Lameness specialist - suggestions please!

Can anyone give me a name of a lameness specialist in Glos/Worcs/Hfds or surrounding areas?

Rage is going into the vets for a lameness work up on monday, but I have already told them that I will NOT be coming home without a diagnosis that I am satisfied with, or a referral to a suitable lameness specialist
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Thanks in advance
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H

Halfstep

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Hook Norton Veterinary surgeons near Banbury are suburb. They have a orthopedic specialist called Jacefk Bobkiewicz who is absolutely amazing. He's operated on my horse twice, and I really rate him. What he doesn't know about lameness isn't worth knowing.
 
Also Bushy Equine Centre in Dursley, Gloc. Easy to find - just 4 miles off the M5. Ian Camm is one of the best lameness vets in the UK and I can't praise him or his staff highly enough. He worked with my previous horse Sullivan who developed bilateral front foot lameness and even intervened with my insurance company to successfully resolve a policy interpretation issue for me. Also, my current horse Sunny was back and forth there while he struggled with a terrible eye problem. They later removed the eye and his care was absolutely beyond compare.
 
What sort of diagnosis do you want to hear Bounty? Do you have a theory? If you are going to be there for the work up take notes and a video camera then if you get sent around the houses you can have a little file to draw upon if you get sent to someone else.
 
A general (pertinent) question. Is it compulsory to have a lameness work up of any depth with the local vet? If it is not blindingly obvious I want my horses to go straight to referral experts otherwise you just waste money at the primary (general purpose) practice. The whole lot of tests are often repeated by the referral vets. Seems wrong to me but no doubt interesting and lucrative for the primary vets!
 
I'm not sure about the protocols Oldred - I'd guess that in an ideal world the local vet would recognise when a specialist referral was needed. But in the event that you want an immediate referral, I'd just tell your local vets that's what you want...see what they say. The only issue is that (a) you need to keep a civilised relationship with your local vets for other/future issues eg annual shots etc and (b) the specialist centre would want history off the local vets. I guess I'd try to keep it locally amicable but be firm if you want an urgent referral. You're the customer after all.
 
It is a intermittent reoccuring lameness in the LH which is slight - I would put it at a grade one, but I cannot get a vet to 'see' it. It is mainly visible in the transitions, but this bout is considerably worse and I am hoping that the vets will be able to see what I can this time, he is stilted in trot on the right rein and so uncomfortable on the left rein that he will NOT trot anymore, he breaks to canter repeatedly. IMO it is deep in his hip joint and a muscular issue.

They demand the horse is lunged on the hard, but by the time they have seen him on the hard for 15mins the lameness has almost worn off, so they think he is not lame enough to make it worth nerve blocking
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He is no worse after flexions. Last time he went I was told to take him away and 'break him' so they had something to diagnose
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He is now on his 4th bout of this lameness and I need answers!
I will be the one handling him during the work up, but i will take someone with a video camera
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I was in this position... Spencer had picked up on some form of 'unusual' step so I took my mare to my own vet who said she was not lame and it could be nothing more than her way of going and to go home and ride her on bute for a good few days.

I was going through an operation myself, so got someone to ride her for me without the bute and then had a good think and booked her in for a second opinion with a lameness expert. This particular one did not require a referral from my own vet, however if they had done I was have requested it rather than having my own vet look again. I knew there was something there, I knew it was not just her way of going.

She went for a full lameness work up with the specialist and I left her there for almost a week... she came home with a complete diagnosis of PSD
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I am just so glad I followed my instincts. Like my specialist said, no one knows your horse like you do
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Good luck!
 
If you feel the lameness is in the Hip joint you really need to take him somewhere that has the best equipment as the hips are seriously hard to get decent pictures from with the standard x-ray machines that the Vets use, its the QUALIFIED EQUINE SPECIALISTS that tend to have the machines that cope with hips etc. I write Qualified in capitals as a lot of Equine Specialists that call themselves specialists do so because they only treat horses and not because they actually hold the Equine Medicine certificate. My husband whom is a Vet refers to Svend Kold at Wilersley including one of my own Dressage horses that too had hip lameness from jumping down over a stone wall with an 8ft drop the other side! he tore the ligaments in the hip which has left him with arthritis and an impingement which shows in a way of stringhalt, 6 yrs on he still works at medium level with the help of a sachet of bute per day to just take the edge off the stiffness. Good luck
 
Hi Becki,
It is Grace's saga that makes me even more determined that it is NOT normal, NOT his way of going, and NOT a result of lack of (correct) schooling
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I am prepared to give my usual vets another go at diagnosing him as it is worse this time and there should be more to go on. Overall the practice are pretty good, so I am keen to keep on good terms with them.
If they can't find anything from a workup then I will not hesitate in going elsewhere
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Thanks for sharing your experience
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Thanks for that Dressage_Babe.
The only thing that makes me hesitate in wanting a referral is that the practice are equine specialists and usually the practice that takes all of the referrals, rather than making them
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I feel it puts me in an awkward position
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But... the welfare of the horse comes before all that!
How would I find out if they held the equine medicine certificate? I know they are an RCVS accredited equine hospital...
 
I understand your predicament with your Vet but if they are as good as they claim then they will totally understand your need to seek further expertise if your horse is suffering with lameness. A truely qualified Equine Specialist will have a Diploma in equine Orthopaedics usually have the initials Dip Eq after them, I would just ask your Vet if they have a Diploma in Equine Orthopaedics, they shouldn't be offended by the enquiry, you could always ring as an enquiry without telling them who you are. Hope this is of some help to you.
 
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