‘I’m assessing horses’ fitness for purpose – not whether buyers can ride them’: Vets and dealers debate the vetting process
Work on consistent interpretation of X-rays and moving towards a risk assessment rather than “passing or failing” have been suggested for the future of pre-purchase examinations.
A panel with extensive veterinary and horse-selling experience discussed vettings at the 2026 National Equine Forum on 5 March.
Vets Lucy Grieve, Sam Cutts and Mark Georgetti were joined by Julia Martin of Kings Hill Equestrian, in a debate chaired by British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) CEO David Mountford. The session was in part sparked by the new seller declaration form introduced by BEVA last year, as part of its online toolkit for vets.
“Buying and selling horses is one of the oils that keeps the engine of the horse industry turning,” Mr Mountford said. “Gone are the days when the vet would rock up, have a look at the horse, trot it up, listen to its heart and wind and probably say, ‘That looks like a good one to me.’ We move forward and that evolution may have made things better in many cases, but it also may have made things worse.
“We’re going to try to look under the bonnet of vettings and see how well it’s running and consider whether we could do any better. That’s not just for the benefit of sellers, buyers or vets, it’s for the industry as a whole.”
Dr Grieve, who was instrumental in putting the BEVA guidance together, explained that vettings developed to perform in a similar way to surveys on houses, to ensure people are buying something fit for purpose, but these involve living animals.
Vettings: not a guarantee or warranty
“You’re seeing it for that small amount of time and trying to judge what you seem to see, and whether that horse is right for the person,” she said. “It’s not a guarantee or warranty, it can’t detect future soundness, performance or behaviour, and it certainly can’t guarantee whether that horse can be insured fully – insurers will have their own opinion on findings of a vetting.
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“As we’ve seen more people getting into horses, there’s been an expectation drift. I think people expect more from the vetting than is possible. It’s more certainty they want, rather than understanding that it’s a risk assessment.”
Dr Georgetti agreed that many people wrongly talk about horses “passing or failing”.
“We’re really doing a diligent examination, finding things and discussing the risks associated with that,” he said. “It’s putting those risks into context for that individual.”
Ms Martin said she does not think the system is sustainable; too many clients want vets to tell them horses are perfect, which is not realistic.
“These people want perfect, there’s no perfect,” she said. “They want protection for their money on a vetting. That’s not going to happen and too many horses are being written off.”
Ms Martin said 40 years ago, she would sell 250 to 300 horses per year, and one in 10 would “fail” the vet.
“Now I’m down to two in 10 ‘passing’,” she said. “The horse world is growing but we’re selling less horses.”
Post-purchase disputes
Dr Cutts, who has served as an expert witness in this area, said post-purchase disputes are split evenly “between a failure of examination and a failure of expectation from the purchaser”.
“Things do get missed at vettings; we can all make mistakes, but when things go wrong, it’s often that the purchaser has bought the wrong horse,” she said. “If we’re asked to do a vetting, we’re assessing whether the horse is fit for the purpose that’s been described. If I’m asked if I think this horse will be fit for being a grand prix dressage horse, that’s what I’m assessing. I’m not assessing whether the owners are going to be able to ride it.”
Dr Cutts added that vets may find issues that do not significantly increase the risk of a horse not being able to do its job, but that insurers may not agree. This could mean a long list of exclusions, or buyers walking away.
Dr Grieve added that vets learn about vettings by shadowing, gaining experience of the reality of horses’ fitness for intended purpose, and that the online toolkit and seller declaration should help.
“We’re trying to get the vet out of the history-taking part; having that on a signed document gives that bit more confidence and hopefully encourages [sellers] who may be a little more relaxed about the truth,” she said. “The idea is to provide a more supportive network to older vets but also younger ones who are really trying to get through to feeling confident.”
Dr Cutts also cited legal disputes, adding: “In years gone by, if it’s a really good horse and it doesn’t work out, bad luck. These days, if somebody buys a horse and it doesn’t work out, it’s got to be somebody’s fault – it’s definitely not their fault, so if it’s not Julia’s fault, it’s my fault.”
She said a way for vets to protect themselves against such disputes is to document all findings, but then there is more for insurers to exclude.
Difficult situation
“It’s difficult circumstances,” she said, and Dr Grieve agreed, adding that she has seen younger vets who do not want to carry out vettings.
“They’re scared,” she said. “Those are the cases that keep you up at night, for months, because you know these people might come back at you six months later and say the horse has started bucking. Having support to look after these vets is important.”
Dr Cutts said she would like to see Britain move away from horses’ being classed as fit or unfit for the intended purpose, towards the European system of classing horses as low, medium or high risk for the purpose, which she thinks would mean more horses finding the right homes.
The panel was asked what impact buyers wanting pre-purchase X-rays has had, and Dr Georgetti said these are the most common “extra” his practice is asked to do.
“I feel there’s quite a wide variability between vets’ interpretation of findings,” he said. “I think that’s partly due to experience, partly because there’s no really good clinical knowledge base to work from for significance of a radiographic finding. So a consensus on significance [would be helpful] as [X-rays] sometimes provide more questions than answers.”
What do you think should change in vettings? Write to us at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.