I hate fecking equine clinics...

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LankyDoodle

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... or more specifically the one we were referred to with Lanky.

At the end of July, Lanky lost a shoe. This made him footsore, shoe was replaced on 5th August and he was absolutely fine... no problems and no lameness. He was hooning round the field and was being ridden with no problems.

Then on 18th August, we noted he was hopping lame in trot in the field (so 2 weeks after shoe was replaced). Immediately, because it was on the same leg as the lost shoe, we thought abcess. Farrier thought abcess but could find no issues in the foot. Vet thought abcess, but again found nothing. Vet was there on 20th August and prescribed penicillin, but the horse had no reaction to this and was still lame when the vet came back on 24th. So on 24th, the vet referred us to a local equine clinic, and we got him there for 530pm that day. The following day, Lanky had a lameness investigation and the vet there phoned me to ask for a brief, rough history, which I gave. The investigations led to them finding OCD and a meniscal tear, which needed stifle arthroscopy, which was then booked for 14th September.

After my own vet came out at the end of September to remove the sutures, we sent off the insurance claim to our insurance, Scottish Equestrian (who were very good with our claim when our mare was pts last year).

I have just received a letter today stating that they cannot pay the claim at present because I stated that onset of lameness was 18th August (which it was) and the clinic have stated in the report that he had been lame for A MONTH before that.
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I am so upset. He was not lame for a month - he had been ridden just a couple of days beforehand and shown no problems. He'd been galloping round the field and was fine. The farrier and all vets found no problems in the foot that could link the lameness and the lost shoe in the last weekend in July (31st ish). This was a separate thing that caused no lameness and the horse was fine for several weeks after the replaced shoe.

They are now saying they want me to send an accurate account to them of the date of onset!

I have contacted my vet but he's not there at the moment. I'm gutted!
 
I am sure it will all be sorted out it is probably just a miss understanding with the clinic. When you gave the brief history did you mention the lost shoe if so they probably just jotted down the date and are using that as the start date.

Dont worry i am sure it will all sort itself out, your vet and farrier should back you up.
 
I'm not sure what the drama is. ok, it seems the hospital has made a slight cock up - the result of chinese whispers no doubt but you should have a claim form to fill in, on which YOU should write the date the horse was seen by the vet - i.e your vet and the date of the onset of lameness. Your own vet should be able to back this up with their records.
 
Slight misunderstanding I would pressume to be the case here...I am sure it will sort itself out when you do speak to your vet you can check the dates with what he/she has written down.
 
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I'm not sure what the drama is. ok, it seems the hospital has made a slight cock up - the result of chinese whispers no doubt but you should have a claim form to fill in, on which YOU should write the date the horse was seen by the vet - i.e your vet and the date of the onset of lameness. Your own vet should be able to back this up with their records.

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This is what I did and the insurer has written to me stating the my date is out by a month from the EC's date, hence they won't pay the 2000!
 
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I am sure it will all be sorted out it is probably just a miss understanding with the clinic. When you gave the brief history did you mention the lost shoe if so they probably just jotted down the date and are using that as the start date.

Dont worry i am sure it will all sort itself out, your vet and farrier should back you up.

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Thanks - yes, I mentioned the lost shoe as that is why we thought the lameness was an abcess... farrier found no abcess and clinic said problem was OCD in stifle, so the two were not related.
 
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Surely this is just a matter of speaking with the equine clinic and clearing up the discrepancy?

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I have tried to contact my own vet and am waiting to hear back. Not sure what happens about the EC - not sure they'd change the report etc.

Am in a slight panic as we have paid over £2000 and they are saying they won't pay.
 
Im insured with Scottish equestrian and the same thing happened to me when i put in claim for vetinary examinations for my horses bucking which was put down to bone spavins.They said they wouldnt cover because it was a pre exsisting condition,I just wrote them a letter saying that i rode the horse not a month earlier and he was fine and i enclosed a referall from my back lady to the vet confirm the dates and they paid up a few days later.

I would write them a letter and include a letter from your farrier on headed paper and send that off. Good luck and let me know what happens
 
Thanks all.

I am going to get my farrier to write a brief letter stating that he was called to the horse on 2nd August (true) due to him losing a shoe and the shoe was then replaced on 5th August, the horse was a bit footy but not lame, and this was because of the lost shoe. Then he was called on evening of 18th August when the horse was found lame in the field and attended the following morning, finding nothing wrong with the foot (suspected abcess due to lost shoe 2 weeks previously).

I will try and get my vet to write a letter stating that he was first called out on 20th August after the lost shoe etc and that I told him the horse had been ridden and sound in the intermittent two weeks (true) between lost shoe and lameness and that the lost shoe and lameness two weeks later were not related problems, but that they were mentioned to the equine clinic in case they could find a foot problem on xray etc that had been missed by farrier and normal vet.

Then I will write a letter stating clearly what happened and when it happened and say that I believe the equine clinic have encompassed the lost shoe (which wasn't even a month before the horse was referred anyway!) into their timescale as it was mentioned in the brief history. This equine clinic also did double arthroscopy when two of their vets (including the head vet) told me that they were doing single, and this is what was passed onto the insurer. Right hand, left hand, don't know what it's doing... maybe?

I still don't think they will pay out, on a technicality that the equine clinic have, from somewhere, said the problem started in July... the horse didn't even lose the shoe til last weekend July/first weekend August! Grrr!
 
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