Re: RC: Re: Re:PrePurchase Vet Exam

[Truman Prevatt <tprevatt@mindspring.com>]

The only horse I had any soundness problems with had a very extensive
prepurchase exam. I had to be out of town and told my wife to have the vet look
at everything. She decided not to use our normal vet and get one who was a lot
more experienced with performance horses.

The did everything and we bought the guy. After about a year in conditioning we
started to have problems with him - on again, off again. When we had our regular
vet out I asked for advice on him. She said he's not really built to do what you
want. He probably had a mild preexisting condition which his conformation
aggravated. The horse actually had pretty good conformation if you looked at him
in bits and pieces. But when you put the pieces together as a whole the total
package seemed to be the issue.

He is quite sound, happy and healthy now taking a little girl through her teen
years as her "show boy."

So along with looking at all the parts, you have to look at the whole package as
one and determine if the package is the right package. Secondly if I'm buying a
horse for myself, I'll stay home when he is vetted:-).

Truman

Heidi Smith wrote:

> > I believe in PrePurchase Vet Exams, but they're not infallible.
>
> That, Tara, is the bottom line.  While it is good to have an experienced and
> professional viewpoint, 1) no one can see everything there is to see, and 2)
> many conditions simply cannot be picked up in a pre-clinical state, no
> matter how observant the observer.  Like anything else, the prepurchase exam
> helps to increase your odds of success, but is no guarantee.
>
> Heidi
>