Bit of a rant- How could somebody do this to their horse?

Eventer96

Eventer96

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Warning- bit of a rant!! Might be over nothing, but I want your opinion.

My friend's horse has been lame for several months, on off lameness. They have seen several vets, back specialists even been up to Belle Equine, nobody could tell them what was wrong. I have just spoken to my friend (I only speak to her every 2/3 months) and she said that they had finally come to some sort of conclusion.... Rotation of the pedal bone!!! Now alarm bells are beginning to ring in my head, as even I know that is very serious.

Now my friend said that she has got the vet coming out on Wednesday to have a look at him again. The vets wanted to see him lame. So they took him out.... TO A LESSON!!! Where she jumped him and worked him very hard... just so the vet could she the horse at his worse
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Now I am really stuck with what to do, this horse is only 5 and already has a lot of problems, my friend doesn't seem to have any idea of what is going on and don't know if I should step in and voice my opinion
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I just feel so bad for the horse in question as he was being ridden 'hard' for a whole hour t see if he would go lame. I know the instructor she had the lesson with and know the intensity of the hour of work. I know that if the instructor had known the diagnosis the vets had given them then she wouldn't have given the lesson.

What do I do?? Do I just leave it and watch this poor youngster continue working in pain.

Speak to my friends totally clueless parents.

Speak to my friend myself and express my concerns.

Speak to my instructor who must be totally clueless.

I know you are probably thinking how the hell was he still sound before the lesson, so am I. But he goes lame after work, hence why they worked him so hard.
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Sorry for the completly pointless post, I am just so confused about what to do. It really does make me so mad that totally clueless people can treat a horse with NO respect. And induce pain just so the vet can see him at his worst!!!! Help me please
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I'd mention it to the instructor, but as if you are assuming she knows in a chatty way, as in 'how did it go, did the rotated pedal bone they think it has affect it a lot' etc. So if she knows you are not having a pop but the same time you are making her aware if she doesn't know.
 
I would think the vet needs to see him lame to make a more precise dignosis and decide on treatment; if he's only lame after work how else is the vet supposed to do this?
I'm not saying that the horse needed such a vigorous workout, but if the instructor didn't know this was the aim she surely would have stopped the lesson when he became lame?
 
I've certainly heard of working a horse with a slight mystery lameness in order to give the vet something to work with when making a diagnosis, but this sounds a bit odd to me. Surely, if one is suspecting a rotated pedal bone (presumably due to laminitis??), the most obvious step would be an X-ray??
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Have a word with her but make sure you have your facts straight.
If it is a rotated pedal bone then a simple xray will show this up so would be surprised if it were this tbh.
 
Having seen a few horses with pedal bone rotation of varying degrees
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, I would be pretty surprised if the horse could manage an hours work with any degree of rotation.

As you probably know, they have 'that stance' with pedal bone rotation and I would expect any equine vet to have noticed this.
Assuming the horse is shod/trimmed, if the vet hadn't noticed, any farrier worth his salt would have done.

Maybe the pedal bone rotation theory is a shot in the dark.
I hope so, for the horses sake. It's a long and painful journey to come back from that condition.
 
It sounds bad, but unfortunately sometimes this is the only way to see a lameness issue and make a diagnosis. If the vet has asked for the horse to be ridden, then your friend is right to do it this way.

I was in a similar situation and had to continue riding the horse to make the problem serious enough so we could find it. Unfortunately horses can't tell us what hurts so we have to wait till it gets bad enough to figure it out.
 
it all depends which way it has rotated now i am assuming as you haven't mentioned lamintus that the pedal bones have collapsed, which isn't to serious and treatable with corrective shoeing. vets also recommend you keep them in work to keep them moving and to aid the healing process. this is coming from experience.

if they are working the horse hard then i would be worried other than that i would let them get on with it
 
I understand that it had to be ridden, what I can't understand is the diagnosis that has been given and the hours work, including a pop at the end ?!? I just hope for the horses sake the diagnosis is not the rotated pedal bone my friend has said it is.
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they shouldn't be jumping it with rotated pedal bones. however i think you are all thinking lamitus which is different to collapsed pedal bones, which go the opposite way to a lamintic. its up to you if you want to say something but if the vet has asked to see this then there isn't a lot you can do tbh especially if the horse is insured as you have to do what the vet says to get the insurance to pay up.

for example, is the vet wanted to see it jumped but the owner refused, the vet could then write a report to the insurance company saying that he would have been able to diagnose the lameness better if he had seen it jumped and the insurance company would then have something to use to get out of paying.
 
Thank you LR I think I will keep my concerns to myself, as I don't want to cause trouble. Just wanted to see what everybody thought on here. I will try and find out more, but jsut keep quiet.
 
very difficult situation. Twice I have been told to push two different horses

first case- I went on holiday and when I started riding mare agin she didn't feel right, put down to stiffness, gave her easy week hacking then went back in arena, no improvement so got vet. Did flexion test circles etc nothing to see. She said to work her hard (mare was PN fit) over weekend and then if conceerned she'd come on mon- I was sent sj-ing

Mare jumped a double clear but was clearly not comfortable so I wd from 2nd class. next day less than circuit and circle in school she spotted problem. Diagnosed to suspensory, healed perfectly

2nd case was my ISH horse who was having a v.good season and then at a dressage randomly ran me out of the arena and then refused to work properly. Long story short they found a chip and after time off was worse. vet was convinced there was another problem. After time in field and then more time wlking horse was still "not quite right" insurance time limit was coming and as vet decided best thing was MRI I basically had 10days to "break it" theory being if work increased we would find his "athletic ability"

Anyway was told to pound on road,canter him, jump etc. We got an MRI (went to Bell) and the report was shocking, slight rotation of pedal, navicular changes, pedal alignment was shocking, collateral ligament and is it the DDFT(?!) report was an interesting read!! Horse in now chucked out with me praying that he will come back as more than a happy hack!

I feel very bad, especially with him as he was such an angel, but its perhaps better to push horse for couple days to get a reaction than to dribble on with the unknown

I trust and respect my vet, I have used him many years and unfortunately he is 99.9% of the time right. He has the 6years training and 20 odd years experience and I may not like what he says but I pay for his opinion. and do as Im told.
Sorry long

*hoping the offer of home made brownies will stop you all attacking me
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My horse was on/off lame for 3 months, my vet came to visit her and fortunately my vet knows my mare as she bred her. My vet asked me to work her through the lameness and i felt awful for a while as it was very odd to school a lame horse. the lameness was very odd in that some days it was worse than others. It wasnt until i changed farried she was diagnosed with really bad seedy toe. Since this has been treated she's been sound (touching wood). Im not saying that this is whats wrong with your mates horse but sometimes the vets do ask you to work the horse,

im not sure i'd be happy to jump etc but we put our trust into vets to know what they are talking about
if i were you i'd just ask her why the vet/instructor asked them to do what they did.
be careful though, you may lose a friend if she doesnt like what you want to say
 
I would think that the instructor would have stopped the lesson had the horse been lame, the ones I know would have. Which leads me to it can't be so bad if the lesson carried on with no lameness.

I am the type of person that thinks well I have my own two to worry about and as long as I do not see real neglect it is not really my business to worry about other peoples horses.

My parents were clueless when I grew up with ponies on livery but they did follow vets advice and that of the yard owner who was my trainer.

I think if it was me I would try not to quiz your friend too much as she might not be so appreciative of it.
 
Thank you for your opinions. I will just leave it as I am probably worrying over nothing! I will just let them decide what they are going to to. Thanks again
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A rotated pedal bone could be congenital - my pony , which I bought as a 10 month old, had a boxy foot but was sound. When he was broken at 5, his rider maintained he wasn't 'right', but it took another 6 months to diagnose the rotation, which he had probably always had. He was retired on the spot, but that was 25 years ago. Farriery has moved on since then, and he would have been kept in work if diagnosed today.
 
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they shouldn't be jumping it with rotated pedal bones. however i think you are all thinking lamitus which is different to collapsed pedal bones, which go the opposite way to a lamintic.

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That's a new one on me - what exactly do you mean when you say the pedal bone has rotated the opposite way to a laminitic?
 
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