OMG. Can't believe a vet said it was ok to...................................

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LauraWheeler

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..................... Leave a horse stabled and only see to it once a day :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I have a low opinion of this vet practice* anyway but it just sunk even lower :mad: Luckly I got a phone call from the owner of this horse and once the shock of what she had said the vet had told her wore off I told her this was in no way exceptable. A stabled horse needs seeing to more than once a day.

I just can't believe a vet would suggest such a thing. I asked the owner if she was shore that was what the vet had said and she was :mad:

All that time at vet school and they don't even know about basic horse welfaire :mad: :mad: :(

*I will not name this practice or the vet involved on a public forum and please even if you can guess who the vets are don't post names on here either I don't want to get into trouble and don't want to get anyone else in trouble. ;)
 
If the vet's knowledge and experience is so much in question wouldn't it be useful for people in your area to know who it was?

Clearly it isn't ok to just visit once a day, I take it your friend knew this herself if she is a horse owner....?
 
No the vet knows full well the horses live in a field, with two stables where the house is a holiday home. The owners live in london and I am paid to go and check them once a day when the owners arn't around. Not Ideal but they normaly live out 24/7, but horse has had a foot abcess so has been in. This was fine as the owners have been down for xmas. They go back in a couple of days and the horse can't go back out till she has a shoe back on and the farrier is away.
I have told the owner if the horse is still in when they go back I will need to go twice a day.
 
I despair at vets, I have a horse that started napping, got vet to check him she gives him the all clear and says when he naps bring him straight home and tie his head to the right (as he always went left), he'll soon learn. Of course I didn't do this and decided to take the pressure off and just do some really light hacking with him and start working him properly in the spring. Took his shoes off and you know he hasn't napped once since then. I always thought it was a pain response and I am really upset that the vet dismissed this poor horse as an ar$3hole.
 
Scrooge thats awful. I'm glad you are getting your boy sorted now.
The vets round here would have had him in for every test under the sun. They often diagnose things that arn't even wrong. The just love making as much money as poss. Especialy if you use the magic I word ;) :rolleyes:
 
Could this be a case of "Chinese Whispers" where the vet actually said that the poultice only needs to be changed once a day, and this was taken as visiting once a day???
 
Could it be that the owner only wants to pay you to go once a day and used the 'vet said so...' line to try to convince you
 
This to me sounds like the owners going back to London did not want to put an added pressure on you -they were telling you this to keep you on side - not that they would need to do this.... but they may be trying to ease the pressure they feel they are putting on you?
 
EllenJay the poltice is off now I think just waiting for shoe to go back on.

fatpony don't think so. She has paid me for two visits before when the trough needed breaking morning and night and when they needed feeding twice a day. The owner seemed shocked by what the vet had said to.
 
It is always difficult to know what has actually been said when you are hearing a conversation second hand. It may have been taken out of context.
 
fatpony said:
Scrooge... that is the most ridiculous cure for napping I have ever heard.
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Which one, vet's cure or mine? :D

OP would it be worth calling the vet practice and explaining to them the horse needs seeing more than once a day, if they genuinely don't know then you could be helping future pones....
 
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But many vets are not horsemen first and foremost, so it doesn't actually surprise me. They are trained to fix the bits that go wrong, not to care for horses on a daily basis beyond the absolute necessities.
 
This is an equine practice, that also takes horses in for treatment.

Scrooge I'll get the owner of the horse to give them a ring and say she was surprised at the advice she was given. I don't use this vet practice and would probably loose my rag with them anyway (LLOOOOOOOONG story :( ) As she is a client and the one the advice was given to it may be best coming from her.
 
Why is checking a horse once a day in stable worse than checking it once a day in a field? As long as water and hay are provided in such a way that it is unlikely to tip the water up and run out of hay quickly then surely it is less likely to come to harm in a stable than in a field?

Of course this is not an ideal solution nor should it be vets advice, but if you think it through how is it really worse?
 
Burtie the same thing occurred to me too. I know lots of people who only check their field kept horses once a day. Horses are far more likely to get into mischief in a field than they are in a stable tbqh.
 
My horse is stabled and I only see him once a day. Make sure he has plenty of hay/ feed and water and my yard owner gives him an evening feed.
 
ktj1891 said:
My horse is stabled and I only see him once a day. Make sure he has plenty of hay/ feed and water and my yard owner gives him an evening feed.
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The once a day is the only time it will see a person. They are kept on private land, there is no yard owner!

burtie said:
Why is checking a horse once a day in stable worse than checking it once a day in a field? As long as water and hay are provided in such a way that it is unlikely to tip the water up and run out of hay quickly then surely it is less likely to come to harm in a stable than in a field?

Of course this is not an ideal solution nor should it be vets advice, but if you think it through how is it really worse?
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You can't tell a horse it's hay has to last it 24 hours unless I gave her a whole bale she would be out of hay fairly quickly. Good way to make a horse colic or give it alsers leaving it with nothing to eat for hours! Atleast in the field she has grass to eat. And isn't stood in her own poo and pee for 24 hours. Out in the field she gets moister from grass if the worst should happen to her trough but in the stable there is no other water supply if she drank it all or did manage to tip it up.
I personly don't like checking the horses once a day even if they are out in the field.
 
Cortez said:
But many vets are not horsemen first and foremost, so it doesn't actually surprise me. They are trained to fix the bits that go wrong, not to care for horses on a daily basis beyond the absolute necessities.
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Lets side with the vets ho ho ho ............ there are very few horsemen around the country, never mind vets,, but obviously the stable needs cleaned, hay and water and so on, never ever in my life have I not checked stabled horses twice a day. I found my boy with leg wrapped round his rug one day, no one else had "noticed" tho he was in an obvious place, another day he was stuck in a fallen tree, pretty much invisible, it was summer and he might have been there overnight if I had not gone looking for him. He was shouting on me when I called.
All vets should know what are the welfare needs of a horse, but their own needs for paying clients often come first.
 
ktj1891 said:
My horse is stabled and I only see him once a day. Make sure he has plenty of hay/ feed and water and my yard owner gives him an evening feed.
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He should be mucked out twice a day and water refreshed, I may have two water buckets if stable is not large, as he can poop in one.
and what about exercise, presumably he should be out every day.
 
Wow, i just think of my stableds routines (i work with them)
We have breakfast, morning hay, water and muck out. Lunchtime hay and water top up. If i see muck it gets picked up asap before it gets mixed in. Evening hay, tea, water top ups, muck out. I wait until all have finished tea now after finding a choke in the morning. Then one last muck out/ water top up and feed buckets out (after i had a horse open his fetlock joint from kicking a bucket). Once a day, i wish!
 
If you give tonnes of hay and plenty of water then it's not really the crime of the century if you only saw a stabled horse once a day.......not ideal and have never done it with mine but wouldn't really bother me if others decided to do it.
 
As well as getting cast, it is impossible to set up a water supply in a stable which the horse cannot poo in. Horse poos in water, doesn't drink, eats dry hay, has no movement. Bingo. Horse dead of impaction colic before you get there the next day.

I despair of modern horse ownership if anyone thinks it is acceptable to lock a horse in a cage and leave it there for 23 hours or more without being looked at.
 
Vieshot - and anyone else who thinks the idea is remotely acceptable you must be living in cuckoo land. The thought leaves me cold, water issues, movement issues, casting, catching a rug..... Endless issues. Horses need to be checked on twice a day minimum, that goes for field or stabled.
 
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