Leahurst / Equine Hospital Experiences?

starryeyed

starryeyed

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Evening all,
My mare has been booked into Leahurst for investigations following mystery back pain & severe ridden issues. I'm not sure how long she'll be there at the moment - was expecting a day trip but sounds a bit as if she will be there for a week :eek3:

I've never sent a horse to hospital before so am very worried about it and not at all sure what to expect... I assume they have visiting hours and that the horses are stabled 24/7, but as she is such a complete stress-head I would want to be there if at all possible as although I know they are all experienced proefssionals, I think a familiar face may help her a little. She is sadly not good with any slight change of routine and when we bought her off a big yard she was literally climbing the walls and lathered in sweat every time we saw her, and you could see each rib as she refused to eat anything! So am really not looking forward to sending her to somewhere similar as I know she will not cope with the environment at all well - though it is something that has to be done as this has been going on for too long and we need to find out what is wrong. :frown3:

For those of you who have had the unfortunate experience of sending a horse to hospital, could you please tell me a little more about how everything works and a bit more of what to expect? - particularly anyone who has used Leahurst (please put my mind at ease!)

Thank you x
 
Please don't worry, I also have a real stress head with huge separation anxiety issues who frets if his routine changes. He didn't go to Leahurst but has had a couple stays in hospital and was fine.
The atmosphere was very calm and they even had a model horse poking it's head out of an empty stable so they were all fooled into thinking there was always a next door neighbour. I couldn't believe him when we picked him up, usually he's head out, hopping about and stressy but he was quietly dozing in the back of his box -no, he hadn't been sedated! Oh and the girls had given him a super grooming too, he looked far cleaner than when he went in.
I'm sure yours will cope better than you think, he will be in safe hands.
 
My girl has had numerous stays in hospital (TB - need I say more?). She had one stay of nearly three months at Edinburgh Dick Vet school, a further two weeks later in the year and then another week there and also a week at Glasgow. They are clinically clean as you would expect, but very quiet and the staff who look after them are good. My mare is a real stresser and had no problems at all. After her three month stay she came home looking like a neglect case she was so thin. But she had been very very poorly so it wasn't the fault of the hospital. Don't worry, your horse will be in good hands. :)
 
I've no experience of Leahurst but my lad has had two stays at Rainbow equine hospital in Malton and they looked after him superbly.

He's not a stress head at all and will settle anywhere where there's food but I deliberately made a point of not going to see him, even though I could have gone at anytime (within reason).

I know that sounds heartless but, to me, I figured it would be worse for him to see me there, then walk away and leave him. That was just my personal choice though.

Try not to worry, they really are well looked after.
 
My girl has had a stay at Leahurst and I found it a relaxed, calm atmosphere and my girl settled quickly. The staff are very good and observant so they will take good care of her. Yes you can visit almost any time within reason providing you let them know you are going.

Hope they find out what's bothering her.
 
I've had two stay at leahurst, first one was for colic surgery, he made a full recovery and they followed up on a regular basis for the next 12 months, the second was my stress head of a mare when she was a 2year old. She stayed a week, she was fab very calm atmosphere and they really looked after her. the staff andvets were lovely with me too. My gelding had colic a week after I lost my dad, so I was a little fragile to say the least, but they were lovely, and I would highly recommend. I'm sure you're mare will be fine, and I hope they get to the bottom what's wrong and you get a speedy recovery.
 
She may surprise you. Horses often settle better in new environments, especially if every other horse is kept in and it's all different from the normal yard routine. If she is seriously upset, it is a vet hospital so they will be able to give her something to calm her down! You may want to consider not visiting at all because she may get more wound up seeing you.
 
My last horse was in Leahurst for almost three weeks. I had regular updates and went to visit when I could. He was walked out in hand by the students and looked after really well - can't praise them highly enough.
 
My boy went to leahurst (about 3 hours away from us) and they took great care of him, I couldn't visit as he was in isolation due to the op he was having, the facilities and care are lovely. He can be stress head but settled very quickly and they were easy to get hold of for an update if I needed one :)
 
I had a pony in Rainbow Equine at Malton for a week Due to back problems and bolting.
They looked after him brilliantly and he settled beautifully, he was a stress head at new yards but very quickly had all the staff wrapped around his pretty little hoof!
He refused to load on the way home! it is the only time he has ever refused to load!
 
I can't commment on experiences of having my horse visit hospital, but just wanted to say that i hope everything runs smoothly for you and your mare starryeyed. Judging my the above posts, all the experiences have been very good ones, so i hope they put your mind at rest a little..xx

I have made a few trips (on behalf of other horse owners to Leahurst for owners who had no transport) and i can only echo the comments made as regards the vets and staff that are resident there in that they were A+ in all respects.

I know on one particular trips at 11pm at night that i made with a colicky horse for their owner, they were superb as he'd been sedated for the trip and as we were about 10 minutes away from leahurst, it was pretty obvious he was coming out of that sedation (as he was a very bad traveller). They dealt with him very well as he was in alot of pain. Actually i too was in horrendous pain as i had, what turned out to be a tooth abcess and i literally was swigging paracetamol crushed up into a drink of 7 UP all the way down...it was agony, but all i could think of was i needed to get this horse to hospital.. The vet nurse gave me some painkillers when i arrived too!!... i was very thankful of that medication i can tell ya.

I hope all goes well Starryeyed.. xx
 
I can echo all the above about Leahurst they are professional, clean , calm and helpful. The yard doesnt feel huge at all. The students will groom and walk out in hand to the paddocks for grass (if the horses are allowed grass). The students i met were all lovely, really give the horses in their care a fuss and really care for them.

Then there is the sexy fernando (resident vet)...swoon....
 
Have had two horses at leahurst
Try not to worry your horse will be in good hands.
There is a very calm atmosphere and the staff are very professional and caring. There are lots of students to help with routine care.
Hope you have a good outcome.
 
I'm sure your horse will be in good hands and settle well in to the very calm atmosphere, but personally I wouldn't have another of mine go there ever again if there was an alternative. I've found that with emergency operations the service is wonderful, but with diagnostic referral cases there is a lot to be desired and communications are hopeless.

If you are insured up to £5K you will probably find that the diagnosis and on-site treatment costs precisely £4,999. This matters even though your insurance pays it, because whatever follows in terms of on-going treatment will be at your own expense.

When you query the relevance of some of the diagnostic tests - expensive tests for exotic diseases on a horse that has never left the country, or procedures designed to give experience to student vets and that you KNOW are a complete red herring, you will be treated as though you are an idiot. These irrelevant tests rack up the insurance claim and provide non-routine experience for students, and you have no input about whether or not they happen.

When you are promised test results for a certain day and take time off work to travel up there, don't expect the results to be available or to be able to speak to anyone about it. No-one on the phone or in reception knows ANYTHING, except what to put on your bill. Expect to get fobbed off day after day while the bill racks up. Never expect to speak to a vet at your own convenience - they are always 'in meetings' and will call you back when you are yourself in a meeting. This means they can tick you off the list without having to speak to you. When they promise to call at 5pm, expect to have have to call them at half past and find they've gone home. Don't expect them to chase up test results for you - they arrive when they arrive even if your horse is declining by the hour. When, in desperation, you camp out outside the vet's meeting room, so that you can try to get some real information, expect to be fobbed off by a student. Sit it out. The senior vet will finally appear on his way to his car and will promise faithfully that your test results will be available before 5pm the next day. Of course, they aren't, but it gets rid of you for now. Oh, and still no-one can tell you whether they are back or not, so you risk another wasted journey.

When, after several weeks and £5K, you have had enough of the complete lack of communication, expect Security to lock the gates when you go to collect your horse. In the stress of everything you've overlooked a small balance on your bill and don't have your purse on you. You're not allowed to leave, so be prepared to call the police to release you from false imprisonment.

Finally, when all your insurance money is spent, when all the teaching and learning possible has been extracted from your horse's case, you might get told what you knew all along.

IMO it is all about the university's main objectives of teaching, learning, research and income generation. Customer care and communication are very much secondary; most communication is with student vets who can't actually tell you anything, and the promised daily calls frequently don't happen. Anything that is non-routine is an interesting research opportunity for the team and this takes precedence over your need for information. The admin team know exactly where your tests are when it comes to billing you before results are back, but they have no idea which test/lab/vet/result back/ turnaround time, etc at any other time. Senior vets have impossible workloads and no time for you, but student vets - as nice as they are - can't tell you anything other than platitudes, "He's still very poorly." Oh? But I thought he was there for a holiday!

Never again.
 
Ive had 3 there now sadly!

2 were emergencies, 1 not so much!

They are great when dealing with them...very professional - I dealt with fernando and sarah mack most recently and both were great even with my million questions i had!...

Ive never had an issue with them...

:)
 
McCauley said:
Jeeeez....you had one heck of a rough time LinzyD... that's sounds like a nightmare. Im very sorry to have read that you went through all that.
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I think a lot depends on the particular senior vet involved in your case. I've heard great things about Fernando, but the vet on my horse's case was very difficult to deal with. Which senior vet you get is of course related to the particular circumstances of the case and the specialisms of the individual vets. For me, it was the worst three weeks of my life and the very worst thing about it was the total lack of information; it was almost as though they wanted to avoid saying anything because there wasn't anything good to say. As a well-informed, articulate and intelligent owner I expected to be able to have a dialogue about the symptoms, the possible causes, the most relevant tests and a realistic indiation of the the timeframe for results, but it was like I'd handed over control and the case had nothing to do with me.
 
I had my mare at Cotts in quarantine for a week. At home she got very stressy when on her own and suffered from separation anxiety. She couldn't be turned out because she had EHV-1, she was fine, perfectly happy on her own, non stressy and came home without the separation anxiety :)
 
I have had one horse at Leahurst twice, different conditions.

I have had a different horse at Rainbow Equine even though it is further for me to travel.

I would choose Rainbow over Leahurst every time.
I had a very comprehensive report and fittening schedule from Rainbow that I am able to show physio, farrier etc.
I got diddly squat from Leahurst even though the horse had a fractured skull!
 
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deb_l222 said:
I've no experience of Leahurst but my lad has had two stays at Rainbow equine hospital in Malton and they looked after him superbly.

He's not a stress head at all and will settle anywhere where there's food but I deliberately made a point of not going to see him, even though I could have gone at anytime (within reason).

I know that sounds heartless but, to me, I figured it would be worse for him to see me there, then walk away and leave him. That was just my personal choice though.

Try not to worry, they really are well looked after.
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I agree with this, my mare went for an eye OP at Minster, and I deliberately did not visit. I called every day for an update.

When we went to fetch her we were supposed to visit her, then go and pay the bill, then go back and dress her and box her up to go home. I walked to the stable, she saw me and that was it, Amber was COMING with me, and was COMING now. I think if we had left to pay the bill she would have broken right out of the door!

We dressed and loaded her, then she stood on her own lorry all contented while we paid up.

I dread to think what would have happened if we had just visited and then left again.
 
I would agree with others about not visiting.

I always personally tell the vets in writing what tests I want doing, and how much they have to spend on diagnosis. I've had a bad experience with vets (not leahurst) milking my insurance for every last penny
 
In the past 30 years I have dealt with 5 Equine hospitals.

The first one was the Royal Dick. I transported a mare that had Grass Sickness all the way from Berkshire to The college. At the time The Royal Dick was the only vet hospital that dealt with Grass Sickness. The journey was long and slow and we arrived late at night. We were welcomed by the senior vet who was polite and helpful ,even rang a local guest house for us. The owner was kept informed about the progress of her horse. Unfortunately the mare did not make it.

The second was a trip to the Royal Veterinary Collage at South Mimms. My then Yard Owner had a horse with a fractured pedal bone. We went up several times for x-rays and remedial shoeing. They were always very helpful.

The second was when my own Stallion went into Scott-Dunns in Wokingham, Berkshire, for an operation. I found the treatment very good. The vets very helpful and I was able to visit when I wanted to, within reason.

In resent months I have had to have a Mare in Donnington Grove (Newbury) for an MRI, again I could not fault the services I had.

I have transported my friend gelding to Scott-Dunns where he had an operation. We were allowed to visit him when we wanted to. I have taken my friends Stallion ,as an emergency to Donnington Grove where they treated him with great care, she was kept informed of any tests they did and his progress even gave us help to loaded him when I collected him. While in Donnington as part of his illness he became blind (It did resolve itself) and we think he was worried about going into an enclosed space. One of the vets sedated him but assured us that he would be safe to travel.

The last time (Last Year) I also took my friends gelding to Liphook, again as an emergency . He was used as a blood donor for another friends Mare. The vets were helpful and explained what they were doing and again kept her informed of progress. I was able to take the gelding home the same night. he had done his job.

I have never had a bad experience with any of the Vet Hospitals I have dealt with.

I think because I was in the Medical profession and was nosey about what goes on and how things work ,that I have been able to understand the treatment etc that each horse has had.

In the last three years I have also had to deal with the Small animal practice at the Royal Veterinary College at South Mimms. My Little dog spent three days in the Queens Building Small Animal Hospital. The vets could not have been more helpful.

When ever I have had to have either my horses or my dog in they have dealt with the insurance company direct.

I think sometimes it is the way you approach them.

I have also had dealings with Liphook when another friends horse spent a while in there having a major operation on his shoulder and she had to take him backwards and forwards many times for check ups and physiotherapy. I got to know the staff quite well.

I also have had dealings with Liphook when my little |new Forest mare was desperately ill and we could not take her there. I need blood results asap and they were so helpful in getting the results to me quickly.

When it comes to test and investigations I think you have to keep a good eye on what they are doing. I also think you need to keep a good eye on insurance companies that they pay out what they should. I have had more trouble with insurance companies than I have ever had from Vet Hospitals.
 
My mare went to leahurst last year for an operation. I found the staff to be competent, attentive and informative. The care the horses get is really good. Yes sometimes I had to ring a few times to speak to the vet but actually they mostly rang me. I did visit every 2 or 3 days and it worked ok for me. I wanted scarlet to know I was still around as she had her last owner for 14 years so coming to me was a big change and I didn't want her to think she'd moved again. She settled really well and I used to ring up every day at 10ish to hear the receptionist read off a sheet of paper what kind of night my horse had. Yes it was a bit samey but it was something to let me know she was ok! Fernando did scarlet surgery, did a fabulous job, and as others have pointed out he he a bit gorg....swoon!!! If nothing else it's worth going to leahurst just to meet him!!! :-)
 
No experience with Leahurst, but have had two in Liphook for different things, one of which is a real stress head. They were both looked after superbly, the stresshead was completely calm and coped far better than I expected, and the staff were really understanding. The vets always phoned to update me on the day they said they would - yes, sometimes it was a bit late but they had to fit me in round other commitments. Please don't worry - I am sure your horse will be absolutely fine.
 
My mare went to Leahurst last year for an operation and stayed in for a week then 10 days later was rushed back in fighting for her life and stayed in for 11 days before coming home and i can honestly not fault one thing about Leahurst at all. The yard is tidy,clean and the vets,nurses and students were all amazing. My horse looked immaculate when i went to see her the 2nd time she was in and i arrived 20mins before visiting time and found my mare in an extremely clean stable and groomed to perfection. They rang me every evening without fail and kept me fully updated with her progress. I stayed on het 1st day there to watch the initial consultation even though i knew she would be there at least 3 days and they handled her without an issue (shes a complete bag for me at home lol!) All in all i cannot fault them. They were professional,helpful,kind and even when i rocked up with a dying horse at 2am in the morning,they were brilliant and did their job perfectly and looked after me (i was a complete wreck as you can imagine!). I wouldnt hesitate to send my horse back to Leahurst and cant praise them enough for the care of my mare xx
 
LinzyD said:
I think a lot depends on the particular senior vet involved in your case. I've heard great things about Fernando, but the vet on my horse's case was very difficult to deal with. Which senior vet you get is of course related to the particular circumstances of the case and the specialisms of the individual vets. For me, it was the worst three weeks of my life and the very worst thing about it was the total lack of information; it was almost as though they wanted to avoid saying anything because there wasn't anything good to say. As a well-informed, articulate and intelligent owner I expected to be able to have a dialogue about the symptoms, the possible causes, the most relevant tests and a realistic indiation of the the timeframe for results, but it was like I'd handed over control and the case had nothing to do with me.
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who did you see?

pm if preffered...

ive dealt with several diff complains including orthopedics -
 
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It was hard to know what they were doing in our case or to give instructions about which tests to do/not do because it was so hard to get to speak to the treating vet, and because I had no prior experience of this sort of condition. While my horse was being admitted a higher priority emergency case arrived and I was asked to sign a form to consent to any tests and treatment the hospital deemed necessary and go away, so there was no opportunity to discuss anything whatsoever. The other case was a newborn foal and although my horse had collapsed while I was riding him a few hours previously, the fact that he was by this point standing up and looking fine, meant I had no hesitation in allowing the foal to take priority. From that point on it seemed that my horse was constantly de-prioritised because he looked so well, and tests that should have been done were delayed, students did their lessons with him because he was such a good patient, unnecessary procedures were performed, and results were allowed to linger at the lab - the vets kept saying that they couldn't rationalise the way he looked so well with the fact that his bloods were indicating otherwise. It turned out that he had advanced Lymphoma and the test that proved that could have been done within 48 hours rather than 3 weeks. Within a few days of him being admitted I had already come to that diagnosis myself through researching his symptoms, but I just kept getting told that he looked too well on the outside. I tried being patient and understanding; I tried being assertive and well-prepared; I tried complying with procedures; and I tried challenging those procedures, but ultimately the communications were abysmal and my horse and I were terribly let down. I know this is a very untypical experience, and we've previously had good experiences with orthopaedic operations at Leahurst. Do I sound bitter? You bet I am bitter. My horse could have spent his final three weeks at home in the orchard with the sun on his back (it was glorious weather) rather than cooped up, practised on by students, nothing happening for day after day while tests got lost in the system. I'm just glad that I horse-napped him out of there when I did and that he was able to be PTS in his orchard when the errant test results did finally materialise. I did get a bungled apology for the catalogue of communication failures and the fact that they had been misled somewhat by the horse's outward appearance, but I had already been to hell and back by then.
 
noodle_ said:
who did you see?

pm if preffered...

ive dealt with several diff complains including orthopedics -
Click to expand...

Noodle, I can't remember - which speaks volumes in itself!!! You would think that after three weeks of looking after my horse I would remember the treating vet's name if that person had communicated as often as they should have. Not Fernando, not Prof K, both of whom I have dealt with prior to this. I will check my records tomorrow. I did think about filing a complaint at the time, but I came to the conclusion that it wouldn't bring my horse back and would just perpetuate the agony. My issue is not that the horse was lost; the disease was untreatable. The issue was the recurrent delays, the tardy test results, the lack of communication, the fobbing off, the refusal to discuss possible causes and therefore explore signs and symptoms with me that may have pointed to a cause, and the lack of engagement by the senior vet, who actually stated quite unequivocally that he was finding his workload untenable at the time.
 
I should also say that while the vets were being baffled about how well my horse (pony actually) looked they didn't seem to take me seriously when I tried to explain that he didn't just walk out of the field looking like that... I tried to explain that he was in full competition condition, groomed, strapped and polished every day without fail, fed high quality supplements and oils, on a very high plane of nutrition for an animal of his size, and on a very controlled regime of multi-disciplinary exercise. He'd just been featured in the H&H for scoring perfect 10s at dressage and he'd also just qualified for the Horse of the Year Show, but they didn't seem to take any of that in and think, "Well here is a native pony that is being looked after like an Olympic dressage horse, so maybe we should ignore how well he looks because any horse would look well on that level of production." They just kept saying, "But he's so shiny, and so toned, it's hard to believe there's anything seriously wrong," and not probing the fact that it was taking twice as much graft and feed to keep him like that than it had the year before.
 
LinzyD, your experience sounds absolutely horrendous, what a complete nightmare. So very sorry to hear about your horse and everything you went through, must have been a hellish few weeks for you - and completely understand why you would never want to use them again, just awful. :frown3:
Thanks so much for your kind words everyone... at least I know a bit more about what to expect now, and good to hear that most experiences have been positive ones and that some stressheads do cope with it all. Will keep everything crossed & certainly try my best to keep on top of things so that her stay doesn't drag on, I want her out of there ASAP! Annoyingly work wont allow me to take time off due to everyone else in the office suddenly booking holiday for that weekend so don't think I will be able to visit her anyway, will be an awful few days for me as I'm ridiculously attached to that horse and it will be so quiet at home without her - but possibly best for her to not see me come and go, I hadn't really considered that aspect but it does make sense. Hopefully she will just be there for a long weekend & able to come back home quickly. Thanks again everybody x
 
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