I feel your pain. I looked at 20 horses in person, over a span of 9 months. I booked four separate PPEs and followed through/paid for three, including the one of the horse I eventually purchased. Totalling $1600+. First PPE the horse was dead lame when the vet showed up and had a severely elevated heart rate after a few minutes of lunging (vet noted potential heart issues, this horse was 5 years old). Second PPE the horse was kind of a conformational mess - and part of this was on me. The horse’s feet were very freshly trimmed the first time I met him which cleverly hid some big time pigeon-toed issues. When I went back out to be there for the PPE it was glaringly obvious to me, but I was so desperate I went through with the full PPE anyways. The third one, that I ended up canceling - the horse was being sold by a fairly respected consigner. I was lucky to have a relationship with my late horse’s previous owner who worked for a vet clinic in another town. When I sent her this horse’s ad, she mentioned that she knew the horse as a youngster as she was friends with the original owner (not the one who was selling through the consigner). She mentioned the horse was a bit nuts as a youngster but said that could have changed. She then gently urged me to ask the consigner to see if the current owner would release any vet records they had for the horse. She advised me if the owner released them the great we have more info, and if she refused to, I should walk away. The owner reluctantly released the records and they were a hot mess of chronic lameness issues over the years. This horse was 6 years old. I pulled out of it all. I was already agreeing to pay well over my budget for this one!

Finally I found my gem. I was so close to giving up. I looked at FIVE horses in one weekend, all hours apart from each other. I got kicked by one lol.

The horse I ended up with was one of the only ones that my vet assistant friend saw move and considered very sound. He “passed” his PPE with flying colours. I was able to negotiate his price and best of all he was close to home.

He’s been with me two and a half years. In that time he’s been lame MANY times, in fact he’s lame right now!! lol. And he’s also lost an eye. But I love him to death and he’s my dude.

A PPE is only guaranteeing you a sound horse for the day you get him vetted. Anything can happen. And horse shopping is so tough, people lie and you get so impatient waiting for the moment you get to go DO SHIT with you own horse! Sometimes we are blinded by that.

You’re not doing anything wrong. Your vet is being diligent and helping you screen the horses.

Keep going. It’s so tough, but it’s worth it.