Shocking vets bills/over dramatic horse!

Didn't quite get to calling the vet, but arrived atfarm to find pony very stiff behind & then stepping very high. Turns out I'd never seen a locking stifle before, but my blood ran cold when I saw him.
Called the vet next day & he confirmed that I was panicking.
 
I've called vets for abscesses before now when I haven't been able to get hold of the farrier or when I haven't been too sure what it is. Better to be safe than sorry, though it is rather expensive!
 
£370 for a Fart, colicky horse out of hours call out 1 injection of buscapan, the loudest fart ever then back to eating within a couple of hours and bright and breezy the following morning
 
Don't beat yourself up - we have all done it! I remember seeing my first horse lame with an abscess and was convinced he had broken something. It's called experience and you never get it until you need it.

Also the same when I had my first case of choke - was convinced horse had been poisoned and was dying. Horse was a guts and had several more episodes over her life as an equine vacuum cleaner.
 
I brought my horse in one winters night and he was lame on his right fore. Nothing huge, thought he had just bruised it. The next day he could barely walk. I had to dash to work and while there ringing the vets saying he was very very lame etc, could barely walk. They come out after I had finished worked. First abscess for me! £120 quid that cost me!
 
We've all had them. My best was a young horse who regularly coliced. Always late at night, always after his girlfriend had been out wihout him, and always when the youngest vet in the practice was on call. (He's now the oldest - and a great vet!) The last attack he had, Bill thought he had a twisted gut so he was loaded up in a horsebox to go to Fyrnwy Vets for surgery. Half-way there, the dope wore off and he went beserk. Got there and he was absolutely fine except for the dried sweat and a blood lactate 10 times normal! He'd effectively galloped a long way!

I SWORE at him that next time I would just race him around the block a few times in the trailer - and he could fart it out. But he never got colic again!

Of course, with foaling, there have been a number of cases when I called the vet. Junior vet ALWAYS arrived AFTER foaling - and says something daft like: "I'm glad YOU got that out!"
 
Early morning, quite dark and the little appy was stumbling around on three legs, positively hopping from far side of the field. I bolted up that hill at a hundred miles an hour, convinced he'd broken his leg.

Daft thing had a plastic garden pot on one foot and was quite happily plodding about on three legs, heading for food.
 
Some really good stories here!!

I am the queen of expensive abcesses though. On not one but four occasions now I have packed my horse of the vets and demanded xrays despite the vet saying abcess. On all three I was at least right about it not being an abcess, 2× broken bone, 1× laminitis and 1× just bruised.
 
Abscess lameness is horrible- they look so painful. You tell yourself it's an abscess, everything points to it being an abscess, you analyse how they move, you hover over the phone thinking shall I shan't I call the vet, you do your research, read the scary stories, poultice it, wait another day for a non forthcoming massive eruption of pus, doubt yourself, poultice more, feel like the worst owner in the world, hover over the phone again, then I saw sense and called the farrier.... He found a tiny sore point and tiny abscess. Horse honestly acted like his leg was broken. Still a bit sore a week on but much happier. Would def call farrier first in same situation.
 
Gottaloveaginger said:
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!
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As the scrap man said when he towed away my first car, "Experience is cheap whatever you pay for it".

You'll know next time! :)
 
Some years ago now I had the vet out to castrate a pony. An hour or so and a couple of hundred pounds later, I had a sleepy pony who'd been laid out cold and sexually assaulted, but still had the ONE testicle he started with. The other was nowhere to be found, so the vet wouldn't geld him.

Learned my lesson... count them first.
(In my defence, the one that he has is enormous, and easily mistaken for two.}
 
i was retiring an exracer and took the shoes off to rough him off. He lay down and wouldn't get up off ground and was just lying down on side groaning and genuinely looked like he was dying. I thought farrier had destroyed his hooves. Rang farrier all upset, rang vet all upset. Vet came out and started laughing. Prodded horse on the arse with his foot and horse pulled itself up and stood. Vet just said 'there's nothing wrong with him, hes just being dramatic'
 
Jericho said:
Abscess lameness is horrible- they look so painful. You tell yourself it's an abscess, everything points to it being an abscess, you analyse how they move, you hover over the phone thinking shall I shan't I call the vet, you do your research, read the scary stories, poultice it, wait another day for a non forthcoming massive eruption of pus, doubt yourself, poultice more, feel like the worst owner in the world, hover over the phone again, then I saw sense and called the farrier.... He found a tiny sore point and tiny abscess. Horse honestly acted like his leg was broken. Still a bit sore a week on but much happier. Would def call farrier first in same situation.
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:lol: This was exactly me two weeks ago, but I caved and called the vet on a Saturday :o, but still glad I spent the £200 it gave me peace of mind ;).
 
This thread has made me lol! I've had horses for years and I have called the vet out three times this winter due to different unexplained lameness. The third time I thought he had broken his leg... all abscesses. So about £700 in total....

I'm going to the back of the class!
 
These are great 😊
Very nearly called vet to my old horse who had been kicked in the head by a new horse mare put in his field. I convinced myself he had some kind of brain damage ect as He very much the boss of the herd and went very quiet (for him being a total tit most of the summer).
Turned out he was absolutely fine and said mare had just put him in his place lol. He never messed with her again and ended up quite chilled and happier in his herd after that.
 
Buddy'sMum said:
£450 (so far) on our idiot cat who managed a blade of grass stuck up his nose :eek:
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**SNORT**

my young pony had locking stifle, i'd never seen it before and was convinced she'd broken her leg! Bosnian chap who works for my dad happened to be passing and just asked her to back up - hey presto - sorted (she later grew out of it)
 
Just under £300 for my cat who looked as though he had broken his shoulder. He was in three legs and his shoulder looked odd but when we got to the emergency vet he walked straight out of the carrier with nothing wrong.
Another obscene cost was for a lovely little rabbit that I had. She was genuinely very sick and sadly did pass away but a trip to the out of hours and 1 1/2hrs in ICU in a drip (before she passed on her own) cost me over £700!
 
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