No. Where are you located?
I’m in southeastern Pa, where getting a vet is not a problem so that’s why I’m confused - wondering if this is normal elsewhere! The horse is in a rural area (northern PA), so most vets seem to be more than an hour away. They all keep saying they’re so busy with fall shots. I get that I’m a one time customer, so I understand from the vet perspective that I’m not a priority. I am afraid I will be forced to use the seller’s vet due to timing, and I really do not love this.
I had a horse in that general vicinity vetted by Spurlock Equine Associates in Lovettsville, VA, if that’s of any help? My vet said the rads they did were good quality.
Thank you for the suggestion but I’m looking the opposite direction (rural northern pa). I have to believe the seller understands the situation, but none that’s a long time to have a sale pending 
oh sorry, got my north and south mixed up!
My PPE took place a week after I tried the horse, and I’m in a very horsey area. The good vets are busy. I put down a deposit to hold the horse in the meantime and didn’t have any issues.
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I was also going to suggest a deposit to hold the horse while waiting on a vet for the PPE. Just make sure you get the agreement in writing from the seller of the amount of the deposit and if its refundable or not!
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So strange. Pretty normal (for a relative value of normal) in real estate to lump in major costs e.g. renovations into the home loan - wonder if your buyer is doing something similar.
Can’t imagine a worse thing to take a loan out against than a PPE on someone else’s horse, though.
From what I can tell, even the not-so-good vets are very busy 
In my horsey area, I would expect to find somewhere next week (I started calling places yesterday). But the best date I have so far is 11/1 or 11/2, which is 2ish weeks out. Even with a deposit, I can’t imagine that is going to feel great for the seller. But I would have to assume it would be the same for any other buyer so I guess that’s just the situation!
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I think what you have done during the PPE depends on your level of risk tolerance. Due to a previous situation, I’m doing a thorough PPE exam during my horse search. This includes basic exam and X-rays (neck, back, front feet, hocks, stifles). I’ve already had to pass on one horse because the back X-rays revealed kissing spine. While it showed no clinical signs, it wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.
And I don’t have a huge budget, so this is mainly to ensure I don’t end up buying a horse that’s going to cost me thousands later on. Obviously horses are horses and anything can happen.
Everyone who is doing back rads looking for kissing spines: are you doing these in a clinic setting or at the barn? I have heard mixed opinions on the quality when they are done outside of a clinic setting.
IMO there’s a difference between “close or touching processes” and “major remodeling and trauma”. I have a horse with the latter, and would not buy another. The former, I probably would, actually! I’m not going to reject a sound horse with no back pain for a couple close processes, but I will pass on one with questionable palpation AND gnarly X-rays. If that makes sense.
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Thank you all for your input. It has been very informative.
Unfortunately this one had not so great flexions so we didn’t make it to radiographs 
Onto the next one, I suppose!
This is another topic worthy of discussion. Personally, if one is flexing mildly positive the whole way around, I’m less concerned than I would be by a single positive flexion, especially in OTTBs. (Not saying that was the case for you, but just something else worth mentioning.)
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This was the exact conversation I had with my vet. This one was moderately positive for one limb and then negative on the others so we decided to pass. Especially given that it is a young horse not in any sort of consistent work.
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I do neck and back roads. Quality ca. vary based on the vet, their equipment, and horse’s conformation. But I’m looking for red flags at a PPE stage with it not necessarily needing a full workup if the clinical exam doesn’t raise a serious question on pain there or a neuro problem (but I will still image anyway having BTDT with a poor outcome). If there was a question that I wanted to investigate further (versus pass), I would ultrasound instead of hauling to a clinic.
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So I’m likely to be in the minority here, but I’ve stopped doing PPEs beyond bloodwork, a neuro exam, and a review of veterinary history provided owners have been willing to release all records (this hasn’t been an issue). I’ve bought a lot of horses in my day, some of which have had glowing PPEs and some of which have had terrifying PPEs and not a single one of them with scary findings on their PPEs have had issues that relate to those findings.
A major caveat: I do not sell my horses. Once I buy them, they’re with me for life. So YMMV if you’re buying something you intend to sell down the road.
The last horse I pre-purchased was for my mother; a lovely, saintly 14 year old Trakehner gelding with two owners in his whole life, a great show record and an open book when it came to his medical history. His flexions were questionable on his exam but the horse felt and looked completely sound under saddle and had never had a history of lameness. Rads were completely unremarkable and the vet and I agreed that he was 100% suitable for the x-rail/trail riding job and if I felt he was comfortable that he could continue his 3’ career with me. In the 1.5 years we had the horse, he never took a lame step, but what did come barreling out of left field was acute renal failure that resulted in his euthanasia back in June. Turns out he was born with fused kidneys (also ironically known as horseshoe kidneys) and no amount of therapeutic intervention could have changed the outcome. We did pull bloods at the PPE but I had them held for drug testing purposes and when we found out about his elevated BUN and creatinine following an admission for an eye injury, we ran a CBC and Chem on those held bloods and low and behold he was slightly elevated at the time of his PPE, though arguably not enough to stop anyone from moving forward with the purchase. The last one prior to him I did a PPE on passed with flying colors and was subsequently euthanized about 2 years later following a freak incident where about 9 feet of her small intestine ended up in her thoracic cavity by way of an occult diaphragmatic hernia. The only way either of these abnormalities could ever have been discovered was on necropsy.
My three most recent acquisitions have been more unusual situations; one was a foal I bought in utero. I will have neck rads and a full physical done on her before she starts under tack at 3, but obviously a PPE couldn’t be performed. The second is one I tried the same day as the horse I ultimately bought for my mother and immediately recognized him as a shivers case. Fell completely in love with him at the trial and struck a deal with the breeder that I could take him to my farm, work with him, and have him treated by Dr. Audrey DeClue at my expense. If he improved and she thought he was manageable as a show horse, I’d buy him. So beyond her evaluating him and treating him, I didn’t do any other PPE work. I had him for about 10 months, so I was completely comfortable with the horse I had in terms of health and soundness. The third is a mare that was purchased as a 6 year old by someone I consider family and had a full PPE at that time. She’s had her for 4 years and then I took her as a short term lease. I fell head over heels for the mare and will be buying her out at the end of November when my lease is up. I’ve had her in my care since January and have no issues not performing a PPE on her either.
Though I don’t foresee buying any more horses in the near future, it is unlikely I will do anything more than general bloodwork and a neuro exam going forward.
Conversely, this is one of the reasons I value a PPE- my horses are with me for life, and the PPE helps me establish a baseline of things I might check year over year, and helps me forecast how to take care of them for life. The thing that got my first horse would never have been found on a PPE- he died at 12 of an aortic rupture out in the hunt field. But that lameness exam and x-rays sure were edifying (when you’re on a budget, you buy the holes you can live with) and helped the vet, trainer, and me come up with a game plan of how to keep him fit and well.
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I definitely know a lot of people use them that way!! For me, all of my horses get the same baseline supportive care (Adequan, EquiThrive, regular PEMF, massage, and chiropractic, and biannual evaluations for joint injections), so I personally can’t say that there would be anything I’ve found that has led to different interventions or greater scrutiny, but what you’re saying makes perfect sense!
