Prepurchase vet exam

[guest@endurance.net]

Rebecca Supinger spiritwood@erols.com
A prepurchase vet exam can be a wonderful thing and can save many dollars
over the cost of purchasing a horse not really suitable for the job
intended.  Just use your good horse sense and the right horse can be found
out there.  Several years ago I went to look at a horse from a "big name"
rider.  I took the horse on trial and during this time I was free to have
a prepurchase exam at my leisure before making my decision.  I fell in
love with this horse and since he was a bit pricey I decided to have the
prepurchase exam done.  Everything was wonderful except the horse was a
bit off when circling to the left.  Since he had been working pretty hard
in the recent past and since I had time, I decided to take him home and
have a recheck done a few days before I had to make my decision.  Two
weeks went by during which I was doing light riding on the horse.  Same
vet for the recheck and still the horse was a bit off when circling to the
left.  I decided to xray the problematic left front leg to find out why.
Xrays done (9 views) and nothing remarkable showed up.  Could be a bruise,
early arthritis or any one of a dozen different causes but the end result
was the same.  The vet once again failed the horse as an endurance
prospect.  Heartbroken I went home and had several long discussions with
my husband.  The final result is I decided to "take a chance" and
purchased the horse anyways.
The same vet that failed the horse twice came and gave me the biggest hug
6 months later when I completed the Old Dominion 50.  She said she had
never been so happy to have been wrong.  The lameness turned out to be an
old bruise that came out months later during subsequent shoeings, that
even my farrier said was probably the cause.  This horse has never taken a
lame step for me since those two prepurchase exams.  So keep looking and
the right horse will be found.
Becky