Normal vet or specialist vet?

Sheep

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I just typed this out and the page reloaded and deleted everything.. great!

We have been having a few issues with our big lad, he’s been off now for about a month. Initially thought he had jarred his fetlock messing about in field (it all coincided with a pulled shoe and a decent amount of damage to hoof). Initially rested, cold hosed etc but after about two weeks without much change we booked in with vet.

Horse trotted up looking quite good, lameness very slight but still there, looked good on circle on hard but slightly lamer on the lunge on surface. Wasn’t reactive to palpation of soft tissues although there’s a bit of swelling etc. X-rays looked good so vet advised further rest for 2 weeks, and to continue with cold hosing & icing.

Fast forward to Monday and we got back on board. Still not right so - looks great without rider! - we have booked in with regular vet again (due to go next week). A non-practicing vet we know had a very brief look and their feeling was that scanning would be their next move. At this stage we (OH and I) are thinking likely soft tissue injury but obviously we are not experts!

Anyway, we have the vet booked next week but have also now been given the opportunity to go and see a soft tissue specialist vet at another location, also next week. Our regular vet has only seen this horse once before so doesn’t know him particularly well.

Do we:

A) go to regular vet - we don’t have a diagnosis yet anyway - and see what they think

B) go to specialist - if our feeling is correct, they are probably best placed to deal with the issue. If it isn’t appropriate for them to treat, we can rebook regular vet

C) go to both appointments, but put off any treatments at regular vet until after seeing specialist

Seeing it written down, it seems verrrrry obvious but any wisdom would be appreciated.
 

milliepops

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Sorry you're still struggling with this, it's so disheartening when they are not right.

I am with a big equine practice. FWIW for anything non-emergency i always book to see someone with a special interest in whatever the problem is. Even if it turns out that we're barking up the wrong tree, they are still a fully qualified vet so can do the rest anyway ;)
 

lme

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Specialist vet. Our GP vets are great but for anything that needs investigation, we take ours to the clinic. Its much easier, they get seen by a specialist and and they have access to better equipment. Its also way more cost effective.
 
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