26/08/2026
Taken this post from someone else but it’s too true and something that hugely affects the industry. As a buyer please EDUCATE YOURSELF on management of horses especially competition horses. Horses are horses NOT perfectly mechanical machines. The majority of horses at the top level wouldn’t get anywhere near passing a vetting and yet they still do their job 👌🏼
Today I’m going to say something that might ruffle a few feathers… 👀
Some of the BEST horses I’ve ever seen…
wouldn’t pass a vet check.
Not “slightly fail”… I mean fail. ❌
And yet
they’ve jumped rounds after round 🏆
they’ve carried nervous riders safely 🤍
They’ve DONE the job they were bought for… over and over again.
So what are we actually doing? 🤔
Somewhere along the line, vet checks stopped being about:
👉 “Is this horse fit for purpose?”
…and started being about:
👉 “Can I legally protect myself by writing down everything I see?”
And I get it. I really do.
Vets are under pressure. Massive pressure. ⚖️
But the flow-on effect?
💥 Buyers panic over wording
💥 Sellers lose sales
💥 Good horses get labelled as “problems”
…over things that often don’t actually affect the job the horse is doing.
Real talk for a second 👇
Most horses with miles
the educated ones, the schoolmasters, the ones you TRUST
will not have a “clean” vet check.
Because they’ve lived.
They’ve worked.
They’ve done exactly what we’ve asked of them.
Wear and tear does NOT equal unsound. 🚫
I’ve seen it happen too many times…
A kind, safe, confidence-giving horse 💛
fails a sale because of “mild changes” on a report.
Meanwhile…
a young, green horse with spotless X-rays gets the tick ✔️
With zero proof it can actually do the job.
Make that make sense.
And here’s the bit no one wants to say out loud…
Are we starting to value ✨perfect reports✨
over proven performance?
Before anyone comes for me this is NOT vet bashing. 🙅♀️
This is about a system that’s shifted.
Where: Vets are protecting themselves
Buyers are protecting their money
Sellers are protecting their horses
…and somewhere in the middle, the actual question gets lost.
So I’ll ask it again:
👉 Is this horse fit for the job I want it to do?
Because THAT is what matters.
Not whether every line on a report is squeaky clean.
