Friend had an interesting conversation going on Facebook tonight so wanted to hear more opinions….At what price point are you having a vet do a PPE on a horse? How extensive? And what’s it costing you? Do you just do a set PPE or are you making decisions in relation to price? What do you trust yourself to check yourself?
Since it costs as much or more to feed and care for a sick or injured horse, never mind the heart ache that comes with an unknown condition, my reason tells me to vet every horse I buy from now on.
But I have had more misses than hits in the past few years.
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Some COTH wisdom that I’ve read here is to vet the seller instead of the horse.
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Yeah, vet bills cost the same, regardless of the value of the horse. Also your time & money spent on treatment, supplies, etc. Also if a horse has a condition that will limit its useful life, necessitating a pasture retirement for X years.
Of course a PPE won’t catch everything but it will catch a lot of things. It’s about minimizing risk.
The longer I am around horses, the longer the list of things I want to check on a PPE. For any horse that comes into my possession. Some of those check points aren’t that expensive for the information.
And not for nothing, the PPE becomes a reference point for any changes that may occur later.
The PPE is about my life with this horse for the next several years. Not about the price of the horse.
As for checking things myself, I do not have the depth of personal experience with a wide range of horses that some people have. If I were a pro who had been managing multiple horses with various conditions for a decade or two, I might trust myself on some things. But I know my limitations.
If I have a trainer or friend who has their opinions I am always interested in what they have to say. But re the recent thread about the Duning-Kruger effect, which may be unintentional, I just back that up with a vet look anyway. 
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Every potential purchase has a PPE (exception below). My vet can decide at the PPE what the scope will be. It may range from elimination and nothing after watching a horse move, or it may be complete xrays and blood work and scoping. We talk during the PPE about pros and cons of each additional step. I have spent from $20 to over $2,500 for a PPE, with no strong correlation between the asking price of the horse and the scope and cost of the exam. If I know the seller and have been around the horse, I have also bought without a PPE. I cannot imagine buying a horse if I were not present during the PPE. There are just too many things you see for yourself that may never make it into a PPE report, mainly behavioral issues, like the one who tried to cow kick the vet several times.
My PPE scale or recommendation varies depending on who I’m talking to or what I’m shopping for. I have only bought one horse truly for myself in the last 20 years… For him, I had my vet here look at a pre-existing set of X-rays, vet said, “Yup, they look good for a 14-year-old horse jumping 1.30m,” and I said, put him on the plane. 
No regrets, and I figured if I went looking hard enough for issues, I’d find one.
For imports I’m bringing over to resell, I expect clean X-rays and a clean baseline PPE. I reshoot anything that’s questionable or add additional films as necessary, but this is also in a part of Europe where this only costs me $500-600.
I do not vet or X-ray the OTTBs I sell. I feel confident in assessing baseline soundness based on what I get from my sellers and my own interpretation of racing history. Buyers are welcome and encouraged to PPE.
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Add my voice to the choir: people need to STOP adding up the cost of a PPE relative to the horses’ price. They need to START tallying the cost to keep an unsound horse for the rest of its life, because unsound horses generally aren’t very sellable.
One can only assume the people who don’t do PPEs “because they’re too expensive” either aren’t good at maths, are very short sighted, own enough property to retire all their broken down horses or don’t mind sending them to slaughter…
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PPE is a snap shot of an animal on that day, judged by a vet for its suitability to do a particular job.
Far too many people miss out on good and suitable horses because they want a “perfect” PPE, particularly amateur riders. Professionals tend to be more tolerant of the less-than-perfect. But how many of us humans would pass a PPE? Personally, I most definitely require some maintenance these days but I still function. Many issues that would exclude high level sport are easily managed when a horse is doing low level stuff with a loving owner. So it is up to a potential buyer to decide what level of continuing maintenance they are willing to undertake - and that needs an honest discussion with the vet and/or previous owner.
Another misconception is that a PPE is some sort of a guarantee, which it most certainly isn’t. The horse can stand on a nail 15 minutes after passing the examination. How often does one hear a rider blaming a vet for a bad PPE, or even the previous owner, when their horse goes unsound, or stops jumping or becomes unruly in the stable several months after a purchase?
A potential buyer also needs to be honest about their plans for the horse they are considering. The vet will examine with that future use in mind. I hear stories of people buying a horse that is sound for the weekend trail rides they said they would be doing but then complaining it is unsound after a competitive weekend of show jumping.
All horses get older. A PPE can point out possible problems that may happen in some future time. Such as the influence of bad conformation. That is where a knowledgeable additional eye is helpful when buying a horse - the realistic trainer or friend who isn’t seeing the horse through a rosey haze of fairy dust - even before the vet does a PPE.
Given that no horse is perfect, they will get older or injured and will require maintainance and that the PPE offers information about current status but can not predict future issues and it is not a guarantee, then when to do PPE depends on the purchaser.
I have bought cheap horses, for a specific job, and not had them vetted. I have a good eye, understood the job the horse would be doing and knew the likely outcomes when it was time to move a horse on. If I was to spend tens of thousands on an individual horse, then I would certainly have a PPE to exclude invisible defects. My appetite for risk decreases as the cost increases.
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I have done a PPE on a free horse.
Like everyone said above, they all cost the same to feed and house, the free horse and the expensive horse.
I consider my PPE as my vet’s first exam of my horse, giving them a baseline for future exams.
What is done at the PPE depends on the horse (how it is presenting) and what the plans for the horse are.
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Another way to look at a PPE - it isn’t about the horse as much as it is about the next owner.
It’s a survey of what some of your responsibilities are likely to be during your ownership of this horse. It’s not a 100% crystal ball. But it’s a review of whatever can be known now.
Horse buyers vary a great deal in their ability to see possible future issues. Some may be able to assess most things on their own, but not many of us are able to do that.
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Just a note on the distraction of “horse could injure itself or get sick any time after the PPE”. That has nothing to do with the wisdom of the PPE.
The PPE is what we can know right now, and it can be important information. No reason to stay ignorant about that just because of future unknowns.
I also did a PPE on a free horse. And I should have done a bigger one! If I had done foot rads at the PPE I might could have saved myself a pile of vet bills later on and more importantly saved the horse a lot of discomfort!
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I would not buy a horse without a PPE. I spent almost $800 on Max’s PPE. Most on radiography.
Sheilah
I dont on young horses but would on older. It REALLY comes down to the vet and their biases I feel like many times.
I don’t have a linkage between purchase price and PPE investment. With that said, I’ve never spent more than 2500 on any horse I’ve ever bought. I have ridden a ton of horses over the years, and trust my feel and ability to look at the horse’s overall conformation, angles, feet, muscling and go from there.
I didn’t do one on the then 4 yo that was started as a late 3yo. He is short-coupled, clean legged, good footed. He had no appreciable miles on him. 17 years later it hasn’t let me down. Same for Chip, 1800 bucks and no PPE. I think we spent 1500 on Archie, and I did do one on him, but didn’t include an US on his stifles, and given his growthy gangly 3 yo self, I wish I had. didn’t break anything in the long run, we did inject his stifles at 5? maybe 7? and did a series of cold lasers and he’s been right as rain ever since, and he’s 12 now.
Were I buying older horses with more mileage, I would do them routinely. I haven’t brokered or sold a horse in a good while, and I encourage buyers to use one of 3-4 local vets for a PPE. There is one very close to me who is an idiot, so she’s not on my list LOL.
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any one may it be free or a few million as either cost a small fortune to keep
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Just using your post as a jumping off point, not to pick on you!
I bought a pony from a somewhat “eek” looking barn where the husband was assaulted in the street by a neighbor while I was present (yikes), normally a clue for a PPE but I didn’t do one. I paid…money, not a “lot” but certainly not a" little." I did a baseline post-purchase exam after she came home. A year-ish later I paid only $500 more for a weanling and I did do a PPE only to have the vet miss obvious physitis in rads of her stifles (like, I saw it in the rads when the clinic emailed me for my vet to see them, after the PPE vet called and told me she was clear and nothing wrong with her) and an umbilical hernia. Thankfully all things that resolved with time. And yes I did get her after I sent the rads to my vet going “this doesn’t look right?” Soooo… sometimes you get lucky on older horses, sometimes you get shitty vets on younger ones who might actually have something wrong them.
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Yes, every horse gets a PPE. That said, what I check is related to the age and job of the horse (not so much the purchase price). I’m doing different things on a weanling vs. a 4 year old that is intended for training and resale vs. a 13 year old schoolmaster that is already working as hard as he’ll ever work in life.
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Agree 
. I bought a foal and did not do a vet check. she is 4 now and looks pretty healthy…. Unless I want to sell her in the future I will not do any vet checks now 
I was very lucky when I purchased my mare from out of state and was not able to be present for the PPE. The vet I chose was willing to talk about temperament and commented that she was very calm and willing, which turned out to be true once I got her home. I definitely took a chance in purchasing a horse sight-unseen and using a vet that I did not know at all. But I made sure to do my due diligence and not only got references from my local vet but also looked at reviews for the vet I chose to do the PPE for me. I understand that some vets may not comment on behavioral issues, but the good ones for sure will, especially if the client isn’t there.
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