06/13/2026
Thank you Thank You here it is you guys who are vetting horse after horse are nuts if it a reference point not the end all b all horses can do and do do and are non the wiser. God if they need support why would you not help them and let them be as comfortable as possible. Second if you are buying a horse in lower budget be prepared to give them some support those are upset that horse needs care fact you saved money in purchase price sooooo you will end up paying somewhere. Learn about confirmation learn about manageable maintenance come up with a treatment protocols with your vet and don’t jump the s**t out of them. Learn about good horsemanship and how to care properly for horse. It starts there not asking a non profit to bale you out because you should not have bought a horse in the first place thinking you would not have vet bills. You are the du***ss not everyone else. Say it again horses are freaking exspensive and they always cost more than you expect no matter who are
*** Why we must stop looking for the perfect horse ***
From a veterinary point of view, no horse is perfect. We must stop thinking that if we look hard enough, we’ll find the perfect horse. He/she doesn’t exist. All that happens is that we miss out on the “not so perfect” horse that actually would have been the perfect horse.
If we look hard enough, especially with our X-ray machines, we can find something wrong with every single horse. We will find some kind of change in a joint of most horses over the age of six or seven. Before anyone starts, that’s not because they have been started too young. I spend some of my spare time looking at the radiographs provided publicly for auctions, and I can always find something wrong. These are often unbacked 3 year olds.
I have posted before that X-ray changes often don’t correlate with pain, or even future pain/lameness.
In my opinion, X-rays should be used to plan what help the horse *may* require in the future, and not to write a perfectly sound horse off. And for the record, I’d never medicate the joint of a sound horse, based on radiographic changes alone.
I often hear people say that they’ve had 5 horses fail a vetting, and that the “perfect” horse must be out there. Actually, you’ve probably just missed that perfect horse. Obviously a horse that is lame at PPE (the vetting) is an absolute no. But a horse with some hock arthritis, or some close DSPs (“kissing spines”) that is currently out competing and has an uninterrupted competition record, may well have been your perfect horse. Likewise, that horse with the sarcoid (that can be lasered off) may well provide you with years of fun.
I bought Johnnie as a 9 year old with significant hock arthritis. I took a chance, as his X-rays were very bad. He went on to be the most exceptional Event horse I have ever sat on, going from Novice to Advanced in two seasons, and then subsequently popping around 4*s like they were 90cm. His back X-rays were just as bad. He was the perfect horse.
X-rays are useful, but we must be incredibly careful with their interpretation. We must also be incredibly cautious when deciding if a horse’s behaviour is due to that pathology found on the X-ray, or whether it is just a sharp, fit horse. I am a vet, so will always question if a certain behaviour is due to pain, but I am also a horsewoman, so I don’t agree that every buck, rear, spook and nap is due to pain.
So if your PPE/vetting picks up a few manageable issues, that horse hasn’t “failed” his vetting, and may very well still be the perfect horse. I’m praying the green, tense little chap that I’ve just bought, with several sarcoids on his ears, turns out to be just that 🤞
