What the hell do I do now then? - lame horse

[AmyMay]

You could look at forms of hoof support other than shoes - hoof boots are great, but not really designed for full-time use (although two of mine have worn them for an extended period each to deal with specific problems), or there are these hoof-cast things, which I think are a kind of plaster-cast, although not as rigid.
Look at a track system for the weight issue - Jaime Jackson's 'Paddock Paradise' book is great, although a little off the wall in places!

Or you could just get a lameness work up done. Find out exactly what is wrong with the horse - and then take it's shoes off and chuck it in the field........

 

[cptrayes]

OP your vet is pulling the wool. If I said to my vet, "this horse is uninsured and I am not prepared to spend more than £200 trying to find out what i wrong with him, what do you advise?" he would tell me whether xrays or nerve blocks would be likeliest to give me the best answer and we would do those.

You need a new vet, the refusal to do any tests until you agree to £800 is unprofessional to the point where I think you could report them to the BVA.

Let's not forget this horse is only mildly lame, and intermittently at that. He's not a welfare case and there is no justification whatsoever for this vet's approach.

 

[TarrSteps]

All vets are EVER doing is giving you information and advice - it's up to you to decide what information you need and what you're going to do about it.

And you're ALWAYS going to get a dozen opinions, especially from people who have never seen or assessed the horse.

So I'll give you mine . . .

Personally, I'd get the most basic blocks done to start. At this point you don't know where the pain is originating so you can't even begin to guess at the most likely scenario. Yes, a great deal or lameness originates in the foot but if you get him blocked out and he's still lame, that's a very different situation and suggests other courses of action.

If the horse does block sound from the foot, then you can assess whether or not to go with a "chuck 'em out" approach or scrape together what you can to assess further. I'd say it's worth getting a foot xray at that point, regardless, to rule out a fracture as if there's something like that going on you might not want to just take the shoes off and turn out, at least initially. This will not run you £800.

It also depends a great deal on objective assessment - age, amount of wear and tear, stance, type, conformation, movement, how the horse feels under saddle etc all play a part in diagnosis. So no one not looking at the horse can accurately advise you.

Try to have a conversation with your vet. After all, he is providing a commercial service, he's not your priest/counsellor/best friend/spiritual advisor. So advise him about what YOUR options are. That said, if you can't pay for any more tests, what's the point of calling him again? He's only going to tell you the horse is lame, which you already know.

And before everyone jumps on me, I'm not saying the horse doesn't need veterinary intervention, I'm just saying calling any professional then saying you can't take their advice then expecting something more from them, doesn't make a lot of sense. All I'm saying is there might be a middle ground here. Or perhaps getting another vet, with whom the OP can have a better dialogue. If someone asks me my professional opinion on what a horse needs I will tell them my "best case" scenario then, if they say that's out of the budget, we will work our way down from there, with the proviso they are likely increasing the time to/lessening the chances of success. It's not perfect but then we don't live in a perfect world.

 

[EQUISCENE]

If he was my horse and he had been lame on and off for a few months then I would have the lameness workup done. I wouldnt waste money on alternative treatments yet as you dont know what you are treating. I cant see what other option you have really apart from chucking him out for a few months as cptrayes suggested.
A lameness workup shouldnt cost thousands, maybe with the treatment for possible Navicular it could but finding out what is wrong shouldnt. Id ring the practice first and ask how much worse case scenario for a full lameness workup and go from there.
Good luck, I hope everything works out for you

^^^
Agree with this just had a full work up on my horse at an equine hospital and 2 nerve blocks total cost a mere £228 definitely worth it and less than I expected!

 

[Shearer]

I think you should look for a new vet, some vets seem to be more understanding of uninsured horses than others, as obviously they make more money out of horses that are insured!
My horse was not insured for lameness, he spent 2 days in the vets had nerve blocks, xrays and joint injections for about £500. He's still lame but that's irrelevant.

 

[soloequestrian]

Or you could just get a lameness work up done. Find out exactly what is wrong with the horse - and then take it's shoes off and chuck it in the field........

If you look back, this was not a question from the original poster...... it was just someone asking about barefoot for a horse with compromised feet.

 

[Tiffany]

I've received my vet's bill today for:

Visit
Examination
I then took her to Somerford for
Examination
Lameness assessment
nerve block
6 x rays

and it wasn't in the thousands although I haven't got a definitive diagnosis yet.