Getting really down about everything now. Why can't life with horses ever be easy?

Nickles1973

Nickles1973

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I am starting to loose the plot and really need a cyber shoulder to cry on! My horse seems to have had one thing after another this year and everytime I think we're getting somewhere he goes lame again.
I have 2 seperate issues going on and I am also trying to transition him to being unshod. I honestly feel having his shoes off will have a positive effect on both lameness issues long term but tbh it's all just getting too much.
The front hooves are a muddle of several issues all of which should hopefully resolve with his new diet and his break from shoes. I am already seeing an improvement but I don't know if he's quite ready to go fully bare and then there is the hind hooves.
He was treated with joint injections last month into his fetlocks for arthritic changes and was shod with rolled toe shoes. It was planned that with him hopefully being sound behind at his next planned farrier visit his back shoes would come off.
But he is still lame and today the vet has been to xray his hock. If as suspected he also has osteo-arthritis in his hock then he will have that joint medicated and the vet wants to have lateral extensions on his hind feet.
I now feel the vet was just humouring me when he agreed to allow us to try and transition him and I think he will now try and pull rank if the hock diagnosis is as expected.
Sorry this is such a messy downhearted post but I just feel so fed up and all over the place.
 
The horse is yours and you can do as you wish with regards to treatment. The only welfare rule is if the horse is suffering beyond a certain amount you either start to treat, change treatments or PTS. So I don't see how the vet can pull rank. They could refuse to treat your horse, then you'd have to find a vet willing to work with you, but the vet can't insist on a particular treatment.
 
I took the shoes off my horse on the recommendation of my vet, my older boy had high and low ringbone in both fronts and spavin behind that we know of. We took the shoes off hinds and a few months later took fronts off as well, he is only a hack by my vet said that the shoes will cause extra impact through the joints and so removing the metal shoes should lessen it slightly. My lad seems happy as larry since having them off! Might be worth putting it to vet like that?
 
Thank's for those replies. I will take both points on board. I think I feel most down because I'm fed up with having to justify what I think is the right way to keep my horse sound long term. I already understand that the transistion to bare might not be a smooth one but I just hate the raised eyebrows I keep getting.
 
Some horses cannot go fully bare. I have tried to make both of mine barefoot. My mare coped really well for two years until laminitus made one of her fore feet flare and then taking off the flare made her footsore. She has now come fully sound with imprint shoes. I will keep her in these for a few months and then may have to go back to metal shoeing in front. If it had not been for the laminitis deforming her foot, she would have coped fine barefoot. My other horse is a typical flat footed thoroughbred. He has bone spavin in both hocks and had severe kissing spines which has been operated on. He coped fine without hind shoes, but taking his fronts off has caused him problems when the ground is hard. He was fine during the three months of wet weather we had, but went lame in front as soon as it dried up. I don't want to shoe him again as he hates being shod, and so I have bought him some easy boot trails just for when I work him.
 
Constantly having to justify your (perfectly reasonable) actions to all and sundry is the pits, isn't it. I'm in that position myself at the moment, so you have my sympathy. In the long run you help yourself, and other horses, by explaining things to people and getting them onside. Though when pushed to my limits I have been known to simply state I am doing "x" , then walk away when they start to moan. It doesn't gain me friends, but when you think on it a lot of these moaners aren't real friends anyway, so I figure I've lost nothing.
 
You need to find a vet that you trust, that you can have an adult conversation with and discuss the pros and cons. If he wants your horse shod, ask his reasoning and what he feels is the possible outcomes of either way. There is also nothing wrong with taking the results of your diagnostic tests and talking it through with another vet. Then you can make an informed decision.

Paula
 
Paulag said:
You need to find a vet that you trust, that you can have an adult conversation with and discuss the pros and cons. If he wants your horse shod, ask his reasoning and what he feels is the possible outcomes of either way. There is also nothing wrong with taking the results of your diagnostic tests and talking it through with another vet. Then you can make an informed decision.

Paula[/QUOTE

I agree with this if you can't talk to your vet you need a different one .
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