd cousin. 
)
Please send jingles & 
that the sellers decide to treat the horse & not retire her for a broodmare. I hate to say too much & out myself on the forum. But what this horse is so unbelievable that the odds of finding anything like her again would be like lightening striking twice. Argh.
Not to derail the topic entirely, but I’m not of the mindset that a single failed flexion means a horse is lame or unsuitable for a particular job.
Now, I don’t know what your vet saw but I firmly believe a PPE is nothing more than a snapshot in time. The mare I referenced above (PPEed clean in Florida in May) would absolutely not let a vet flex or hoof-test her right hind a week ago. Lame? No. Just a healing summer sore that I’d been debriding and treating daily and she decided that she did not want anyone else screwing around back there. Prospective buyers even went so far as to X-Ray that singular limb, LOL. Vetted fine a few days later when she was a little less sensitive about it.
I also bought one in June that flexed 1s all around because that was a sign to me of general body soreness rather than an acute issue. YMMV, but I tolerate a lot—and I buy primarily for resale too.
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Oh, absolutely. As a vet of mine once joked, “I can find you a horse with perfect X-rays. You probably won’t want to put your kid on it.” I’m cool with some jewelry & the need for Adequan & joint injections, etc. Long story short, there’s a few factors in the horse’s recent history that taken as a whole pointed towards this being something larger & more complex. Horse displayed a grade 2.5 to 3 on the affected leg.
If I still owned a farm where I could park the horse I’d be inclined to chance handling rehab for a reduced sales price or a lease-to-purchase. Too risky otherwise.
