A bit of advice would be appreciated please!

[Roobarbandsooty]

A friend of mine has an older mare that she sent to a veterinary based stud. Whilst the mare was there she was badly kicked by another horse in the back fetlock which had to be stapled together. She has damaged the annular ligament. Despite repeated requests the vet didn't scan the foot until over 4 weeks later when they then discovered damage to the bone. They don't know if this was damaged by the kick or through subsequent infection. The vet are denying any liability and have not communicated at all well at any point during the mares stay. To add insult to injury she fell pregnant with twins, one was pinched out and she subsequently lost the second foal and has not yet come into season again. My friend is left with an unridable horse that is unlikely to ever be sound again and no foal. Can anyone help with where she can go next? A second opinion vet thought she might have a case for negligence but is not prepared to put this into writing! Also anyone had a similar injury, did the horse recover and what sort of timeline was it? Thanks

 

[JanetGeorge]

Sounds a fairly obvious cock-up - they failed to do anything to discover the bone damage. And they MIGHT have cocked up the pinching of the twin - although that's impossible to judge without knowing where the twins were situated (if they're back-to-back, they can be almost impossible to separate.)

The chances of a successful negligence case though is very small indeed! You'd guess that from the behaviour of the 2nd vet - says it might be negligence but not prepared to go 'public'!

Of course there is no reason your friend shouldn't try again to get her in foal!