DAN: "Why are pre-purchase slash adopt vet check so important?
What health things do vets typically search
for when doing an examination of a horse
that someone is going to buy?
And what happens if the horse doesn't pass a vet check?"
So you probably have had a lot of experience
with this the last couple of months.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I did.
Stan is the 12th horse I looked at.
DAN: 12.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
Which is not a ton, but I did three pre-purchases
along the way.
Clearly, there were two that didn't "pass" the vet check.
And I'm air quoting because we don't really talk anymore
in terms of passing or failing.
It's more like what the vet found today that the snapshot--
what was identified today, medical issues and maybe
soundness issues, can I live with them?
Can I manage them?
Is the horse suitable for what I want to do with him?
So it's very important that the veterinarian you choose
for your pre-purchase exam--
and I recommend you, the buyer, choose the vet
and don't just go with the seller's vet.
It's a bit of a conflict of interest.
There are paperwork and things you can sign,
and conversations you have to reduce that risk.
But because the horse I bought was local,
I was able to use one of the vets-- well,
I say one of the vets-- that I use for my regular horse.
And I know him very well, and I was able to, on the other ones
also, halt the pre-purchase at any time.
As soon as I saw something that I could not live with,
or I knew I couldn't manage, or was not
going to allow me to go as far as I wanted to with the horse,
I just said, we're done.
So that's really helpful to both be there and to work with a vet
that you know.
DAN: But to your point, I think being realistic about what
your goals are, what you really want to do,
and are you going to be able to manage whatever the vet happens
to find.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
So here's an example.
When we were doing the pre-purchase on Stan,
he's going over it.
And we'll talk about--
I want to make sure we answer all her questions.
But he got to the ears and he's looking in,
and you know these things called aural plaques,
the little white lesions on the inside.
He saw quite a few of them and he
looks at me horrified, and he says, "He's got aural plaques."
And I'm like, "OK.
Keep going," because that's a problem
that I am willing to deal with.
He wasn't head-shy.
You could put halters.
He hasn't had a bridle on yet, but it's not
going to be a problem.
Trust me.
He doesn't care that he has white lesions in his ear.
Now, if we were looking at a different horse,
and you couldn't even touch his ear,
and you looked at a distance and it's like,
I think those are aural plaques, then
I maybe would have had a different reaction.
But Stan doesn't know he has aural plaques in his ear,
and so it's not a thing.
DAN: All right.
That's a great example.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
DAN: So going to kind of more of her question, what things
do vets typically search for?
DR LYDIA GRAY: OK.
So there's two parts really of a general pre-purchase.
There's the standard physical exam or a general assessment
of the horse, and then there's this soundness portion of it,
unless--
there's a caveat-- you're buying this horse for breeding,
then there's another section called a breeding soundness
exam.
You would skip the soundness and go into breeding soundness.
So for the standard physical exam, it's what you think.
It's you look at the horse overall.
You look at his conformation, his attitude and appearance.
And then you go organ system by organ system.
And each vet will have their own flow and paperwork,
because you want to do it step by step
and not miss anything, and do it in the same order every time.
So every vet will have their own way of doing this.
But you'll do a TPR, because you want
to know if they have a fever, if their heart rate and rhythm is
correct.
But you'll listen to the heart.
You'll listen to the lungs.
You assess the skin for health, and wounds,
and lumps and bumps.
My vet starts with the eyes because he
has learned if he sees a cataract in the eyes,
many buyers, that stops it.
So it's like, why do the whole rest of the exam
if I find something in this test that's going to end it?
So he looks there.
But you just go over everything with a fine-tooth comb,
and the vet will point out-- they usually have a scribe,
like their vet tech, their assistant will be writing down
things and they'll be pointing them out
as you're standing there, and you can talk about them.
And then from the general physical,
you would move into the soundness portion of it.
And like for a two-year-old, there
wasn't a whole lot we could do.
We were able to look at his conformation,
evaluate his hooves.
We're looking for symmetry.
We're looking for conformational defects that
could affect his way of going in the dressage ring and just
under saddle.
DAN: Like does he have a club foot,
is he long in the fetlock?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
Are his legs crooked?
We could watch him walk, trot, and canter, sort of free lunge.
He kind of lunges, but not really.
DAN: Because he's two.
DR LYDIA GRAY: There's a lot just looking at us, like eh?
We couldn't flex him, like stand there and hold his leg
up bent for 30, or 60, or 90 seconds and then trot him out.
He's never done that.
He doesn't know what to do.
But a riding horse, you would do that.
You might even go under saddle and do what you're going to do,
and see how the horse does.
So we were able to watch him move at all three gaits,
and palpate him, and look at his conformation.
And then that was about it.
Now, the thing we did do was take radiographs.
It was important to me that he not
have any defects in his joints, any chips, any arthritis that
would mean that the final conclusion on the pre-purchase
would say suitable for trail-riding
only, not suitable for upper-level dressage.
DAN: You're like, that wouldn't work for me.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
And that's what I got back on the first two.
Yeah.
And I'm like, well, I don't want to just trail-ride.
I want to do more athletic stuff,
so this horse has to be capable.
On the snapshot that we're taking today-- remember,
they're not a crystal ball -- but there's nothing that we saw
today that would preclude him from going as high as we want
to go.
DAN: And that's good for you, though, because a lot
of times-- myself, I know-- when you meet a horse,
you fall in love with him.
You're like, they're so cute.
He's so pretty, so nice.
And then you find out, well, he's
not actually built to do anything that you want to do.
And it's really hard to be like, OK--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Objective.
DAN: Yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well, and that's why-- people ask me,
why don't you just do your own pre-purchase exam?
You're a vet.
For exactly the reason that Dan mentioned.
I'm not objective.
Once I met this horse, it was like stars in my eyes.
It's very hard to see when you have stars in your eyes.
So I had somebody out who I knew and I trusted to be objective.
And he knew I'd be upset if he found anything.
I mean, this poor guy-- no pressure on him.
But I'm like, good luck on the exam.
Don't find anything.
DAN: You're like, no pressure, and I already love him.
I already bought a stall nameplate.
DR LYDIA GRAY: By the way, I already love him.
I know.
So no, he did it.
He did a great job.
My vet's great.
DAN: Awesome.
Well, we've actually done a lot of videos
in the past about new horse ownership,
so we'll link those in the description for you, as well.
And I believe one of your good friends has done some videos
for us about pre-purchase exams .
DR LYDIA GRAY: Excellent pre-purchase,
and I want to point out that I wrote an article that's
in the Horse Health Library about pre-purchase exams that
is very helpful.
So if we didn't answer your question today
because we got sidetracked on Stan,
you can find it in Dr. Kaneps video or my article.