Shetland Foal 2020

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No name yet and wont get one for a while. He is a dummy foal. He's not extreme. He is lethargic, uncoordinated and not managing to feed too well. He gets up and down, searches for food and toddles about but isn't with it as such. We are trying to get him to feed consistantly from a bottle.

Eta just managed to get him to have a proper, proper feed from his mum after reminding him how to suck on a bottle.
 
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He is a LOT more awake today! Still not 100% with it but improving all the time so I wouldn't say he is out of the woods yet but his future is certainly looking a lot brighter!

I would now say he is a little slow, a little unbalanced and clumsy but I wouldn't call him unco-ordinated any more. He found his legs and tried some zoomies this morning! A few resulted in him head butting a wall or his mother a few times but he managed to stop before he hit something with others ??? he is getting a bit of character too now and stomped a front foot at me when I stopped scratching him! He tires very easily and sometimes just stops in his tracks and falls asleep standing up for a minute or so before waking up and finding a comfy spot to lay down in.

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How tiny are his wee feet!!
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I have called him Dum Dum for the time being ??? I give all of our homebreds stupid names whilst they are young until they grow up into their proper names. Though they are normally named after sweets!

This morning he is proper zooming about his stable pretty much like a normal foal should! I'll give them a couple more days in the box just to make sure he is ok before letting him explore the big wide world outside!

So that's pretty much an up yours to the vet who refused to come out because I have part of an outstanding bill to pay (from when I put Jeff down) and said if we wanted them to look at him we would have to take the pair of them in and leave them there at a cost of £950-1100 a day! No offence but no Shetland is worth that (I know it sounds harsh but that's the reality) He was a mild dummy not an extreme one so there was no need to stomach tube him or this that and everything they wanted to do to him. And funnily enough he wasn't dead by the next morning which is what Dr Doom & Gloom said he would be without going into them!
 
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So pleased to hear he’s improving. Your vet sounds awful. Hope the wee chap continues to thrive, he’s so lovely.

Once I have paid the last bit of my bill off they won't be my vets anymore! I know every business has it rough just now but there's adding a bit in and then there is taking the piss. I have always paid my bills, not always in full straight away but I knock a decent amount off each month when I have had big bills so it's always fully paid in 3-4 months tops. Up to £250 is always paid off straight away.

They held a friends horse to ransom there. He gauged his lef open so was in for major stitching work etc and stayed in for 3 days (which he didn't need to as friend is more than capable of looking after the wound - working in racing teaches you so much!) But they wouldn't let the horse leave until she paid 3/4 of her bill up front and would keep him there, racking up charges, until she could pay the majority. They are not well liked by people who are not fluffy bunny tree huggers!
 
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I'd say Dum Dum is pretty much normal now given how many rings he is running round the stable! He likes using the banks as a racetrack! I sat down for 5 mins to watch him and came and climbed all over me - literally! The boy has no fear! It's a good job he weighs about 10kg!

Don't worry he wont be getting to do that again but it's nice to see his personality start to come out. And if this is how he is on his first day of pretty much full wakefulness his mother is going to be exhausted soon enough! ???

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Absolutely tiny! I have size 5 feet! His mother is 42" *cough*and another couple of in* his father is 41" but given how the mare has come out of this - doesn't look like she has foaled at all! She has clearly been keeping all the food for herself!
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Zoomies!
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SusieT

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em- sorry you cant complain that someone wont come out when you haven't paid them for the last work - especially in the current environment. Perhaps dont breed if you cant afford the vet bills ?(up front I mean - not over 3-4 months...)
Glad foal is improving.
 
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em- sorry you cant complain that someone wont come out when you haven't paid them for the last work - especially in the current environment. Perhaps dont breed if you cant afford the vet bills ?(up front I mean - not over 3-4 months...)
Glad foal is improving.

I would very much suspect that the OP didnt plan the PTS bill and this virus to coincide with the arrival of the wee one, who frankly is seriously cheering a lot of people up. Lets keep the thread a happy one hey, there's too much negativity in the world, yes, the vets appear to have form holding horses hostage etc.
 
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em- sorry you cant complain that someone wont come out when you haven't paid them for the last work - especially in the current environment. Perhaps dont breed if you cant afford the vet bills ?(up front I mean - not over 3-4 months...)
Glad foal is improving.

They have never had an issue with paying in installments before, the last substantial bill before that was paid off in full from when my other mare aborted. They have known me for many many years and have never had an issue. Even when borrowing money to pay off the majority of my pts bill they still refused to come using social distancing as an excuse. Vets have a duty of care. They did not fulfill that duty and would not have fulfilled it unless I took the mare and foal to them for an absolutely extortionate amount of money to have things done that didn't need done.

I understand everyone has it rough just now! I do! We have no racing so I only have my bog standard wage and none of the added extras I would normally have from racing.

I have had more vet bills in 2020 than I have had in the previous 10 years. Shetlands don't tend to cost a huge amount and my TBs were well trained in being natives. It's not like I have racked up thousands of pounds worth of fees and simply never paid them! I had my horse pts on 30th March. I got that bill in the middle of April so paid some off with my April wage, their bill did not include the disposal fee - I paid that upfront to Grayshill as I have been stung by those vets before for disposal costs!
 

HappyHollyDays

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em- sorry you cant complain that someone wont come out when you haven't paid them for the last work - especially in the current environment. Perhaps dont breed if you cant afford the vet bills ?(up front I mean - not over 3-4 months...)
Glad foal is improving.

Really, do you swallow lemons on a regular basis. Vets have a duty of care, sometimes horses die unexpectedly and a little bit of compassion goes a long way.
 

honetpot

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They have never had an issue with paying in installments before, the last substantial bill before that was paid off in full from when my other mare aborted. They have known me for many many years and have never had an issue. Even when borrowing money to pay off the majority of my pts bill they still refused to come using social distancing as an excuse. Vets have a duty of care. They did not fulfill that duty and would not have fulfilled it unless I took the mare and foal to them for an absolutely extortionate amount of money to have things done that didn't need done.

I understand everyone has it rough just now! I do! We have no racing so I only have my bog standard wage and none of the added extras I would normally have from racing.

I have had more vet bills in 2020 than I have had in the previous 10 years. Shetlands don't tend to cost a huge amount and my TBs were well trained in being natives. It's not like I have racked up thousands of pounds worth of fees and simply never paid them! I had my horse pts on 30th March. I got that bill in the middle of April so paid some off with my April wage, their bill did not include the disposal fee - I paid that upfront to Grayshill as I have been stung by those vets before for disposal costs!
Crumbs what bad luck. I know people do not like credit cards but I think the are really useful. I have to admit I usually use mine to hide what horsey things cost as we have a joint bank account, and it really bugs me( to the point of rowing) when he says, did you get so much out of the bank account.FO and two fingers. Then when I sell things for cash he takes my ear marked hay money and spends it.
 

PapaverFollis

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Most vets are happy with clients paying in instalments and will continue to come out as long as money is being paid off regularly. I can understand if a client owes money and repeatedly doesn't pay any off. But I somehow don't think the OP falls into that catagory!

Plus most vets I've dealt with have made every endeavour to keep costs down when clients might struggle to pay, rather than engineering situations to rack the bills up. It's called understanding and compassion.

I've also done, a very long time ago, a short period of work experience with a small animal vet who openly discussed with his team how to treat in the most expensive way.... it completely put me off applying for veterinary science! Which was a bit stupid with hindsight but hey ho. Anyway my point being that money grabbing tactics do happen in the profession. And I'm usually the first to defend the vet prices for specific treatments. But engineering treatment to bring in the most money when it's not necessarily in the animal or owner's best interests is just callous and underhanded.

Anyway. That's my little rant because I'm feeling very cross right now.

Dum Dum is just fabulous and I'm so glad he's doing that much better. ?
 

TPO

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I can second the awfulness of this vet practice and I always paid my bills in full immediately.

I know lots of people that have left that practice to go to a (then) new & nicer practice where you aren't treated like something that's been stepped in. I had numerous bad experiences with them and deeply regret that I gave them more chances than I ever should have due to my stupid inferiority complex because they were the "experts".

This practice also actively promotes installment payments. By carrying in this way they've just lost yet another regular client and reliable payee; another own goal I reckon!
 
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