Lameness workup experiences...

[Guinness]

Just wanted to know your experiences of lameness workups-a friends horses needs one (x rays and nerve blocks) and was plannning on taking her to the horse hospital, but she doesnt load very well so my friend is having second thoughts. I know the vet can come out with portable x ray machines, but wouldnt this mean repeat visits, sedation etc? I would have thought it would be better to get the horse to the horsepital and get it all done in one go? Also bearing in mind that my friend works full time so I would be the one that would have to be there for the vet visits?

 

[dwi]

Daisy doesn't load well and I was really worried when she went lame this year and the vet insisted on having her in for scans. Vet insisted that it was best to have her in to diagnose her properly. He gave me 10 acp and I was skeptical because we tried sedalin last time we wanted to load her and it didn't work.

We loaded her into a lorry rather than a trailer as we had in the past and she went in like a dream. We had backed the lorry right up to the entrance to the barn so that she didn't have time to think about going in as she walked towards it. She stopped for about 10 secs, one poke in the bottom with a broom and up she went.

I would really consider trying to get the horse to the vets, it was the best thing for Daisy, we solved the lameness problem that had been competely stumping everyone and we could move on with treatment

 

[Happytohack]

The portable xrays and scanners are not nearly as accurate as the ones that the vets have at the equine clinic/hospital. Ella went lame in April of this year and the vet wanted her to come to the surgery for a full lameness workup. She hadn't travelled much before, but was absolutely fine. The whole lameness investiagation - nerveblocks, xrays, etc., took about 2 hours and she coped with no problems. Now, after treatment, she is just coming back into work.

 

[Happytohack]

The portable xrays and scanners are not nearly as accurate as the ones that the vets have at the equine clinic/hospital. Ella went lame in April of this year and the vet wanted her to come to the surgery for a full lameness workup. She hadn't travelled much before, but was absolutely fine. The whole lameness invest

 

[Hullabaloo]

I'd definately try to get her horse to hospital. I faffed about for weeks with my vet trying to do bits and pieces at the yard. It cost £500 and told us nothing and eventually I got frustrated and asked for a referral. In the hospital they could do everything there and then and develop the x-rays straight away. It also helped having the staff around a my horse is less than co-operative with nerve blocks! We're hopefully now on the road to recovery but I really wish I'd insisted on a referal much sooner.

 

[Wishful]

If you're in North/West Devon (and possibly further afield around there), there's a man who has a portable x-ray machine that can do pelvis/neck x-rays, with a generator in a van with it. Neal Pearce (not sure of spelling though) is his name.

Saves a lot of referrals for x-ray/transport if it's only X-rays you need.