I was the victim of a duping many years ago when looking for a pony for our daughter. To cut the story very short, we went to see a beautiful gelding just a few miles away and after trying him out a few times, agreed to buy him. Next thing was we had a phone call to say that they were very sorry but he was no longer for sale, but they had a "smasher" of a little mare available. We were very disappointed, but went to see this mare which seemed as quiet and well behaved as a perfect first ridden should be. We tried her on the road with traffic; in the school, and in a field. All great, but I did notice a half hearted attempt at a cow kick when anyone mounted.... why on earth did I ignore that I swear that sometimes my common sense flies right out of the window.

The pony was delivered, and settled really well. The next day I decided to take her around the block before daughter came home from school to ride her.........pony was a complete monster I narrowly escaped being kicked as I mounted, and every blade of grass was suspicious, and a motorbike was a large pride of lions charging straight at us. A car meant that we almost crashed through the hedge and every now and again she would half rear and spin round. Back in the paddock (with me needing a drink!) the pony turned back into a docile little darling, happy to do circles and figure of eights etc. etc. Hmm, I thought....this is not good, and I rather suspected that she came from a riding school and had never been out on her own.

Just up the road was the sister of Terry Biddlecombe and her, then, grand national winner hubby, and they all came at my pleas for opinions.........general concensus was that it was emphatically not a child's pony, and they were shocked at how dangerous she was on the road. Terry loaded her up on his trailer and took her home to see if they could sort her out, but they had no luck at all and he brought her back with the recommendation that we sold her. Well, I rang the people that we bought her from and they changed from being kind pleasant and helpful to being snotty and nasty....they offered half what we paid. I couldn't advertise her in all conscience, nor could I face sending her to Hereford market where the knackers men line up. We took her to the Malvern sales in the end, which is rather upmarket and not for knackers, with no real description other than NOT a child's pony. I felt miserable about it, but the Biddlecombes who were there with me said "look at her, she has seen all this before", and she certainly was looking bored and fed up - even in the ring she plodded round without batting an eyelid at the crowds.

The end of this saga was totally unexpected but perhaps conversely shockingly predictable. When the bidding started there were few takers and the price was low - the final bid came in at about half of what we paid, and guess who bought her? Yep, the same person that we got her from. So back she would go with him, ready to be doped up when the next idiot came along to try her out.

Fortunately that was my one and only big mistake with a pony/horse.

You're right, I've heard of many cases like your friend. As we know (to the cost of our pockets), a horse can be a VERY expensive liability if things go wrong, I'd still feel the need to cover my back as much as possible by having a 5* vetting. Buying horses is always a risk regardless of what assessments have been done. Don't we just love em tho

i know people who've had 5* vettings, blood tests, x-rays, scans etc done when buying valuable animals and 3 month later the horse goes crippled lame.

Then you get people like my friend who's mum got given a 6 year old 16 years ago no vetting, and sound as a pound, had 2 days lame in those 16 years when it slipped on the road.

But that can happen with horses anyway, it does not mean the vetting was wrong.

If of cause someone has had scans of a joint and and the vet missed something, than there will be a case to answer.

But as we all know horses can be sound one day and not the next.

Still NOT having a horse vetted is foolhardy,

Having a horse is foolhardy.........

So much easier to rent one............. all the fun, none of the costs

I didn't get Dusty vetted but I did speak to my RI and the person who went with me to look at her, who is VERY experienced. We were loaning her to begin with, and then when they changed their minds and asked if we wanted to buy her, we both agreed with a month's loan to see if it worked out for us all, and we never really thought about vetting after that.

Helen

The vet I used was an equine vet (supposedly!). it was 38 years ago though---still no excuse.

However it turned out OK in the end, after a winter of refusing supplements she was a week on spring grass and came on fantastic----a lot of iron in grass apparently.

Also gave me a good seat as I had to ride her bareback for about 6 months. Exciting times they were!

rune

The problem with vettings is they are subjective, one vet will pass a horse with flying colours and the next would say they it can only do light hacking.

When a friend bought her mare she failed but the vet said for anyone else he would have passed her, she just didn't deserve for another horse to break on her... Which seems odd...

a 2* with a good vet are worth more than a 5* with a cretin imo.

I am at the moment horseless having sold my last horse (Welsh Section D) mare. I had a 5* vetting on her plus blood. The reason I had the blood taken (and kept) was in case she turned out to be some mad thing when I got her home. For those of you not familiar with this, it has happened in the past that a horse can be doped when tried out by a prospective owner who then think the horse is quiet and very amiable, only to find they are lunatics when you get them home The blood can then be analysed to see if any sedatives are present.
I was told that this mare had been used as an escort horse for a riding school in Wales .. .. it was obvious that wasn't the case when I tried her - I think it more likely she had come straight off a mountain, and besides she was only 4. I also think she had only just been 'broken' and she took lots of patience. Goodness knows how an inexperienced owner would have got on with her as she was scared of her own shadow!!

This pony should only have been sold on to someone who knew exactly what they were taking on...and not to the original owners who you knew would just dupe someone else. This could have resulted in a death or very serious injury. Failing that then I would have had it pts.