Heartbroken & huge dilemma. Help?

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AnnaandStella

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I bought a horse from a dealer in Jan this year.

It's turned out to be an absolute disaster & there's just no way out.

Can anyone with a similar experience offer some moral support via PM?

I'm in such a state it's just... I don't know what to do.
 
5 stage vetting

Chronic lameness & muscle wastage

Bucking, rearing, bolting, spooking, shoulder dropping - normally all combined.
 
Ok.

So - what does your vet think is causing the chronic lameness. Is he the same vet that did the vetting?

If the lameness has been an ongoing issue, then it's reasonable to expect muscle wastage.

Have you had a good physio look at him to see what could be causing the rearing etc?
 
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Did you try it?
Were bloods taken at the time of vetting?
Does the dealer have any form of warrenty? Have you spoken to them?

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Yes
Yes
Pxchange, no

I'm waiting till trading standards ring me back. However, they indicated on the phone that as we paid for a 5 stage vetting, we're not likely to be able to pursue this case as far as if we hadn't.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Ok.

So - what does your vet think is causing the chronic lameness. Is he the same vet that did the vetting?

If the lameness has been an ongoing issue, then it's reasonable to expect muscle wastage.

Have you had a good physio look at him to see what could be causing the rearing etc?

[/ QUOTE ]

Different vet - we live on the other side of the country. Our vet is generally regarded to be an excellent equine vet.

Originally thought it might be PSSM/EPSM due to the extremity of the wastage. However, fittening work to resolve this diagnosis has brought out the lameness.

Vet called out at behavioural problems - lameness workup & back/teeth checks showed nothing. She was schooled by someone used to problem horses and went back to normal after - definately behavioural.
 
If you had bloods and it behaved at the time of trying it then its worth getting them tested.
How quickly did the problems start happening after you got him home?
can you fill us in on the whole story but change the names etc?
 
Lameness is not behavioural. What investigations have taken place on the feet, hocks and back???

How old is the horse?
 
I'd rather do it via PM to people who've had similar situations who can offer advise on ways to resolve it.

However, behavioral problems were there from a few days in and the first lameness investigation happened 4 months in. (Technically, she had the vet out for a hoof abcess in month 2 or 3 but that was kind of unrelated)
 
If the behavioural issues were there quite quickly and yet she was fine when you tried her then I would suggest getting the bloods analysed and see if she was doped.
Then i would guess its a case of getting a good solicitor.
I guess the biggest question is what are you wanting out of it?
The horse gone? Your monesy back? A different horse? The horse sorted out?
 
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Lameness is not behavioural. What investigations have taken place on the feet, hocks and back???

How old is the horse?

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i didn't mean that the lameness was behavioral - the horse wasn't pretending to be lame(!)

Just we wanted to eliminate a physical cause for behavioural issues.

She had flexion tests, put on the lunge, trotted up, vet felt her back, felt her teeth.
 
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If the behavioural issues were there quite quickly and yet she was fine when you tried her then I would suggest getting the bloods analysed and see if she was doped.
Then i would guess its a case of getting a good solicitor.
I guess the biggest question is what are you wanting out of it?
The horse gone? Your monesy back? A different horse? The horse sorted out?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want to send her back to the dealer so she can have a couple of months out in the field and then pass a vetting again. She's an adorable horse despite her issues otherwise we wouldn't have worked through them.

This isn't a problem that can be sorted.

She needs to be retired as a hack or a broodmare. She's well bred, pink papered, but we'd get a negligible amount of money compared to what we paid for her.

I just don't know what the options are.
 
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She had flexion tests, put on the lunge, trotted up, vet felt her back, felt her teeth

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What then did your vet say he thought was the cause of the lameness and t what point will your vet be advising x-rays and nerve blocks?
 
Why because you have a 5 stage vetting do you not have as gooder chance through the small claims court?
I know what your going through so feel free to PM me. Had a very similar case.
 
So are you saying all her problems are behavioural?

Sorry, am a bit confused by your postings as not sure if she is lame or not? If she's lame is it thought she was when and before you bought her?

Are you insured for LOU?

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I had a similar case this year, bought mare off dealer. However she had passed 5stage vetting but 2 months later diagnosed with KS. Insurance Co paid out LOU and I sold her as a broodmare.
 
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She had flexion tests, put on the lunge, trotted up, vet felt her back, felt her teeth

[/ QUOTE ]

What then did your vet say he thought was the cause of the lameness and t what point will your vet be advising x-rays and nerve blocks?

[/ QUOTE ]

This was when he suggested she had a muscle wastage disorder & prscribed vit e, selenium, msm & fittening work.

2 weeks of fittening work later she came up lame - had 2/10ths lameness on the left fore on the left rein so was prescribed danilon, 2 weeks box rest & walks in hand.

End of the box rest - horse still lame, but such a low level that nerve blocking is not an option.

However, there's a slight misalignment in her shoulderblades & the muscle wastage suggests that this is something that is chronic.

However, my insurance won't cover it as it counts as a preexisting injury.

Wherein lies the problem.

She's not fixable & we don't have the resources to investigate fully.
 
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So are you saying all her problems are behavioural?

Sorry, am a bit confused by your postings as not sure if she is lame or not? If she's lame is it thought she was when and before you bought her?

Are you insured for LOU?

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I had a similar case this year, bought mare off dealer. However she had passed 5stage vetting but 2 months later diagnosed with KS. Insurance Co paid out LOU and I sold her as a broodmare.

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No - she has behavioural issues AND chronic lameness.

Not insured for LOU... they only pay out 50% of value if can be sold as a broodmare & the premium was too expensive

frown.gif
 
are the physical problems things that should have been detected in the 5-stage vetting? a "chronic" lameness implies to me that they are. do you have any comeback against that vet?

re: "She was schooled by someone used to problem horses and went back to normal after - definately behavioural."

what did this person do with her? what did they do differently to you? did they use a different saddle, for example? i have heard of quite a few horses with a very low pain tolerance that turned into demons in certain saddles, fwiw. definitely worth investigating.

how soon after you bought her did she start misbehaving? a few days? if so, back to the dealer, definitely. that's the whole point of the security of buying from a dealer. threaten with taking to court if necessary.
if you really can't face that, if her future life is more important than the money (which i totally totally understand, btw), then accept your losses, unfortunately, and find her a good home as a broodmare (depending on the problems, obv... this might not be the answer at all) or companion.
you might be able to get a lovely horse on loan etc instead. very sorry to hear of all these problems though, poor mare, poor you.
 
Sorry off track a bit but how do your insurance company deem it as 'pre-existing' when the horse passed a 5 stage vetting at purchase?? That makes no sense and I would actually dispute that if you have the 5 stage VC. That's like them claiming arthritis is 'pre-existing', arthritis can show months down the line even if a horse was 5 stage vetted and passed!
 
If I were you I would explore any comeback on the vet who vetted her? That's the point of vetting really to give you assurance that the horse in question is fit enough for the job.

And whilst they are not mindreaders it seems in this case that she was showing enough to not pass? Is your current vet wlling to give an opinion on this? You should also bear in mind that vets are insured for this type of thing and whilst I don't agree with suing people as soon as things go wrong it is perhaps a possibility?

Otherwise, I would definitely go back to the dealer but if you can't face giving her up due to her uncertain future then I'm afraid you will have to cut your losses. I do feel for you, its a very difficult situation & I get a feeling of deja vu but I got lucky in the end.
 
[ QUOTE ]
are the physical problems things that should have been detected in the 5-stage vetting? a "chronic" lameness implies to me that they are. do you have any comeback against that vet?

re: "She was schooled by someone used to problem horses and went back to normal after - definately behavioural."

what did this person do with her? what did they do differently to you? did they use a different saddle, for example? i have heard of quite a few horses with a very low pain tolerance that turned into demons in certain saddles, fwiw. definitely worth investigating.

how soon after you bought her did she start misbehaving? a few days? if so, back to the dealer, definitely. that's the whole point of the security of buying from a dealer. threaten with taking to court if necessary.
if you really can't face that, if her future life is more important than the money (which i totally totally understand, btw), then accept your losses, unfortunately, and find her a good home as a broodmare (depending on the problems, obv... this might not be the answer at all) or companion.
you might be able to get a lovely horse on loan etc instead. very sorry to hear of all these problems though, poor mare, poor you.

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Thank you... I just can't stop crying, my poor poppet.

It was in a few days that she started bucking - bucked me off monumentally in the first week we had her.

The girl who schooled her used all my tack etc, just pushed her to the limit and worked her with a different attitude.

I think it's just that I don't want to forever have the responsibilty of having shunted a horse with a heart of gold, despite it all, back to a dealer where it's just all going to happen again.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry off track a bit but how do your insurance company deem it as 'pre-existing' when the horse passed a 5 stage vetting at purchase?? That makes no sense and I would actually dispute that if you have the 5 stage VC. That's like them claiming arthritis is 'pre-existing', arthritis can show months down the line even if a horse was 5 stage vetted and passed!

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Yep, seems odd that. My mare clearly must have had KS before I bought her but because she passed a 5stage vetting 2 months previously the insurers coughed up.
 
Please dont breed from her, or sell her as a broodmare - shes obviously got behavioural problems as well as this lameness which you have no idea whether it could be hereditory or not..... Shes not suitable as a broodmare IMO.....
 
If she passed a five stage vetting then insurance should cough up, this is surely the main reason we have the 5 stage vetting?

Who are your insurance company?
 
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