I’m looking for thoughts on this situation. A few days ago, I had a pre-purchase exam done on a three year old filly. The flexion test found grade 1 lameness on a front leg. The horse has corrective shoeing on the front hooves (pads and heel wedges) to increase sole thickness. The seller does not want the vet to pull the shoes in order to get full radiographs of the front hooves. Vet cannot rule out lameness due to navicular without additional radiographs. Seller just informed me there is another interested party, and that I need to make my decision tomorrow, but no additional radiographs will be allowed. What are your thoughts about this/what would you do?
I would run. There are other horses out there! You sound suspicious and you should trust your instincts.
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I am not a gambler, so I would likely walk away and let the other interested party have a go. I understand why the owner does not want additional radiographs, but as a potential buyer in this situation, I would want to know fully what I am getting myself into. Above all, go with your gut feeling. Gut feelings are almost never wrong! I’m sure many other COTH-ers will have some great advice for you too.
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I’d definitely pass.
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Hard pass
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If I really liked everything else about the horse I’d probably ask for farrier and vet contact info to confirm how and why the horse came to be in pads and wedges in the first place. In my experience a horse doesn’t get to that point without a vet/ farrier at least tentatively diagnosing an issue by way of rads/hoof testers etc. and ideally you could get in touch with them to verify what the seller is telling you.
Could also try offering to foot the bill to have the horse reshod after skylines…
FWIW I just had a ppe done on a horse and my trainer pretty much forced me to spring for skylines just in case, even though flexions were fine. Luckily those rads were ok too, but she felt it was a necessary detail we couldn’t over look. Good luck!
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Thank you for your input. I did talk with the farrier. He said the filly’s soles were very thin when the current owner got the horse this Spring. The filly was very sore without front shoes, and she placed a lot of weight on the front of her hooves. The pads and wedges were to build up her soles, and have her place more weight on the frog of her hooves.
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I would pass. Too many problems on this one already.
Just for the sake of it, what is the reason given for selling since the owner got this horse in the Spring?
There may or may not be another potential buyer… Do you believe another potential buyer won’t want x-rays?
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Pass. A 3yr old just starting out and already needs corrective shoeing? Even if she stays sound, that will add up over the years!
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The seller said that he wants to sell the filly, so that he can purchase a different horse he is interested in. His business model is to buy horses, train and then sell them.
I agree that there may not be another buyer 😉 I also think the seller will encounter the same issue with radiographs with other potential buyers.
I am scratching my head about this experience. The seller has a good reputation as a trainer, and the filly is appropriately trained for her age. My PPE experience with the seller has been concerning.
I would not buy a three year old that needed corrective padding. Period, full stop.
The fact that the seller won’t remove the shoes so you can get proper radiographs of the foot is another huge red flag. Run, don’t walk, away.
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Do you want to buy a lame horse? No. Do you want to spend money diagnosing someone else’s lame horse? No. Stop there and tell seller that you will return when horse is sound.
This is something to find out about BEFORE going to see horse, and a reason not to look at a 3 yr old horse at all.
Moot point as you’re not in the business of paying to diagnose other people’s lame horses, per the above. I will say I’ve had a vet tell the seller “no shoe pulling for rads, no horse sale” and the seller wised up right away.
Oh there’s ALWAYS another buyer. If they want to buy a lame horse, good luck! No additional rads? This seller does not want to make a sale. Or they are hiding something from you. Run away!!!
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This is a hard no. All of the reasons above.
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HARD PASS
I have a stunning 17 hand TB gelding in my barn. At 9 years old he’s a free lease because he has thin soles. We have him in wedge rim pads on front and he’s currently been lame for 4 weeks because he pulled a shoe and got a sole bruise and now an abscess. His owner put a lot of money into him to get the answer of genetically crappy feet and he’d never hold up to hard regular riding.
I wouldn’t even do x rays if the seller allowed.
My only exception would be if this were a teen aged upper level school master that the owner was stepping down for pretty cheap. I’d take a risk on that, but with x rays, for a horse that could pack me around for a few years.
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Hard. Freaking. Pass.
If a seller wouldn’t allow me to do the radiographs I needed, I would be more than suspicious…I’d be pissed! Now you’ve spent all this money on a PPE you can’t even complete.
But really, hard pass.
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I agree with everyone to walk away. Frankly I wouldn’t have even done a PPE on a 3 year old that already has corrective shoes.
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Another vote to pass on this one.
I am curious, what is there to understand? The only reason I can come up with for a seller to say no to x-rays is that they do not want the buyer to see something. Well, I guess there is that the poor thing’s feet can be so messed up that one additional set of nail holes is going to send it over the edge into total destruction. But that is yet another reason to not buy it.
Pulling shoes and putting them back on for X-rays should not be an issue.
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Hard pass
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I appreciate all the comments. I did not know about the corrective shoeing prior to when I went out to meet and ride the filly. The seller did not disclose this until after I rode the filly and asked if I could lead, untack and groom her. During this process, I asked how the filly was about having her feet picked up. That’s when the seller disclosed that she had pads in her feet. He did not explain all the piece parts of her shoeing, and I could not discern everything by looking at her hooves.
Please keep the comments coming. I appreciate the shared experiences and knowledge. I made the original post because I knew the purchase was not going in the right direction, but I was confused about why I was running into all these issues with a trainer that has such a good reputation.
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Are you sure that the seller has a good reputation versus simply being well known?
It does seem very conflicting if this seller truly does have a good reputation for being an honest seller.
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