‘Vets who haven’t seen the horse in the flesh are stopping riders from buying,’ warns Richard Sheane of Cooley Farm

Richard Sheane of top Irish horse producers Cooley Farm explains why he feels vets examining X-rays without having seen the horse in the flesh is influencing the sales of future equine stars

Here at Cooley Farm, we’re having an ongoing problem, which is shared by many high-end horse sales yards. It’s common for a client to come in from abroad, buy a horse subject to vetting and for the horse to be presented at their chosen Irish veterinary clinic for the pre-purchase examination.

The horse is clinically examined and X-rayed and when everything is deemed normal, the X-rays and in some cases, scans, are sent to the customer’s home vet. In many cases, they find issues that are irrelevant to the horse’s future performance. It might be something minor and within normal limits, but their concerns mean the sale falls apart.

It feels like the home vet wants to show that they see more than the vet who saw the horse in person and that they are protecting their clients, but ultimately all they are doing is stopping their clients from purchasing a top horse.

The vet check can really only assess the horse on the day – primarily by a clinical examination. No one has a crystal ball to predict what the future holds and the horse could be injured in so many ways. If the vet is satisfied on the day, it’s ridiculous to base its future soundness on unfounded potential scenarios.

We estimate that 80% of the horses we’ve sold that have gone on to be placed at four- and five-star have been judged unsuitable in this way by a “third-party vet”.

Their careers reinforce a lesson we’ve learned through decades of experience. Elite performance is built on ability, temperament, durability and matching of horse to rider and the correct system – not on the misguided opinion of a vet who never viewed the horse in person.

When assessed correctly and in context, minor, non-prejudicial findings do not impact soundness, performance, longevity or ultimately results.

One Cooley graduate, who is now succeeding at four-star and is one of the hottest up-and-coming horses in the sport, fell foul of no less than seven different vets before he found his home – and he’s now beating lots of the riders who turned him down.

Customers then sometimes complain that they didn’t buy the horse “because there was x, y, z wrong with it” – but there wasn’t anything wrong with it, as its subsequent performance shows.

“A focus on horses that will perform”

We are a top-end yard, not the equine dealing equivalent of a used car salesman, and this is affecting horses with a value over £30,000.

We are giving decent money for the horses initially and we have them thoroughly vetted. We have no interest in horses that have clinical or radiographic problems.

Our focus is on horses with exceptional temperament and ability – horses that will perform at the highest level.

We have a record for selling horses that are well and sound – we’d have no business if we sold horses who weren’t up to the job.

If someone did ring up and had a problem with a horse, we’d take it back.

Vets perhaps don’t realise how difficult it is to find a horse with the potential for the top level and then to match the horse and the rider and system to create the perfect formula.

Assessing suitability for elite sport requires an understanding of temperament, ability, production systems and rider compatibility – areas that extend beyond the scope of a vet’s knowledge.

When these broader factors are not fully considered, unnecessary doubt can be introduced by the vet into the decision-making process, often resulting in riders and owners missing horses that would have been an excellent fit for their system and goals.

We do get our horses sold, of course, but it’s such a rigmarole and it feels like we are getting to the point where vets have too much control and they are choosing horses, not riders.

Ultimately purchasers are buying horses that the vets like, not what is best for them and their future.

● Are you a vet with a different view? Or a buyer with an opinion? Write to us at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance for your thoughts to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine

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