Update on My Poor lame Horse Long Story Sorry!!

asommerville

asommerville

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So further to my last post - the vet came out to x ray my horse (who is still lame despite being on a danilon a day for the past 3 weeks and has been lame for 3 months now) I feel as if the vet is dragging her heels for whatever reason. So she came on Thrusday - assured me that she could take Amber's shoes off and i woudl not need the farrier, despite my saying that i would be happy tp get him it would make life easier no no no i was assured it will be fine, upshot of the vet taking the shoes off was that she took so long to do it that poor amber was in so much pain she FELL over and then she pulled a bit of her hoof off, (by this point i was close to murder specially as she was an hour late and poor Amber was obv in agony) so x ray get done, phone the vet that night.....not even an apology but am 'oh i did no have the correct film in so it didn;t work'. Am i the only person who would be absolutely seething at this? So the vet came up on Friday (more time off work) did x rays and they showed absolutely nothing at all!!! What does this mean? What can happen next? I have the feeling the vet will just say to rest her and keep her on danilon for the rest of forever and i am not happy!! I want to swap vets and i want a second opinion. Am i entitled to phone my insurance and ask for one? I know my more local vet can do an MRI scan on her - can i ask my insurance to take her there or do you think that they will just tell me to listen to my own vet and get on with it? Please help i am stressed out and P**sed off at the seemingly useless vet lady!
 
Get a different vet!

A client of mine had exactly the same problem. She had recently bought the horse (no vetting :( ) and then called me for lessons (new clients), within minutes I had to stop her and say I'm sorry your horse is lame. It then took nearly 3 months for her to get a referal for a lameness workup! The vet tried danilon, restricited turnout, box rest.... But didn't seem to actually want to get to the bottom of it. In the end the client in desperation asked me to come to her next appointment (she felt the vet wasn't listening to her) and I just asked outright what the plan was. She was at the hosp within the week. I have no idea why the vet hadn't done anything before. Poor owner then had me there at every following appointment as she was so worried about it.

Horse ended up being sold as broodmare and client changed vet practise for new horse!
 
Please ring your insurer, I am sure they will cover you for a second opinion. NFU were fine when I asked for one for mine !
 
Change vets. Put your concerns in writing to the insurance company and you may find they then query the bill with the vet concerned! I would also put my concerns in writing to the senior partner of your vets.

Your poor horse. Don't let them do anything else to her. You must be so stressed!
 
the senior partner is the one who made a mess of taking her shoes off and forgot to put something important in the x ray machine that actually made it work!! Gutted really thought i would have an answer after an xray but hey it's never as easy as that is it!
 
Ask for a referral tp a specialist for lameness work up or just change vets if you aren't happy. Do you know anyone else locally who can recommend another vet?

Also, check with your insurance before booking in an MRI as I know mine won't pay for one outright and will only cover up to 50% of the cost if agreed beforehand and they deem in necessary.
 
Unfortunately some vets are just not experienced enough in lameness. My view is that local vets are for colic, cuts etc but if you want lameness explaining you need to go to a proper equine hospital. I have learnt this the hard way after spending over 1k on my insurance with my local vets and my horse is now in newmarket with sue dyson and has been diagnosed as something completely different (the frustrating part of it though is that what sue has found is exactly what i have been telling my vets from the start) argghhh..

I bet some people are lucky enough to have local vets they can trust but mine is a well respected equine practice and they have simply made a right hash of it
 
I agree with Ducktail, I also went through £1000 with my local vets before being passed to Liphook and believe me within a day at the hospital, I was already up to my £3000 limit. You really need to watch every penny at the vets.
 
Thats a terrible story does this vet work with horses a lot i am over at Perth area and the vet i get just works in the main with horses so i am lucky. There is no harm in getting another vet to have a look and if you are unhappy put it in writning to your vet asking for a reduction in the bill and outlining your concerns. Another handy skill to learn is how to take shoes off it is not difficult and the tools are not to expensive your farrier if he is a decent type will show you how to do it. Being able to remove shoes can save your horses feet and save you a lot of cash cause you cant always get a farrier at a minutes notice. Far be it for me to give advice but these are some issues you should give some thought to and you are better to voice concerns rather than just think them.
 
Vets do seem to be reluctant to MRI, it took me almost a year to get one which finally revealed what we all, except the vets, knew was wrong. I'm so sorry for you and your horse, this is a difficult and frutrating situation. Please contact your insurance company, it is only vets who can diagnose and treat accordingly so keep going, don't get bogged down in what has happened just push for an accurate diagnosis, good luck.
 
dozzie said:
Have they done nerve blocks?
Click to expand...

yes nerve block were done and it showed that she was lame in her foot, sometimes she is lame in walk, sometimes only in trot.

the vet has diagnosed tissue damage and said that she is going to put her on something called navilox - which apparanlty increases blood flow to the foot. I just think it must be something serious as she is still lame despite being on a danilon a day. However i have now moved her fields and she is much happier in herself and last night galloped across the field to me (she was hopping afterwards but wouldn't have done it if she didn't feel fit i'm sure)

So for the moment i have asked the vet to send all the invoices away to my insurance, once they have them i will get in touch and ask them about an MRI, at the moment if they say no i'm not in the position to pay for it myself however the plan is to start saving hard and get it done regardless as soon as i can. Also have just ordered some herbal stuff for her....vet kind of shrugged that off when i asked her but hey the worst that can happen is that i waste my money lol

also asked the vet about magnetic boots (can you get magnetic over reach boots?) Has any one tried magnets?
 
Its a nightmare when you're claiming against insurance because your ability to make decisions is limited by following the "expert" vet's advice. I have to say your vet is clutching at straws in their current course of treatment, Navilox is for horses with Navicular Disease, which so far I haven't seen you mentioning as the diagnosis.

I can't help but want to see these feet which are the cause for all this stress, I'm picturing flat underrun feet with long toes????? What does your farrier recommend? How involved is he?
 
I think she has navicular...just didn't mention it to see if it would come up - the vet says that there are no changes to the navicular bone though so it is probably not. I have thought for a couple of years that she had navicular (i know i'm mental but i have just had a feeling!) as she has been lame (just a wee bit though) on and off since i bought her, whe i bought her she had very very flat feet (so flat you did not need to pick the front ones out) and her feet were the size if dinner plates. TBH i have spent a lot of money on her feet over the past few years, we have tried everything and the shoes that she has on now have been most successful. Her feet are now starting to look 'normal' at the moment and she has on a wedge shoe with a silicon pad. My farrier says that these are the best shoes for her (apart from going barefoot which i am reluctent to do), i have also had a second opinion on her shoes from the farrier who works for the vet school and he agreed (i never mentioned to him about navicular but he said that those shoes are usually used for horses with that condition) so i am at a bit of a loss as to what to do now....!!
 
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