Royal Vet College vs. Rossdales vs. Newmarket Equine Clinic

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FigMonster

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Hi,

My lovely youngster (just turning 5) is lame on both front feet (tested via nerve block) and has been for 4 weeks (on box rest). He has had his feet x-rayed with no sign of damage (other than his pedal bones being a bit flat to the sole of his feet). Our next step is to take him to one of the vet hospitals to get his feet MRI'ed. Which leads to my question - where should I take him for the MRIs/further examination?

He is covered by insurance (NFU). We live in Hertfordshire so our main options are the Royal Vet College, Rossdales or the Newmarket Equine Clinic. He hasn't traveled much in a lorry so I am not sure how well he will travel. I also would like to get this sorted out ASAP (and I have been told that there may be a 2 week wait for Rossdales although this hasn't been checked out for definite).

Any feedback will be really welcome as there are so many different options on our yard.
 
I have no experience of royal vet or Newmarket, but did have to take my boy for an MRI at rossdales last year, he had serious left fore lameness, with nothing showing on xrays, they got him in with about 2/3 days notice (cant remember exactly now as it was nearly 6 months ago) have also used Rossdales for xrays - took him down and had it done on the same day. give them a try - They've been great when Ive used them.
 
has the RVC got MRI now then?
i have been to Greenwood Ellis in Newmarket, studied at the RVC and recently my horse has been to Liphook. Personally I'd go Newmarket over the RVC because both my horses are seriously quirky and I dont want non-horsey vet students handling them. If no worries about that then i'd go RVC as their fees are normally a bit less so insurance money goes a bit further!
 
I don't believe the RVC has an MRI... unless they have got one in the last year or so... But i do really rate them - very thorough and nice proffessional people. I feel very lucky having it just down the road...

I have also heard good things about newmarket though
 
Newmarket Equine was Greenwood Ellis - they do a lot of racing work - Ian Wright is the big name there.

There's also Sue Dyson at the AHT- also Newmarket.

The big name at Rossdales is Andy Bathe, who people either love or hate - no in betweens really with him
 
For lameness I would recommend sue dyson at AHT. In terms of care I would also recommend AHT.

I took my youngster to rossdales for scintigraphy - first time at a vet hospital. The grooms were nice but he literally was shoved into a dark stable and I just had to wait til the vet turned up. I was so sad to leave him. When I came back the next day to pick him up his bed was filthy. I told them what he was fed etc but they literally had hi fi and mix. They also didn't say that they wanted a ridden assessment (he was only scheduled for scintigraphy not a lameness work up) so I didn't bring his tack but the vet I saw there said that he wanted to assess lameness before he would agree to the scintigraphy (which my normal vet had ordered) otherwise he would tell the insurance company that it. was unecessary! As I was 70 miles away I said there was no way oi was going back for the tack so vet said he would do the scintigraphy but if there was nothing found he would tell the insurance company that he hadn't advised scintigraphy! Admittedly that vet isn't there anymore (left last month) and I have heard that Andy Bathe is good but I just wouldn't go back to Rossdales.

Took same horse to AHT for MRI - on arrival his groom introduced himself, took notes about what he wanted to eat (they showed me their feed room and I could pick - they had all thebasics), immediately put him in a stable with a HUGE shavings bed and a massive pile of hay (very clean - and I have high standards) watched him roll and roll, then groomed him ready for the vet. Told me to go inside he would look after him, then tagged up all his stuff. When I came back he had chalked up all the stuff I had said about him on the little chalk board on his stable door. I was impressed and didn't worry at all for the week he was there. I rang and spoke to the groom everyday and he even took the phone out so I could hear him bashing about in stable chasing his treat ball.

I decided to pick him up at 10pm one night - on call vet was there to meet me, had sorted out hay for the journey home (completely forgot) and made sure all his tack etc were ready.

In terms of lameness sue dyson literally wrote the book. I wasted loads of time and money at rossdales, never again. SD is my first port of call now. Failing that I would go to RVC.
 
CBAnglo said:
Took same horse to AHT for MRI - on arrival his groom introduced himself, took notes about what he wanted to eat (they showed me their feed room and I could pick - they had all thebasics), immediately put him in a stable with a HUGE shavings bed and a massive pile of hay (very clean - and I have high standards) watched him roll and roll, then groomed him ready for the vet. Told me to go inside he would look after him, then tagged up all his stuff. When I came back he had chalked up all the stuff I had said about him on the little chalk board on his stable door. I was impressed and didn't worry at all for the week he was there. I rang and spoke to the groom everyday and he even took the phone out so I could hear him bashing about in stable chasing his treat ball.
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i had the same experience at Liphook recently. They even let me take a bag of my own feed so he didn't have any sudden diet changes so I took his special nuts as he cant have cereals but they had everything else he normally has i stock, even TopSpec balancer. They wrote down everything I said about all his little behavioural quirks, labelled all his rugs, even washed his Thermatex for me as he'd got all sweaty travelling in it. I left him there for 8days without visiting as I just felt happy they'd look after him. At Greenwood Ellis they were similar although there was no opportunity to bring his own feed and he got stuck on whatever they had.
 
CBFan said:
I don't believe the RVC has an MRI... unless they have got one in the last year or so... But i do really rate them - very thorough and nice proffessional people. I feel very lucky having it just down the road...

I have also heard good things about newmarket though
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They didn't when I had one done but my vet who's based there said they have installed one fairly recently.

If I was being really hard, if it is new how experienced are they yet at interpreting MRIs.

On the plus side, what I've like about the RVC is because they are a teaching hospital they are much more amenable to you hanging round for procedures and explaining what they are doing and why.
I found my horse got more stressed where i had the MRI done as they took him off me and sent me away really quickly whereas at the RVC they are always happy for me to hang around and make sure he is settled.

And when he has had to be hospitalised there, the equine techs were really nice and took time to listen to my advice on how to handle him and phoned me to give me updates on how he was.

The difference being I picked up a very unhappy stressed looking horse after his MRI whereas at the RVC he has made lots of new friends and almost seems sorry to leave.
 
Rossdales gets my vote every time. Really surprised that anyone has ever had a less than fabulous service from them. I did some placement with them and they are by far the most professional and through vet hospital - both to clients and behind the scenes... They really are (IMHO!) the best vet referal hospital.

That said, Sue Dyson is also a complete genius so AHT would also get the job done... BUT if it were MY horse, he'd be off to Rossdales in a flash!

Hope you get to the bottom of your problem
 
Thank you for all of your advice. I have checked out the websites of all of the options and they all have MRI (according to the RVC they have had an MRI scanner for horses' legs and feet since 2006?)

They all sound good. I think that the one thing tipping me towards the RVC is it is only 20 minutes drive away vs. an hour and a half to Newmarket (especially if my horse has to go in as an in-patient which the AHT website suggests will be the case). A friend of mine from our yard is also one of the equine tech's there and knows my horse well already.

Still all of this advice is really helpful so if you have more please send it. I am also planning to talk to my vet about it all (again) tomorrow morning and make a decision.
 
Mine was done as an outpatient - collected him 4 hours later which i much preferred.

RVC definitely didn't have an MRI that could be used on horses for standing MRIs in Oct 2008 - they wouldn't have sent me from Hertfordshire to Kent if they had.

I think they may have had a machine but it either wasn't in the equine dept or not positioned to be used on horses. However I was chatting to my vet just after Christmas this year and he told me they'd just installed one for horses.

The thing is once you've got the MRI, then you can get different opinions on it. I was given the original pictures.
 
Just another vote for Rossdales, I've had both my mare and her son go down, both for ops. The stables they both had were clean, with a window at the back too. I took my own feed and supps.
I think all places have horror stories, if you are unlucky. Mine at Rossdales with a few years apart were fine.
 
CBAnglo - for the record I would believe the reason your bone scan horse had a dirty bed is because no one is allowed to go into the scintigraphy overnight stables until the radioactive substance has deactivated (takes close to 48hrs I believe). Hence handling and mucking out of horses after scans is not done. Its the norm, not a sign of bad service. For the record I have no experience of any of those places but we use Newmarket Equine and from wht i hear it has a better reputation these days than Rossdales amongst vets - mainly as many dislike AB.
 
Newmarket Equine Hospital is my vet practice. Have only ever had great service and one of my lads was very well looked after when he had to go in.
 
Not a comment on any of the practices but is your horse shod? We had problems with a youngster going lame and nerve blocking showed it was in his feet. Many x-rays, nerve blocks later we were no closer to finding an answer.

My vet suggested putting shoes on him as a last ditch resort. My blacksmiths, who do all the remedial referal farriery in the area did not think it would make a difference as he has very good feet and leg confirmation. Much to our surprise it made an immediate difference and he has not been lame since. If he loses a shoe we know we cannot work him - even on a surface - until his shoe is back on.
 
I have had the most amazing experience from rossdales recently, my mare was reffered by my vet to go down the next day, but I was busy so asked if I could drop her off that afternoon, which was fine (wasnt expecting to see the vet just drop her off) when I got there I had 2 vets waiting, they listened to all my mares quirks and adjusted her treatment accordingly. They called as soon as anything was done and I felt fully informed, they tried to keep my bill down as much as possible by letting her home asap!

When I went to visit she was walking around not touching her hay and the groom came in with more hay commenting that my mare liked a specific one more and that she always made sure she had some in!

Im so glad I got sent there when I did they are amazing!!
 
My old boy has been to Rossdales a few times and I really rate them. The last time was the day before my Wedding day, suspected fracture where he kicked himself (I didnt invite him to wedding - oops!) the minute I unloaded him, they had him in for Xray, reassured me there were bone chips, nothing more, they then dragged me to the car and told me to get married!:) text me later in the day (after the nuptuals) to let me know he was OK. Brilliant.
 
glenruby said:
CBAnglo - for the record I would believe the reason your bone scan horse had a dirty bed is because no one is allowed to go into the scintigraphy overnight stables until the radioactive substance has deactivated (takes close to 48hrs I believe). Hence handling and mucking out of horses after scans is not done. Its the norm, not a sign of bad service. For the record I have no experience of any of those places but we use Newmarket Equine and from wht i hear it has a better reputation these days than Rossdales amongst vets - mainly as many dislike AB.
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No - the horse was being handled afterwards (he had further lameness exam) and also a ridden exam. They just didnt muck him out.

I do know about the 48 hr rule - thanks.
 
My horse was treated at Rossdales about 18 months ago and they were fantastic :) I would really rate them :)
 
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