Desperate for help, can the vets really get it wrong

An interesting post, my then 5yo was diagnosed with PSD in all four legs just over a year ago.

Does anyone know what the outcome for the OP's mare was?

How very weird and emotional to read that back. I am Ducktails under a different name after losing my log in.

That was really emotional to read my first post back, such a dark desperate time. An update for those that are interested though :) I have just got back from a 2hr ride on a very sound and healthy Jen :)

I'm not sure how much I have posted about everything and honestly It feels so long ago but to keep it short there were no miracles with Jen, I turned her away and she came sound so I bought her back into work very slowly. We had a good couple of years of doing dressage and having lots of fun but I felt she wasn't up to schooling about a year ago so "retired" her to a hack and she looks and feels great. I treat her no differently to any other horse on the yard.. We even did bits of teeny tiny x country last year. So I guess I consider it a happy ending, it's been a struggle with tears and worry along the way but I have learnt how to read my girl and listen carefully to what she is ttrying to tell me.

In terms of what may help others, I found the most amazing physio. She was sympathetic to my girls needs and always on my side. While I was still schooling I had her sacroilliac injected twice and I 100% believe this helped. It seems quite an old-school thing to get done but I pushed my vets to do it and they agree it definately made a difference. I also took her barefoot and I believe this has made a difference even just from the fact that I addressed what I was feeding (I think we also had pain related ulcers).

I haven't been on here for ages and it took me by surprise to see that post resurrected, if you have anu specific questions feel free to pm me :) .... Oh and I never used Roger again nor did I travel 3 hours to his dentist...

Terri
 
How very weird and emotional to read that back. I am Ducktails under a different name after losing my log in.

That was really emotional to read my first post back, such a dark desperate time. An update for those that are interested though :) I have just got back from a 2hr ride on a very sound and healthy Jen :)

I'm not sure how much I have posted about everything and honestly It feels so long ago but to keep it short there were no miracles with Jen, I turned her away and she came sound so I bought her back into work very slowly. We had a good couple of years of doing dressage and having lots of fun but I felt she wasn't up to schooling about a year ago so "retired" her to a hack and she looks and feels great. I treat her no differently to any other horse on the yard.. We even did bits of teeny tiny x country last year. So I guess I consider it a happy ending, it's been a struggle with tears and worry along the way but I have learnt how to read my girl and listen carefully to what she is ttrying to tell me.

In terms of what may help others, I found the most amazing physio. She was sympathetic to my girls needs and always on my side. While I was still schooling I had her sacroilliac injected twice and I 100% believe this helped. It seems quite an old-school thing to get done but I pushed my vets to do it and they agree it definately made a difference. I also took her barefoot and I believe this has made a difference even just from the fact that I addressed what I was feeding (I think we also had pain related ulcers).

I haven't been on here for ages and it took me by surprise to see that post resurrected, if you have anu specific questions feel free to pm me :) .... Oh and I never used Roger again nor did I travel 3 hours to his dentist...

Terri

Great to read, even if you didn't get a miracle cure.

The fact is, so much of the time, it really is just about boring, unsexy management. Rest, rehab; sympathetic, ongoing, consistent care; having a good support system; tailoring needs and demands to the individual horse . . . just that day to day, thinking stuff people have done as long as horses have lived with man. Medical intervention can do a lot, as can alternative therapies, but we are always only going forward, never back. You can make things better but you can never put them back the way they were. This doesn't mean the horse can't have a long, happy and productive career - quite the opposite! But you have to keep at it, listening to the horse.

I know the attraction of a person or a procedure or a machine that can make it all okay but it rarely works that way. And that's okay. In fact, that's life. :)

Well done for your mare.
 
Thanks for the update, love the water pic!

Mines sound but not yet in work. Need a boot up the backside to get on with it as moved yards a couple of weeks ago to get the hacking that I need. My horse is also now barefoot and is managed for lgl and having sorted out the feet he's surpassed the vets expectations to go from 'unlevel will be normal for him and probably just able to light hack' to @should be fine to be an allrounder and jump if we take care only to ride on good surfaces'.
 
Sue Dyson diagnosed my horse with sacroiliac problems and a broken (but healed) pelvis.

She told me that he would never come back to work and that it would be better to have him PTS there and then.

She positively exploded when I suggested that I would be looking for alternative opinions and wrote the most insulting letter to my vet.

The horse at the time was 15.

I got a second opinion. The horse came back into work - yes he was not perfect but he would hack for miles and we had great fun together.

About 5 years after her diagnosis he was reserve for Olympia in a veteran final, after winning his age section in a class of 45.

I'm just going to bring him in now ............... he is 27 years old. I retired him at 25 - NOT because I needed to but because I felt he deserved a rest and to be treated like a king for the rest of his days as he did so much for me and gave me some of the best days of my life.

Whilst I do not dispute Ms Dyson is a clever lady, she is not god.

Go with your gut, and the very best of luck to you


ETA - what a muppet - didn't realise it was an old thread, but the info might be useful to someone !
 
I've heard that Sue Dyson is very much doom & gloom. If you can afford it I'd definitely give it a go. If you don't you will always wonder 'what if?'
 
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