More devastating news from Vets this week

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NELSON11

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My 5 yo who I have just spent £5k with a trainer on being backed/produced for 8 months was diagnosed with juvenile arthiritis in February, I collected him from the "professional" yard who had backed him as a 4 yo and immediately had him xrayed as I thought there was a problem. He was toe dragging and they admit they thought there was an issue (but didn't stop working him or bring it to our attention) until a week before I picked him up when they casually said " he feels a bit tight over his back" Too late then, damage was done. He had been there for 8 months.

6 months later and £4k in vets bills for hock injections/tildren/adequan and walking in a straight line, he has now had to be xrayed in front on Monday and we have received some even further bad news. He has an ocd chip in the left fetlock, changes in both coffin joints and navicular bones as well as the hock problems. Really cannot believe after waiting since this little man was born, it has come to this. Have looked after him like a king since he was a foal.

He is 17.2hh TBXWB who originally hopefully had a BE career ahead of him, now we have to take one day at a time.

Feel so low, like my whole dreams have just been shattered and have no idea what the future holds for my boy anymore. I am so angry and upset. And what annoys me the most is the yard suspected there may be an issue but chose to not raise it with me or our vet and carried on working him.
 
Owwww how awful :(
I feel so sorry for you it is so heartbreaking, especially when you have had them from a real baby.
My boy, who I bred, was nurtured and loved from day dot. I backed him, had him riding out beautifully and the he got kicked in the field (by another liveries horse who broke into my field). 3 years of love, care and money.............
I still have him but he has a severed tendon on his hind leg. He is able to be ridden and came back into work this summer - but I doubt he will stand up to any serious work :(
Is there anything they can do for him?
 
Oh my gosh Nelson poor you. Have read a couple of your posts re this boy and feel so sorry for you and him. It must be so hard for you not to be fuming with the yard that had him, but I guess by the time the problem showed outwardly the damage was already done. Does highlight a warning to those of us with big young horses though. Thoughts are with you for Monday.
 
Trouble4125 said:
by the sounds of things this would have happened if you backed the horse yourself- Hopefully you can get some pennies back through insurance.
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I agree - but it is a shame that you were not told of any problems prior to collecting the horse - especially as they must have been updating you on his progress during the past 8 months.

You must be understandably very upset - and I do hope that there is some positive news further down the line for you.
 
NELSON11 said:
Feel so low, like my whole dreams have just been shattered and have no idea what the future holds for my boy anymore. I am so angry and upset. And what annoys me the most is the yard suspected there may be an issue but chose to not raise it with me or our vet and carried on working him.
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I am so, so sorry for your news hun as I said previously. I really love your boy to bits, having been there at all his 'big events' through his life, and following him throughout from when he first arrived as a little dot to the big strapping lad he is today.

However, I have to admit I can't help feeling like Trouble 4125 that it would have come to this anyway, whoever had backed him, if its there its going to show problems sooner or later, but I agree that maybe they should have let you know a little sooner. I suspect they didn't realise that the problem was of any significance or maybe the message didn't get relayed for other reasons. Who knows. But that's no help to you or your lad. You deserve an explanation which hasn't been forthcoming and I think that coupled with the diagnosis of your lovely lad has been a very hard cross to bear and I feel for you, I really do.

Its amazing that on speaking recently to two show jumpers whom you could class as semi professional, have both never heard of bone spavin, and actually refer to it as bone 'spasm' when saying the word. I think this shows a certain degree of ignorance on the part of their knowledge base. They maybe able to present a horse to a fence on a correct stride, and perfect a perfect jump off technique but they have absolutely no idea what a navicular bone is, or how to take a temperature! Guess that's what the grooms are for. Their lack of knowledge certainly could have been a contributing factor in continuing to work with your horse, rather than analyse the situation and think 'no lets stop here and evaluate the situation, I'm not happy with how tight this horse is over his back'. I'm not trying to stick up for them and I can understand how hurt you must feel and I am truly sorry. You have a lot of good friends at the yard who will always be there for you whatever problems you are presented with, in the future with your lovely horse. xxxxx
 
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I am sorry Nelson, such a shame when you had invested so many dreams and money in him.
Did you not notice though when watching him work yourself at their yard him dragging a toe?
Surely in 8 months you must have seen him ridden?
They should I agree have mentioned it to you and asked what you wished to do about it, but I would also question how he was kept if I were you. Was he turned out or stabled the majority of the time? We firmly believe navicular is often caused by hours stood in stables, when they should be out and moving about especially when young.
The other contributing factor may be his size, horses this tall do sometimes seem to get problems as youngsters I'm afraid, we bred one years ago by a Dutch warmblood and it ended up with similar problems aged 6 and was euthanised. The dam went on to have numerous healthy foals but never as big, and that foal was stabled a lot of it's life too.
In your shoes I am afraid I'd forget any competitive plans and start again (yes I know that's tough) he should be sound enough as a general hack but very much doubt he would stand up to eventing. If you carry on you may end up throwing money at him with constant injections yet never really get his true potential out of him because of his problems.
I wish I could do more than commiserate, you must feel devastated I'm sure, there is nothing quite like horses for pulling you down to the bottom is there?
The other thing I will say is years ago before XRays etc many horses would end up being turned away for a year to see if things might settle down, perhaps doing that could give you an idea of what he will be fit for in time.
 
What a horrendous situation to find yourself in. I can't believe the yard never noticed it. Do you have your own land? If so I would be turning out for a year or two and seeing what happened. Nothing else I can say really but sorry for you x x
 
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