Vetting and laminitis

If a horse had hoofs which clearly showed laminitic changes and your farrier said (without prompting) first time he saw the horse, "you do know this horse has had quite bad laminitis on all four feet", would you be suprised that the horse had been vetted the previous week and passed sound for "Showjumping, eventing and hunting" without a single comment made on the vetting sheet?
 
AmyMay

AmyMay

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If it was passed as sound presumably it was. Did the vet ask the sellers about any previous injuries or illness??
 
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Thats fine until you put in an insurance claim for laminitus and the vet mentions an obvious previos case!

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The vet didn't mention it.......
 
no the vetting didnt, but if she had it again, any vet would know that she had had it before and insurance would not cover it.
Thats not the main point though, I would have expected it to have been pointed out on the vetting, even if the horse was (and is) sound on the day-No?
 
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no the vetting didnt, but if she had it again, any vet would know that she had had it before and insurance would not cover it.

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Sorry, I'm not sure I follow you here. Your vet did not pick up anything amiss at the vetting. Did they ask if the horse had any illness or injury that should be declared? If the answer was no - then your vet has done as much as he can to protect you. If it's not on his vetting report - then the insurance company would have a hard time proving any lack of disclosure about a previous problem that may have existed.

Your farrier may be of the opinion that the horse had had laminitus previously - but that is only his opinion.

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Thats not the main point though, I would have expected it to have been pointed out on the vetting, even if the horse was (and is) sound on the day-No?

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A problem can only be pointed out at a vetting if the vet thinks there is a problem.
 
I suppose it depends when your farrier noticed the laminitic changes - was it just from a general observation of the feet, or did he notice changes in the laminae when he removed the shoes? If the latter, then the vet could not be expected to notice if the shoes were hiding the evidence!

The other thing to take into account is how obvious the laminitic changes were. If they were as obvious as shown here:

image081.jpg


then the vet should have picked up on it!
 
I would think that (in my experience anyway) it will only be a problem if the horse ends up having laminitic problems or any problems in the foot, and the insurance company (again, depends on which one it is!) wants to get out of paying a claim. If there is any evidence of a pre-existing condition, they can refuse to pay out, even if your vet didn't spot it on the vetting (this is what I was told by a vet and an insurance rep from NFU when I looked into changing our pony's insurance company.
I would personally have expected a vet to note any laminitic changes if he noticed them, when my mare was vetted her splints were noted but marked as 'no detriment'? However did your farrier notice changes inside the foot? THe white line streches in a laminitic foot, but that wouldn't be evident to the vet on vetting?
 
well, I hadnt seen this horse till after the vetting, at which point I thought that it looked like it had had laminitis, as it looked similar to my chronically laminitic ponys feet.
Didnt say anything to the farrier today and the first thing he said as I got her out of the box was that she had obviously had laminitis before.
Once he started trimming the feet, there was obvious seperation of the laminae etc.
really just want to know if the vet should have been expected to have mentioned it on the vetting, even if the horse was sound at the time.
 
I do agree with Smiggy that the vet should have mentioned the previous laminitis despite being sound at the vetting as laminitis is a recurring issue it is possible the horse could suffer repetitions of it in the future...which is the whole point of a vetting!
 
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