Lameness

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Pentium2912

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i am a bit stumped by my current situation and so i registered to post on this forum in the quest for other peoples opinions....

I recently purchased a horse from a dealer, although i am not sure if he would admit this now! So i went to view this mare (6 yo) and got along with her fine so i had her 2 stage vetted a few days later, i was not present at the vetting however. the vet called me up and said she had passed everything and he had also taken bloods (without my consent, and adding this extra to my bill as well! but good job really). i picked her up the next day and took her home. the day after i rode her for around 20-30 mins walk and trot and she was fine. the same the next day but added a small canter. the day after i got on her and she was pratting around so i got off of her and put her back in her stable as i was short on time, and came back to lunge her later. she had a bit of a bronk on the lunge etc but seemed fine. i assumed this was because she is a sharp mare used to being on a professional event yard and was feeling fresh as she was eventing fit, and hadnt been up to much in the past 3 days. the next morning i got on her and she felt lame so i got off of her and trotted her up. at this point the lameness was about 3 out of 10 and had a small amount of heat in one foot. i called the vet that vetted her and reported this. he advised me to get her checked by a farrier for corns. i did this and she had a small corn which the farrier sorted, he said it wasnt enough to make her lame though. i gave her a few days just on the walker before trotting her up again. she looked a little bit better, probs more a 2 now. i proceeded to continue just walker work for a couple of days. she had no heat, swelling, marks, lumps etc anywhere. i called out my local vet to her and she practically re-vetted her. she said that she couldnt find anything to suggest the lameness anywhere without further tests such as blocks etc. she advised me to get the bloods run incase she had been on bute. the vet described her as 3 10ths lame. the bloods were sent for tests and in the mean time i continued placing her on the walker as box rest was sending her bonkers! about a week later the bloods still hadnt come back and as i was taking her off the walker, for the first time she was lame in walk, i would say around a 6 10ths as she was really quite limping as i turned a small corner, but was a little bit sounder in a straight line. so i stopped walker work and she has been on box rest ever since. the bloods came back as negative so i have very little to stand on if i was to attempt to send her back. i have been reading up on this on the internet and i can send her back as not fit for purpose, however i feel that with out the bloods showing anything he will not accept her. i am gutted as i cannot afford to investigate this further and have lost a fair bit of money on a horse i cannot ride and may not be able to for quite some time. in a way i feel that i should be able to send her back as she went lame 2/3 days after purchase even though she was ridden on a surface and did very little! there is no recent heat swellings cuts etc that prove that she broke whilst in my care, therefore do i have a right to be able to send her back? the seller is aware of her lameness and has tried to suggest that it is her back. my vet is suggesting a foot abscess, however it has been 3 weeks and nothing has burst out yet.

what are people opinions? if i am honest i would rather send her back than pay to fix her as my vet feels this is an older problem. I simply cannot afford to pay the vets bills, and i didnt even have time to insure her before all this happened! its such a horrid situation and its not fair on the mare who is going stir crazy in her box and not settling very well :confused:
 
Hello:)Has the vet advised you to treat an abscess then? You do not mention poulticing which is the correct treatment to draw out an access. They can also produce sudden or increasing lameness to hopping lame quite often. It's simple to sort usually though and not worth returning the horse which you liked enough to buy over! So I hope it is an abscess;-)
 
How awful for you (and the horse!)! have you had a 2nd veterinary opinion since you've had her - doesn't sound like the vet was very clear as to what the problem could be? If you've not had another vet out, I'd suggest another vet examination - should be able to eliminate a lot of possibilities without expensive tests?

Is your mare insured? If she is then that'll help a lot with costs surely - as if you had her vetted and all was passed before sale, then insurance company can't say she had a problem prior to them taking on the horse's cover -perhaps?

Must be a very unsettling time for your mare, changing homes always is........

About whether you're in your rights to send her back to the dealer (if it comes to that), contact your local Trading Standards department (based in council) - they can give some initial advice and are usually helpful.

Hope that all helps and good luck!
:)
 
As the horse passed the vetting and bloods prove she was not on bute at the time I dont really think she is not fit for purpose unless you can get to the root of why she is lame. If there is evidence of a problem that has been treated in the past you may have a case but if just an abscess, which is remaining untreated, from the sound of things, this can happen to any horse at any time it is not the vendors fault.

You really need to get started with diagnosing what the problem is, an abscess left without proper treatment can become very serious and could leave you in a worse situation than you are currently in, the first thing I would do is get the farrier back to do a more thorough investigation, as she had a corn the is every chance more is going on and this may be easy to treat.
An abscess does not always just burst especially if deep in the foot, they can take months to resolve even with correct care.
 
Oh my god! I feel your pain, I have a horse with lameness problems (only I didn't have a vetting) Anyway if the dealer will not take her back then......I think you need to access it on a process of elimination. Perhaps get the farrier out to have a good dig about, ,maybe poultice for 12 hrs before he gets there so the foot is softer. If no avail Try bute and box rest with short walks for grass for 7 days then restricted turnout and work from there. If still nothing then i think you will need to have the nerve blocks and xrays as you will struggle to get to the bottom of it.
It is such a long drawn out process and you will feel like hitting your head against a brick wall but you will get there. Best of Luck x
 
when we brought our 3 yr old gelding i did not have him vetted.He then turned out to be a rigg with castration scar tissue. i looked into it in great detail and i could return him and get a full refund un der trading standards as not fit for purpose .As you probably can asyou brought a horse to ride and within 3/4 days you cant !!!!. you need to contact dealer though asap !!!or they will just say why didn't you contact sooner. they may be uncoorperative or very helpful. But i believe you have a week and most people would accept back if you stand your ground.Have you had its back looked at as can cause bad lameness :)
 
unless you can prove that the lameness is due to a prior condition, which the vendor knew about I don't think you are in a position to send her back/involve trading standards. It might be interesting to know why the vendor is suggesting it might be her back . . .

If the vet has recommended more of a work up nerve blocks aren't particularly expensive, the first set of blocks/xrays carried out on my boy were less than the excess on the insurance so not claimed for anyway.
 
Thank you everyone there has been some very useful suggestions! i am having her back checked tomorrow and the farrier is back at some point this week. i shall try a poltice on her and see how that goes. i would like to keep her if the problem isnt a major one that will cause problems for us in the future, so please dont think i am giving up on her totally :) i have had advice over the phone from 3 vets and have had 2 vets see her including the vetting, so actually only one vet while i have been there. she flexioned her, lunged on tight circle on a surface and on concrete and lunged normally on a surface, however she has not been back since the lameness has got worse. after the osteopath and the farrier have been out i will see how she is and maybe get the vet out again.

i am praying that it is an abscess and nothing wrong with her structurally :)
 
Let me add my 2 cent's worth. I think you make your case for returning the horse much weaker by not having been there at the vetting, but, in France, where I currently live you have 2 years in which to return the horse and it is up to the FORMER owner to prove the problem didn't pre-exist. Harsh but that's the way it is. Unfortunately I don't know the law in the UK but I would have thought the BHS have a legal department where you could get advice. Re the problem itself, to do a thorough lameness check she needs to be longed on hard ground in tight circles and straightlines at the walk and trot. Then the horse should be palpated by someone with experience. You will see very clearly where the lameness is particularly in tight circles on hard ground. The palpating should be able to confirm the longing results. Without seeing the horse it is impossible to say exactly what the problem is but I would put quite a lot of money on it being a soft tissue (probably muscular) problem and if she is only lame on the front leg when doing tight circles on hard ground then almost certainly the pectoral region. You need to find someone locally who can palpate the horse and provide a reliable diagnosis of the problem. If it is an ex-eventer then it is likely the horse has been through quite a lot and quite understandably carrying problems. Sorry not to be of more help but the problem you are experiencing is extremely common and it frustrates me that actually what is a fairly simple problem to diagnose is so poorly diagnosed so often.
 
Just to let everyone know the osteopath did some really good work with her, ATM she is sound (hurray!) and i am going to start bringing her back into work slowly/very slowly and see if it holds up. the osteo said she did have some problems in her left shoulder and right quarters, so he thinks it is muscular. so hopefully she is well on the way to being sound and in ridden work again :)
 
I'm glad getting her back done seems to have resolved this. I know new horse ownership is a very nervewracking time but don't be too quick to throw the towel in on the poor mare so soon. I know many people - myself included who have had various problems soon after getting their new horse home... it's all part and parcel of horse ownership unfrtunately and it should settle down ;)
 
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