Shocking vets bills/over dramatic horse!

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Gottaloveaginger

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I just got a vet bill for £350 for what essentially turned out to be an over dramatic horse with thrush/abscess!
She was on 3 legs and wouldn't move so I panicked and rang the vet. Out of hours it was too! Typical! If only I had known that a hot poultice and a visit from the farrier was all I needed! But this was the first time in 10 years of owning her that I had seen her lame so I didn't know what to do!
Please tell me your stories of "shocking but avoidable if only you had known better" vet bills to make me feel better!
 
£350 for an abscess :eek3: That must have been one hell of a call out fee, where do you live? Mars? :biggrin3:

Having said that, I've never called a vet for an abscess. Perhaps digging out and poulticing is more expensive than I think it should be.
 
I once v v nearly called the vet out on a Sunday night because I thought my horse was colicking...refused to eat his food, kept looking around...pawing... I got as far as dialling but hadn't pressed go... Then I had a closer look & found that I'd done his food on autopilot while waiting for the enviro-friendly low-energy bulbs to get going...and I hadn't noticed that there was a massive poo in his bowl & had dumped his food on top of it! So he wasn't looking around at himself cos he had colic - he was looking around at me to ask, 'Why have you put my dinner on top of a poo?'

Tipped his bucket out into the wheelbarrow, gave it a good scrub, got him some fresh dinner - problem solved!
 
catembi said:
I once v v nearly called the vet out on a Sunday night because I thought my horse was colicking...refused to eat his food, kept looking around...pawing... I got as far as dialling but hadn't pressed go... Then I had a closer look & found that I'd done his food on autopilot while waiting for the enviro-friendly low-energy bulbs to get going...and I hadn't noticed that there was a massive poo in his bowl & had dumped his food on top of it! So he wasn't looking around at himself cos he had colic - he was looking around at me to ask, 'Why have you put my dinner on top of a poo?'

Tipped his bucket out into the wheelbarrow, gave it a good scrub, got him some fresh dinner - problem solved!
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Lol! I just choked at this! :-D
 
Ditto ... bill was 260 (can't do pound signs as bought computer in the USA!!) ... three vets visits, horse on three legs, turned out to be an abcess.

Problem is, he's still a bit lame a couple of weeks later, so vet coming again tomorrow .....



<<sigh>> ... pours more red wine and waves au revoir to more financial reserves ..... hey, ho ... it's only money ....
 
catembi said:
I once v v nearly called the vet out on a Sunday night because I thought my horse was colicking...refused to eat his food, kept looking around...pawing... I got as far as dialling but hadn't pressed go... Then I had a closer look & found that I'd done his food on autopilot while waiting for the enviro-friendly low-energy bulbs to get going...and I hadn't noticed that there was a massive poo in his bowl & had dumped his food on top of it! So he wasn't looking around at himself cos he had colic - he was looking around at me to ask, 'Why have you put my dinner on top of a poo?'

Tipped his bucket out into the wheelbarrow, gave it a good scrub, got him some fresh dinner - problem solved!
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:D :D :D

Priceless!!!!
 
Done the same, thought he'd broken his leg, never seen a horse do lame! Vet took one look and asked why I hadn't got my farrier out! Expensive mistake but there you go ....horses!!!


Ps it is very painful
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
£350 for an abscess :eek3: That must have been one hell of a call out fee, where do you live? Mars? :biggrin3:

Having said that, I've never called a vet for an abscess. Perhaps digging out and poulticing is more expensive than I think it should be.
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Oh we did the whole nerve blocking thing first! 2 doses, plus bute, shoe removal, etc etc! But I have complained. ..
 
Sukistokes2 said:
Done the same, thought he'd broken his leg, never seen a horse do lame! Vet took one look and asked why I hadn't got my farrier out! Expensive mistake but there you go ....horses!!!


Ps it is very painful
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Yes i thought she had broken her pelvis or something! Glad its not just me! :)
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
£350 for an abscess :eek3: That must have been one hell of a call out fee, where do you live? Mars? :biggrin3:

Having said that, I've never called a vet for an abscess. Perhaps digging out and poulticing is more expensive than I think it should be.
Click to expand...

Oh and ironic thing was that the vet on call lives in the village where the stables are!
 
Luckily my vets are quite cautious about out of hours call outs and will have a good chat on the phone first, several times through the night if needed. Have made a few calls (horse on 3 legs, one with an allergic reaction) but only ever actually had them out once (unfortunately to have a pony put down, and when he got there he apologized for questioning me so much as it was obviously the right call). The farrier on the other hand has been dragged out at all hours do deal with lame horses
 
£2900 vet/farrier bills since 20th of May due to colic episode followed by mystery lameness which turned out to be subclinical lami. Shocking yes, but I'd rather have spent the money and felt safe that my horse was getting the help she needed.
This total included out of hours call out, 2x3day stays in different horspitals, several xrays, several nerve blocks, an ultrasound, a very expensive set of shoes and various other tests, drugs and visits.

ETA horse wasn't overdramatic about things, but could be said that owner is overprotective :p
 
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Didn't get as far as calling the vet but I did have a panic attack... Arrived at yard to find Mum's pony on three legs, with a foreleg dangling outwards at a horrible angle while he stared at me.

Unlocked and went in; still looking at me, still waving his foreleg around.

Started running across to his paddock with my phone out, ready to call the hunt...and the sod out his head down and carried on scratching the inside of his upper forearm with his teeth.

Apparently, his scratch got interrupted by my arriving and he couldn't be bothered to move.

I aged years that morning.
 
To be fair we had one that we thought had an abscess but was walking like she'd broken her leg, vet thought may be an abcess too. Turned out some time later that she had indeed broken her leg up at the stifle. So I'd rather call the vet than the farrier anyway if that lame!

My best one was a £900 head CT for the pony, thinking he had a brain tumour or neuro problems. It turns out he has shocking hayfever which made him nuts! Daily antihistamines this year have transformed him from lunatic to a real pleasure.
 
Some of these are brilliant!

I went out to the field to bring my fella in one day and he seemed really reluctant. I put it down to not wanting to come in to work, the grass was good, and he wanted to stay out. So I turned tail with him on the end of the rope and started walking. Next thing I hear is an unmerciful squeal and I turn round and he's turned into a kite, he's about 6 feet over my head with all four legs tucked up up underneath him. I've never seen a horse jump like that so high. So he landed and planted himself. wouldn't budge, started to shiver. I could still hear the squeal out of him, I'd never heard anything like it in all my life around horses.

So I started to panic, I'd only put my other horse to sleep in the very same field the week before from a broken leg... I ran my hand down his shoulders, his back, his legs and went round picking up his feet and tapping them. I got to his last hoof and was just about to pick it up and spotted a teeny tiny little leveret in the grass right beside his hoof. so I put his hoof back down away from the little guy and my horse just let out a big sigh and walked on.

The little leveret must have been disturbed by him in the grass and he squealed and gave us both a heart attack! I'd been so close to calling the vet because he just wouldn't budge and thought he had damaged something!
 
Panicked when I went to get the horses in one morning and my friend's in foal mare was standing on three legs with her near hind out at a vey funny angle and not weight bearing. Fortunately remembered my farrier laughing about a vet who was about to put a horse down with a broken leg which turned out to be an abscess. I calmed down, called her owner and dealt with the abscess.
 
We had a Sunday morning emergency call out for the ID mare with suspected colic... as she was pacing, sweating, noteating etc..

However it turned out there had been an escaped pony running up and down our road overnight and the mare had obviously heard this and was going mad :(

Was quite expensive and embarrassing. .

Fiona
 
I came very close to calling the vet as my horse was drinking a huge amount of water. Someone on the yard suggested it was the lazy teen in the next field taking water out of my buckets rather than carry it down the field from the hose at the top. Teen had previously complained that the hose didn't reach her buckets. Moved my buckets to other side of field, problem solved.
Suspect she was helping herself to my hay as well, as for the first time ever my native wasn't keeping weight on. She started keeping it on a bit too well after teen left and we had to go back to restricting her intake.
 
my 26 yold was so lame about 6 weeks ago he couldn't put his front leg down. I've had him 19 years and never known him so lame so i rang the vet. He has Cushings so vet said yup, 100% lami! (not my normal vet who has known pony 19 years, emergency cover vet)
So i spent £60 on shavings to bed him down and called the farrier.
Farrier came, trimmed his toe and boom, massive amount of puss! He has never had an abscess but now i know how he reacts i will always call the farrier first :D

Expensive Saturday!
 
I had a similar experience. Horse came in on three legs wouldn't weight bare on one and we were hearing weird clicking sounds when she did (floods of tears from me as I'm assuming the worst). Out of hours vets bill and it turned out to be a dead leg! Absolutely fine the next morning but I have never heard of a horse having a dead leg before :D her field mate obviously kicked her right on her shoulder and just hit the right spot.
 
Some of these have had me cackling like a witch in the office! I love the interrupted scratch one! :D

Old ex racer I used to ride began collapsing even when ridden. Going wobbly then straight down on his knees, sometimes laying down before 'coming to'. Got really scary and after thousands of dollars (was in Australia) and numerous scans/bloods etc ended up being narcoleptic. We all thought it was something dire but no. He just loves sleep!
 
epeters91 said:
I had a similar experience. Horse came in on three legs wouldn't weight bare on one and we were hearing weird clicking sounds when she did (floods of tears from me as I'm assuming the worst). Out of hours vets bill and it turned out to be a dead leg! Absolutely fine the next morning but I have never heard of a horse having a dead leg before :D her field mate obviously kicked her right on her shoulder and just hit the right spot.
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that happened my fella too, knocked himself getting up and was DOG lame, hobbling round for ages on it! Got the osteo out to look and yep dead leg!
 
When I was little, my father called the vet out to his TB mare as he'd gone out to catch her, and she was lying down and groaning. She wouldn't get up at all, so he ran back to the house (days before mobiles) and got an emergency callout (had to happen at the weekend of course)

I remember taking the vet up to the field when he arrived, aged about 8/9, and seeing my father on his knees, with the horse's head resting on his lap. The vet took one look and suggested that when the mare woke up, he could examine her, but he suspected it might be a waste of time......

My father was so embarrassed....... he'd thought her snores were her death throes......
 
spacefaer said:
When I was little, my father called the vet out to his TB mare as he'd gone out to catch her, and she was lying down and groaning. She wouldn't get up at all, so he ran back to the house (days before mobiles) and got an emergency callout (had to happen at the weekend of course)

I remember taking the vet up to the field when he arrived, aged about 8/9, and seeing my father on his knees, with the horse's head resting on his lap. The vet took one look and suggested that when the mare woke up, he could examine her, but he suspected it might be a waste of time......

My father was so embarrassed....... he'd thought her snores were her death throes......
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I'm sorry but.... LOL! Actually crying :D Your poor dad hahaaa
 
I've got a hilarious vet story which happened to my friend last year. She has a young horse and 2 retirees. The 2 oldies usually get fed gumnuts (delicious pellet for aged horses) and hay. Anyway this particular afternoon my friend had run out of gumnuts so just gave them hay. One of them started pawing and looking very uncomfortable and wasn't eating his hay. Then he rolled and continued looking upset. My friend became very concerned and suspected colic. Fortunately a vet was onsite for an appointment with another owner and horse, so she was asked to come and see my friends colicing horse ASAP. She came over and inspected him and he had normal gut sounds etc and no colic. They concluded the cheeky fellow was healthy and was missing his gumnuts. This horse is in his late 20's with a great personality, she has never run out of gumnuts since.
 
End of May..well 20th of May to be exact, I had offered to help a young livery at her first SJ show, beautiful evening, setting off about 4.30pm, went to get my mare in for the evening before setting off, when a fellow livery/friend offered to bring her in an hour later, I thought yes, let her enjoy the sunshine...a phone call later, the longest SJ competition and ride home to inspect the damage, late night call out, 3 stitches and have just paid the bill £285.30. I wish I had brought her in :-(
 
spacefaer said:
When I was little, my father called the vet out to his TB mare as he'd gone out to catch her, and she was lying down and groaning. She wouldn't get up at all, so he ran back to the house (days before mobiles) and got an emergency callout (had to happen at the weekend of course)

I remember taking the vet up to the field when he arrived, aged about 8/9, and seeing my father on his knees, with the horse's head resting on his lap. The vet took one look and suggested that when the mare woke up, he could examine her, but he suspected it might be a waste of time......

My father was so embarrassed....... he'd thought her snores were her death throes......
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Mind you, it can go the other way. I was working at a vets and two of us went out to collect a dog that the owners said didn't want to get out of bed. Assumption old dog with possible back or heart problems or similar, so bring into clinic for further investigation.
The dog had obviously died some hours beforehand (the term 'dead-as-a-dodo' sprung to mind, but was of course not uttered aloud) and owners were very embarassed. However, the silver lining was that it had obviously died very peacefully in its sleep, which is how most owners would like their animals to go.
 
I recently had an out of hours call out for my boy. Within 10 mins he was so lame on the hind foot that he wouldn't put his hoof to the ground.
YM is a farrier and he hoof tested him, and found no reaction in the hoof, so I had to call the vet. You can't leave a horse in that state.
So, the vet comes ( in all fairness they did warn me it would be expensive ), hoof tests him and can't find anything and ends up doing nerve blocks. Luckily she only did 2 before he was sound, and we could see it was in the hoof. He then had some painkillers and we poulticed the hoof.
Next day massive abscess burst out the hoof.
That abscess cost me $450 ( about 250 pounds ? )
 
Mine was after horse went hopping lame on a hack. Didn't want to put any weight on hoof and thought I was going to have to box her home. After a while she managed to walk very gingerly on said hoof, and we weren't too far from yard. Put her in stable, still didn't want to weight bear at all. I panicked, thought she had done something really serious, and asked vet to come and look......it was a bruised sole :D and of course, on a Sat afternoon, she must have stood on a stone on the road and it had hurt! Next day she was sound and happy, cost me £200. Got to love them :)
 
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