24 hour contact: 01707 666297
Pre-purchase Examinations
A Pre-Purchase Examination (Equine PPE) or Vetting, is an important step in the process of buying a horse.
It consists of a standard five stage clinical examination performed for an individual prospective purchaser with a view to assessing the horse in relation to the purchaser’s intended use of the horse. 91°µÍø vets are happy to carry out pre-purchase examinations on behalf of existing registered clients or on behalf of new non-registered clients.
If you would like to arrange for one of the 91°µÍø Equine Practice vets to perform a Pre-Purchase Examination, please fill in the examination request form or call 01707 666297
We perform vetting examinations throughout our regular catchment area and can travel further afield by prior arrangement. If the animal that is to be examined belongs to a client of the 91°µÍø equine practice, we will require permission from the seller to disclose the full clinical history known to us to the prospective purchaser. If permission for disclosure of the horse’s history is not granted we will unfortunately be unable to perform the examination due to a potential conflict of interests.
The five stages of a pre-purchase examination are:
- Stage 1: This is a thorough clinical examination of the horse at rest to detect any apparent signs of injury, disease or physical abnormality. It includes a thorough palpation of all the limbs, listening to the heart and lungs with a stethoscope and an examination of the horse’s eyes in a dark stable with an ophthalmoscope.
- Stage 2: Observation of the horse walking and trotting in hand in a straight line on a hard, level surface, including flexion tests. The horse is normally also trotted on a small diameter circle on a firm surface to detect subtle lameness issues.
- Stage 3: Observation of the horse performing strenuous exercise, normally under saddle. This allows further evaluation of the way the horse moves and assessment of the heart and respiratory systems’ response to exertion. If ridden exercise is not possible (e.g. if the horse is unbroken), this stage may be conducted by exercising the horse on the lunge.
- Stage 4: A period of rest in the stable to give time for any stiffness induced by the exercise to become apparent. During this time the respiratory and cardiovascular systems are monitored as they return to their resting levels. The horse’s markings are normally recorded and the passport examined.
- Stage 5: A second examination of the horse at trot in hand. This is primarily to check that the strenuous exercise has not exacerbated a subtle underlying lameness problem. Flexion tests or trotting on a small diameter circle are sometimes repeated at this time.