Explain to the vet exactly what you plan to do with the horse once you get him in condition. What your conditioning regime will include.
Many vets just do not take minis seriously as a competion horse. I have one horse that I had checked by my vet 2 times a year. I asked the vet if there was any reason why this horse could not compete in a CDE. I explained that it was like a triatholon for horses. He said "oh how cute, he should be fine". I began gentle, gradual and consistant conditioning months prior to our planned event. I just had a hunch there was something wrong. Sometimes the horse would act whimpy. I made extra trips to the vet and had to insist he do blood draws including T3 & T4. He had me change his diet and stop using all those additives. "Just good hay is all ya need." I felt differently, my horse was speaking to me as best he could and I trusted him and so I took him to another vet and in 20 minutes I found out more about that horse than I had in 7 years from the other vet. She found that the horse had a faulty heart valve. Difficult to detect. She did tests the other vet had never done and took me quite seriously. She seemed to think that it had always been there. I could have killed my horse if I had asked him to do a marathon. Yet another reason the vet checks are so important during the marathon. But even more importan BEFORE you begin conditioning. Needless to say, I have changed my thinking about the "good ol' country vet" being just fine. I take my horses to the more expensive fancy newfangled vet now. It is money well spent. I wish I had known this earlier. Thank God I listened to my instincts and gut feelings, and did not listen to the old vet who poo-pooed me as paranoid.
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