Mildly lame, didn't pass vet check

Just thought I'd add this as my mares Hindleg lameness caused me lots of arguments last year :p
Mysti started to look a bit off to me when she was trotting around the field but everyone else said I was imagianing it :rolleyes: I thought it was maybe her back, decided after a few days to lunge her and a friend agreed she didn't look right finally but my mum still didn't see it and I still couldn't work out where the lameness was coming from but guessed hip / higher in the leg. I gave her a week off then lunged her again,
She was sound when the bad leg was on the outside but as soon as I changed the rein everytime she tried to extend that leg when trotting she nearly collapsed :( finally everyone else could see the lameness and vet came out to diagnose a slipping stifle and after a few weeks oil and gentle exercise she was sound again :)
Hindleg lameness is such a difficult one! But it would have been very dangerous if mysti was a riding pony as nobody would have been able to stay on when she started collapsing!!
 
Don't want to sound pessimistic but I'll share our unfortunate experience with you. We viewed a 5 yr old a couple of years ago, accompanied by a "knowledgeable" instructor. The vet failed him on the trot up but against his advice we bought him. After about six months I was watching him closely whilst my daughter rode him in the school and I noticed him ever so slightly dragging his off-hind. We took him to our vets who pronounced him 2/10 lame but we couldn't see it, our instructor couldn't see it and no-one at our yard could see it. After nerve-blocks and an ultra-sound he was diagnosed with OCD in his stifle. I wished I'd heeded the vet's advice - it was a very expensive mistake.
 
natalia said:
Not much would get past me with any type of lameness, sometimes on a good concrete surface the trick is to listen to the footfalls, any difference in pitch can indicate lameness. If you are then concerned lunging on the hard is a useful diagnostic test as it puts more pressure on the bad leg. Flexions will only tell you if the horse is stiff through the hock or fetlock, not any sort of minor soft tissue injury. I flexion only to get a further idea of where lameness could be. Get the farrier out, there could be a tiny amount of bruising to the foot or something else going on. A large percentage of lameness is foot or balance related (esp in cases where horse is very mildly lame. It could just be a mild knock. If the vet returns and still sees a mild lameness then if your still keen on the horse pay to have it nerve blocked and scanned.
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I am confident in a vet who can be confident of their diagnosis.
To lunge on a hard surface, I do not mean canter on concrete, I mean trot steadily on a hard surface, it will not hurt the animal, but is is essential to work on a true and level surface. To identify a horse with hind lameness is not as easy as front leg lameness, but if in doubt, some vets will say, unsound. It is up to the person who asked for the vetting to probe further. a five stage vetting is a standard vet check, but it is not a law.
 
Well my mum phoned the vet yesterday and she was told that he seemed stiff in his leg and possibly has arthritis. She has decided that she's going to take the horse back as she doesn't feel up to careing for a horse with a pre-existing condition. She's quite upset as she did really like this particular horse but she feels it wouldn't be a good idea to take him on :( There was a lot of interested parties trying to buy the horse but it was just luck that mum put an offer in first so I don't think there will be any trouble selling him on to someone else if he passes a vet check later.
Poor mum thinking about it kept her up most of the night trying to decide what to do.
Oh well lesson learned for the mothership - vet check first, payment after.
 
Just to add: the vetting is rarely a diagnosis of a problem, rather it is intended to be an opinion on the suitability of the horse for its intended purpose as seen on that day. That means that the vet will not have looked into the cause of the lameness, only pronounced the horse unfit for purpose because of it (this is what she was contracted to do). Normally if you like a horse that has failed a vetting you arrange with the owner for further exams to figure out what is going on. If it's something simple you re-vet and purchase, if it's something complicated, it's the owner's problem.

Not sure if this would work if you have already paid for the horse though so you might want to grab the opportunity to get your money back while you still have it!!
 
The vet's opinion is simply that, an opinion. You are under no obligation to agree with the opinion. Nor should you necessarily turn down a horse because it is seen to be 1/10th lame by one person. It all depends what you want the horse for, jobwise. General allrounder or topflight endurance, showjumper or endurance horse? Weekend hacks or 7 days a week ina riding school? Kept in or out? ridden at high level or low level?

Middleaged horses, like middleaged humans, can often have arthritic changes. This doesn't stop them being useful. It may well stop them passing a vetting. It may also mean they need a nice, thorough warm-up to get into their stride but you should do that anyway with horses or humans.

The only immediate downside about buying a horse with a 1/10th lameness is you won't be able to get insurance on that leg/foot. But then not everyone insures their horses anyway. If you don't, then it's not a consideration.
 
Suechoccy said:
The vet's opinion is simply that, an opinion. You are under no obligation to agree with the opinion. Nor should you necessarily turn down a horse because it is seen to be 1/10th lame by one person. It all depends what you want the horse for, jobwise. General allrounder or topflight endurance, showjumper or endurance horse? Weekend hacks or 7 days a week ina riding school? Kept in or out? ridden at high level or low level?

Middleaged horses, like middleaged humans, can often have arthritic changes. This doesn't stop them being useful. It may well stop them passing a vetting. It may also mean they need a nice, thorough warm-up to get into their stride but you should do that anyway with horses or humans.

The only immediate downside about buying a horse with a 1/10th lameness is you won't be able to get insurance on that leg/foot. But then not everyone insures their horses anyway. If you don't, then it's not a consideration.
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This a sensible post I have had several vet failures here they have done good jobs for us and both they and we had several years of fun before what the vet failed them for got them in the end.
I also bought another who was a complete disaster cost a fortune at the vets and was PTS within three months of us buying him you win some you lose some that was definatly a lose .
 
The vet has also said to my mum that she will not pass him now even if he was shown as sound in the next wee while. The YO thinks the vet said that because she said she was a bit rude to her (YO thinks she was rude to vet). I think thats a bit naughty of vet lady regardless of whether the YO was rude or not, that should not affect my mum or the horse :mad:
Previous owner has written paper to guarantee horse against arthritis for 2 years (if this happens mum will get her money back) so mum has gone ahead and kept him. I'm happy for her because she was really upset last night and is now smiling again.
 
Well the new boy is doing fine so far, everyone loves him coz he's soo pretty and he's got lovely manners.

He does a few lessons/treks out a week and he's looking after my mum really well on her weekly lesson. The mild lameness/arthritis the vet saw is still not apparent to anyone else, we had a different vet come out and check him over and she says he's sound.
 
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