span style=”font-style: italic;”> Open communication between veterinarian and buyer is the key to getting the most information from your pre-purchase examination.

New cars and new houses come with warranties. Even though a horse may cost the same amount, once you’ve paid for him, you generally can’t get your money back, no matter what problems arise.

Thus, most people invest in a pre-purchase examination with a veterinarian before taking their dream horse home.

But veterinarians aren’t fortune-tellers with crystal balls who can predict whether a horse will ever go lame. They cringe when prospective buyers fling around the term “pass or fail” as if a horse’s health and soundness were black and white.

“A pre-purchase examination is performed to help a buyer assess risk as it pertains to the horse’s intended use and health,” explained Mark R. Baus, DVM, and managing partner of Fairfield Equine in Fairfield, Conn. “That goes in the face of pass or fail. Every once in a while you do get a clear indication that a horse should not be purchased, but the majority of horses will have findings that might be complementary with some degree of use, even if not the intended level of use.”

And while very few horses resoundingly “fail” the exam because of a finding, the same is true about a resounding “pass.”

“A better question is, ‘How many horses have a perfectly normal physical exam at the pre-purchase exam?’ And the answer to that question is very few,” said John Nolan, DVM, of Piedmont Equine Practice in Marshall, Va.

Nolan performs one to two pre-purchase examinations a week on average.

“There’s usually some evidence of some pre-existing condition or a new condition that’s not known, and often times there are abnormalities in the radiograph of the horse’s joint that may or may not be clinically relevant,” he continued. “We take into consideration the horse’s history and past use and try to put the entire picture together before we say whether or not the horse is a good risk.”

Both Baus and Nolan stressed communication with the prospective buyer as the most important factor in a satisfying pre-purchase exam. If the veterinarian has a clear idea of what the buyer is looking for before the examination starts, it’s that much easier to determine whether or not the horse will be physically up to the task.

“I take a lot of time to have a clear, frank discussion with the prospective buyer about what it is they’re anticipating to use the horse for and what their expectations are,” said Nolan. “The most important question to ask a prospective buyer is, ‘What are your plans and goals for this horse?’ “

After establishing the intended use for the horse, Nolan determines the horse’s current level of work.

“I look at the horse’s history if it’s available, what level of performance it’s achieved, how similar its level of use has been in the last 12 months and compare that to what the anticipated intended use will be,” he said. “If I have all those answers, then I feel more confident determining whether or not the horse is
suitable physically for the intended use.”


Going Through The Process
Once the veterinarian knows precisely what the prospective buyer is looking for, it’s time to start the exam.

According to Baus, the pre-purchase exam is the most thorough non-invasive examination that you’ll ever do on a horse.

But he cautioned that it’s information gathering and risk-assessment, not diagnostic. “The client is always pressing for the veterinarian to make a diagnosis when in fact it is not intended to be a diagnostic,” he said.

The veterinarian will thoroughly go over the horse from head to toe, checking for lumps, bumps, swellings, scars and any other sign of abnormality. He’ll also palpate the legs, check the eyes and examine the hooves.

The soundness exam and flexion tests are generally the next part of the pre-purchase. Sean Redman, DVM, for Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., described his typical procedure.

“I watch the horse walk away from me and toward me, on asphalt preferably. Then I check the feet with hoof testers to see if there’s soreness. I palpate the soft tissue of the lower limb again and look for joint swelling. Then I want to watch the horse jog straight away from me and from the side to see if there’s any lameness to start with.”

The next step for Redman is the flexion tests. “I try to isolate particular joints individually and hyper flex the joints to put an abnormal strain on them to exaggerate any problem that may be present in the joint,” he explained. “After each flexion test I watch the horse jog away from me and back. After that part of the exam I like to take the horse out on a longe line or watch the horse go under saddle. That way I can see how he moves freely in both directions at the trot and canter, how smooth his transitions are between gaits and how generally comfortably and balanced he goes.”

Flexion results are generally described as negative (no sign of lameness) or positive (where a degree is assigned for the amount of response associated with the flexion).

Many times flexion tests receive more emphasis than is warranted. “Flexion tests are an abnormal strain on the joints, so you need to be careful how you interpret them,” said Redman. “You can have a horse with a mild to moderate response to the flexion that may never show lameness in that joint in the future. Other times you may have a horse where that [response] indicates a serious problem.

“You have to take the whole exam in perspective,” he continued. “If a horse is performing currently on the level that he’s expected to perform in the future without problems, and I find no radiographic lesions that are of concern and the horse has positive flexions, then I have a hard time telling people not to buy a horse. Over-interpretation of flexion tests is a pitfall for veterinarians and buyers.”

After the veterinarian has thoroughly examined the horse in hand and in motion, he or she will move on to any other tests the prospective buyer wants done including radiographs, blood testing, ultrasounds and more.


Understanding The Report
After the exam is completed, it’s time to start discussing the findings. And there will be findings. “To set as a goal that you want any horse to be 100 percent sound is simply unrealistic,” said Baus.

This mistake of hoping that nothing will come up in the pre-purchase can turn the process of looking for a new horse into a nightmare.

“It’s not uncommon for the novice buyer to take a long time to find the horse they want because they’re not prepared to accept the horse’s abnormalities,” explained Nolan. “It takes them a while to learn that there aren’t very many horses that have perfectly normal clinical and radiographic exams that are in any substantial amount of work.”

But determining an acceptable risk versus a deal-breaker can be difficult, so open communication between the veterinarian and potential buyer is imperative.

The veterinarian will write up a report on his findings, but he should also have a lengthy discussion with the buyer to make sure everything is clear.
“I want my discussion with the buyer to be as frank as possible,” said Baus. “I usually prefer to discuss my basic findings with the seller but have a more thorough discussion of the findings with the buyer and their trainer. However, since my ultimate responsibility is to the buyer, I’d expect the buyer to ask me questions about risk that I would probably not address with the trainer or the seller.”

Sometimes buyers refrain from asking questions, worried about appearing ignorant. But veterinarians agree that there are no stupid questions, and it’s important that everyone understand what the findings mean.

“I try to address progressiveness and manageability,” said Baus. “When you make a finding, either from the clinical exam or a radiograph, that potential finding usually has a predictable amount of progressiveness and a predictable amount of manageability. Those are two very important things to address to a buyer. Does this condition have the possibility to progress rapidly and are we able to manage the outcome of that concern?”

He used the example of mild osteoarthritis in the lower hock joint. “Lower hock joints have a very slow rate of progression. These joints will not degenerate all that quickly, and our ability to manage lower hock joints is quite high.”

A suspensory injury would be an entirely different matter. “This is a condition that has the potential to progress rapidly, and it’s fairly unmanageable,” he said.

The degree of findings is also important as many horses are quite comfortable performing their jobs with mild arthritis or similar conditions.

Baus emphasized the importance of matching a horse’s training to a rider’s ability as part of the overall assessment of whether the horse will hold up to the job.

“The inexperienced buyer perceives that a horse is a horse, therefore buy a young one because they’ll last longer,” he said. “The inexperienced rider needs to buy the old soldier that has some soundness questions. That’s probably the most critical vetting that we do–the older horse with lots of miles under its belt.

“They have to know that they have to look at the whole package and know that soundness comes with a price,” he continued. “If you place soundness higher in value or need than behavior and training, you’re going to sacrifice somewhere. The soundest horses that I look at are the most expensive horses. There are very few true bargains out there.”