Lameness - is the vet your first call?

VioletStripe

VioletStripe

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More of a wondering for me...

I was just on my horsey area's Facebook group, where a video of a lame horse was posted, asking if he was lame and how much a vet would be.

Long story short, one of the comments was something along the lines of: 'get the physio, vets a useless with lameness', which I thought was a little harsh as a generalisation?

Just interested as to what people thought - personally, I always would get a vet out if I had no idea what was causing it, (eg it was a cut which didn't need further attention, or if I knew it to be a farrier's specialty then I probably wouldn't).
Maybe I'm lucky that the vet I usually get from my practice is nearly always used for referrals to lameness - he's fab!

Anyway, sorry for the ramble. Just intrigued to hear your thoughts - I'm bored on a Sunday night and I thought it was a rather odd comment!

(PS if the poster is reading this now, I am in no way attempting to dig at you, I'm just interested to see what others think!)
 
Depends if nothing obvious or not. If nothing obvious, my first point of call is patience - few days of box rest or field rest sometimes just sorts it out. And if a cut, depends on how serious/deep...
 
Unfortunately this is very relevant for me at the moment. I am currently box resting, cold hosing, ice booting and bandaging and if no better in a few days then will get the vet out on the zone day on Wednesday. I think a vets first answer is usually rest it and cold hose and see what happens, so I would prefer to be able to say.. 'done that, what's next?'
 
Personally I think it depends on the level of experience the person has.

As for calling a physio out first comment.. totally no. If you're asking if a vet is needed, 99/100 a vet is needed imo.
 
Mildish lameness would treat myself and if no improvement in a few days ask vet for advice. Mild heat/swelling same thing. Anything a little bit more serious, would probably give 24hrs to see if any improvement and if not call the vet. Anything immediately obviously badly lame, deep cut etc, vet asap.

Eta- always always ALWAYS vet first unless its very clearly an abscess then might ask farrier to have a look first.
 
If my horse was mildly lame I would give it a couple of days to get over it, if hugely lame I would call farrier as I would think abscess! ;) If horse continued to be lame depending on what I thought I would either have my vet or Chiro vet. Depends.
 
If it's something minor I will deal with it myself .
But always the vet only the vet can diagnose .
I do use a physio a lot and she always has input when stuff goes wrong but the vet is your trained professional when it comes diagnosis .
 
Any decent physio will not treat a lame horse without a vets referral, they may come out and assess but if it is lame that is as far as they should go if they start to treat they are breaking the law so the first port of call is the vet, that said most vets advise rest, bute and reassess if there is no obvious injury so I would do that before calling a vet unless there was reason to get them in earlier, more often than not a simple knock will be fine after a few days off and if they improve day on day a vet is probably not needed, if they deteriorate or remain the same a vet must be called.
 
I am very lucky in that I have seen virtually all types of lameness in the racing yard so I would probably do even less than you lot straight off and deal with it myself. But equally because of the knowledge I have gained I know when a vet is a necessity asap.

Tendons/ligaments etc I would treat myself for 7-10 days then get a vet to scan. They won't tell me to do any different for the first week anyway. Suspected fractures get wrapped and splinted straight up and off to horsepital as they like to pin them back together. Pelvic fractures are boxed into a very small stable where they can only shuffle forwards and backwards a couple of feet and onnly enough room at the sides to be comfortable but no where near enough room to turn nor attempt to lay down. Much easier and less stressful for the horse than cross tying. Abcesses are the realm of the farriers.
 
I wouldn't immediately call a vet, I would wait a few days to a week depending on severity to see if there was an improvement. I have found from experience that my horses become a little lame then get over it just as quickly as it came. Having six horses here of varying ages who have all been lame at some point in their lives my vet would have been called out unnecessarily many times if I called him at the first sign of a problem. I think you learn to recognise if a problem requires a vet or when you can let it ride for a day or two.
 
I'd treat myself for a time. As with EKW lameness is seen so often at work I'm happy to deal with far more these days than maybe I would have years ago. Then I'd call my boss!!
If he said vet I'd call a vet.
If horse was hopping and showing no obvious pain response if assume abscess and poultice
 
Yes always call the vet. I've probably needlessly wasted hundreds of pounds on call outs when I could have done something myself but I feel I'm just not knowledgeable enough to make that decision. I think anxiety would eat away at me that I was doing the wrong thing if I tried to solve things myself.
 
I would give the horse a couple of days on box rest first, cold hosing bandaging etc before calling the vet immediately. If no better then I would call the vet, mine have been brilliant with my mares injury and lameness following the injury, they would always be my first port of call unless I suspected an abscess, then it would be farrier!
 
As with others have seen the majority of lameness causes through work etc so wouldn't rush to get a vet unless it was something that clearly needed antibiotics. Sudden hopping lameness I'd presume assess and get the farrier. It's amazing the amount of times a horse will just pull a muscle in the field or rolling in the stable and just needs a few days to recover. You could spend a fortune on vets when a few days rest is all they need. I suppose it all come down to experience.
 
For my horses current lameness I had the bf trimmer out - who said the issue wasn't his feet but was his back, and then booked a lesson with a great instructor for a lesson inhand to do straightness work. Personally for my horse and his many lamenesses I probably won't call a vet again, as everything I can fix myself through rest/work as appropriate. I'm not paying for expensive investigations anymore.
 
Deltic Blue said:
I would give the horse a couple of days on box rest first, cold hosing bandaging etc before calling the vet immediately. If no better then I would call the vet, mine have been brilliant with my mares injury and lameness following the injury, they would always be my first port of call unless I suspected an abscess, then it would be farrier!
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I always think this can be dangerous course of action a few days box rest can settle some quite serious injuries ,you then turn the horse out of ride and risk making the whole thing much worse .
For example Check ligament damage will often present as mild lameness with no external signs the lameness will often settle very quickly with a couple of days box rest but the damage is still there and you risk a much more major injury .
 
Having had a couple of PPID horses I'm pretty confident with abscesses, and I'd feel confident using my judgement for other things. Sometimes it's obvious though - for example when your bimbo brained TB runs through a fence and severs an artery and a tendon... :o
 
Jericho said:
Depends if nothing obvious or not. If nothing obvious, my first point of call is patience - few days of box rest or field rest sometimes just sorts it out. And if a cut, depends on how serious/deep...
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Yep! Coming from somewhere were the vets were pants, you'd be paying a £120 callout and "consultation fee" basically to be given bute and told "Its lame on that leg."

Brill.

Sukistokes2 said:
If my horse was mildly lame I would give it a couple of days to get over it, if hugely lame I would call farrier as I would think abscess! ;) If horse continued to be lame depending on what I thought I would either have my vet or Chiro vet. Depends.
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Yep, I'm known to call farrier first incase of abscess!
 
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