Pre Purchase Exam Issue

[Hunter50]

@Xanthoria

I think it’s pretty easy for some sellers to say “no no this horse is fine” on the phone. What you need to do is get it in writing in case you have to go back and prove they lied.

I ask specific questions: has this horse ever colicked? Has this horse ever been lame? Has this horse ever had any joint injections? Are they on bute? Ever had tildren or osphos? What exactly does this horse eat including supplements? What kind of shoes are they wearing? Have they ever had ulcers? Been tested for or suspected of having PSSM? Neurologic issues? What deworming and dental protocol do you follow? Will you release all vet records to my vet? etc etc etc

As these questions one by one before you see the horse. When PPE time comes, my vet has all this printed out on a form the seller has to fill in, sign and date. In front of the vet. Yep, that can cause some HARD thinking… won’t fill it out? Won’t release vet record? Won’t pull shoes? Won’t allow you to draw blood to test for painkillers or sedatives? NO SALE.

I know it can be hard to drag people through a million questions when you’re excited about a horse but an honest seller will volunteer this info and welcome the idea that you care enough to ask.

Those are very good questions to ask. Thank you. I did get in writing from the seller, before I made an appointment to see the filly, if she had medical, soundness or temperment issues, her level of training, info about her personality, a copy of her papers, how she is with a herd, loading, and farrier.

[paw]

@Hunter50

Those are very good questions to ask. Thank you. I did get in writing from the seller, before I made an appointment to see the filly, if she had medical, soundness or temperment issues, her level of training, info about her personality, a copy of her papers, how she is with a herd, loading, and farrier.

I don’t think you did anything wrong here - it was bad on the seller’s part not to discolse up front something that was so obvious once you saw the horse in person. If it were truly a temporary thing, I would have expected them to mention it (“oh, we’ve got her in pads right now because she was trimmed badly at the track” or something like that) before I came out.

[SonnysMom]

@Xctrygirl

Bigger question for me…

You were looking at this horse without your trainer but you couldn’t notice degree pads when looking at the horse just standing there on your own.

I’m glad you’re passing but I would politely suggest that you not skip having your trainer involved if your eye is not as attuned to notice basic things from moment one.

We have ALL had to learn as we progressed and I would say this is a good moment to be thankful to having dodged a bullet, but your education still is in process. So don’t leave your chosen teacher behind as you move forward on your search.

Good luck!!

Emily

The horse may have had bell boots on that would have made it so that it was harder to see. She also does not mention how much of a wedge. It could be a pretty small one so harder to notice the difference between rim pad or plain pad just standing there. My trainer’s philosophy is if they have front shoes they have bell boots at very least for turn-out. Since the ones that hold up best are pull on KL Select they get left on all the time.

If my memory of the first post is correct OP picked the horses feet after she rode and noticed them then so it isn’t like she didn’t notice them at all.

[foursocks]

I agree with SonnysMom- it can be very easy not to notice if shoes are “normal” or not, with or without bell boots. For example, some glue ons are very noticeable, others need a closer look to see that they are held on without nails.

My horse just had glue ons put on with a rocker wedge thingy (technical name!) You can see the glue on part easily, but until you pick up his foot the fact that it isn’t a flat shoe is not noticeable.

[twobits]

@trubandloki

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.

Exactly - that the feet are so messed up that it could cause the horse to be sent into lameness beyond reasonable consideration, but I agree, it’s just another nail in the coffin as to why I would be walking away from the purchase…

[Satin_Filly]

Woah. A 3 yo in corrective wedges?? Already?? That’s unfortunate. Without seeing the feet I’ll assume the horse is/was NPA and must have had some dodgy farrier work up to this point to
already have messed up feet at 3. It’s entirely possible the horse had caudal heel pain (or navicular syndrome) from bad angles, not actual navicular disease of the bone.

[Jleegriffith]

I think a seller should disclose any horse with corrective shoes up front before a shopper comes to see a horse. I sell Tb’s right off the track and sometimes I have horses that just came in here barefoot and are extremely bruised from barefoot on hard ground. They often require pads to help them get through that stage for a few months. I often will xray though and provide those xrays (full set including navicular films) to buyers. I got a horse earlier this year that came to me with glue on shoes that had a wedge, pads and packing. He was sound! I got cocky and was like let’s change to steel shoes and pads/packing. Well my farrier didn’t get it quite right. Horse was extremely sore. I took him up to the vet hospital for xrays and their farrier to shoe him. He immediately was sound and his xrays were totally normal but he did still need glue on shoes for another cycle or two. I provide xrays, pictures of feet and report to anyone interested. He sold very quickly but there were plenty of people that didn’t want to deal with it and I understand that.

I don’t mind dealing with corrective shoeing but I want the full set of xrays to know why we are doing it. If it is just to resolve some issues with angles then it’s really not a big deal to me. As a seller, with regular shoes you can get good navicular films. Some vets absolutely require shoes to come off and I just have to suck it up. No, I don’t love it because I have often just put shoes on a horse and pulling shoes can make them ouchy (I sell Tb’s). If you have pads on the horse the navicular films are hard to get and the shoes really have to be pulled. If he didn’t want to pull the shoes he should have taken radiographs before putting the shoes on the horse. That is what I do here because once I have the xrays done then I am not pulling the shoes off the horse.

[appendix]

Run.

1. 3yr old should not need corrective shoes, or help with soles in any form.
2. Seller should allow you to do any diagnostics needed to be comfortable. If they won’t allow a particular view, or won’t allow you to pull shoes I would be very suspicious. Pulling shoes to do prepurchase RADs is very common & should be expected by the person selling the horse. That is part of the deal when you go to move them on.
3. I don’t believe there is another buyer, but if there is, I’d let the horse go to them & keep looking. There are lots of nice horses out there. - BTW want to be money that if you pass & tell him to sell to the other people, in a week or so he’ll call you to let you know that sale “fell through” with some half-baked excuse?

[vxf111]

The OP passed on this horse like a kajillion posts ago y’all :lol: