IMO, the best thing here is for OP to reach out to the poster(s?) who has reached out and offered to help her find other qualified, trustworthy professionals in her area for better options and advice, she can keep that fairly anonymous, not talking BFFs, just some help. Maybe call the Hoof Haven gal and investigate that option, she can probably be a great help even if not a probable solution. Maybe suggest good farriers and vets outside your current team ( which I would have little confidence in).
Don’t try to do this alone. If nothing else, the mare deserves better then she’s been forced to endure.
I’m going to get a second opinion but I’m confused as to why the vet is at fault here? The PPE vet was in CT, this vet hasn’t let me down yet and has been incredibly supportive. The surgeon I’m talking to about treatment options is thought of very highly by people in the area and BO and trainer both have personal experience with their practice. She was doing okay until very recently re: feet; farrier has been in the business for about 20 years and does all of BO’s horses and most racehorses in the area.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot since Friday. I know that rehab is sometimes successful and injections for the rest of her life could be successful but honestly my gut instinct is that it’s not the feet, because the back pain predates the foot pain and there are clinical findings that would be very unlikely to not cause pain in their own right, and that I need to not play around and see what works because I only have 120 days from the start of first treatment before nothing is covered. If injections or shockwave don’t work after I try them and surgery is still needed to make her pasture sound, she will probably need to be euthanized because I held off and was conservative.
In an ideal world I’d gradually ramp things up and see where we’re at instead of jumping to the most extreme option but money is a constraint and I don’t have all the time in the world. I have 4 months, which isn’t enough time to tell if an injection is going to last. It isn’t enough time to tell if shockwave is going to have permanent results. The surgeon said the prognosis for this horse is very good with surgery. I found a surgeon who is very talented and a facility that will do her first three weeks of stall rest, wound cleaning, and rehab.
It f------ blows but whether or not it should, I know that it will haunt me for the rest of my life if I don’t at least try. I’m not the kind of person who can let things - past mistakes, trauma, etc - go. And 6 months of rehab is going to be awful, potentially, and I never ever wanted to be in this situation, but I don’t want to live the rest of my life guilty over this either. I may sell her once she’s rehabbed and try again. Overall the figure I’m looking at for what I will have to pay outside of insurance is around 1k. I can do that without going into debt.
I don’t know what the lameness exam is going to show. My fear is that it’s going to show navicular, potentially moderate to severe, and then I don’t know if it’s time to start thinking about humane end of life.
I think the concern is that these are the people who didn’t dissuade you from buying this horse that didn’t allow a more thorough PPE and wasn’t the best option for a first horse for a newish rider.
Maybe she was on something blocking the foot pain?
So the back issue was present before you removed her shoes?
It might help if you wrote out a timeline of everything.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Late Dec: Ride #1. Show videos to trainer, trainer likes her. Put down deposit contingent upon passing the PPE.
Beginning of Jan: Second ride, a little nervous/walking quite fast but good overall. PPE. Turns out the vet doing the PPE is the Sales Barn’s personal vet - I know. Worst possible situation. Horse passes PPE, she flinches a little when the vet presses into part of her back, vet tells me all horses flinch there with enough pressure as it’s a ticklish spot. Shoes pulled about 4 days into her coming here because her hooves were overgrown and she needed to see a farrier. She spends the next 2 months fine with no shoes, aside from a few small stone bruises. Drug panel run on her at 2nd ride, no tranquilizers or NSAIDs on the panel were detected. Vet says she can do radiographs if I want but there’s nothing suggesting that further investigation is needed.
Jan 11: Horse arrives. Very nervous, spooking at everything, etc. Feet fine.
Mid Jan: Starts getting very girthy despite having been fine at the sales barn when I tacked her up on both days. Lifts a leg threatening to kick, even swings at me. Vet visits, prescribes 30d UlcerGard, 2 doses/day.
Late Jan: Ginger is calmer, which we attribute to the UlcerGard. No balking yet.
Mid Feb: Ulcergard finishes.
Early March: Suddenly starts balking. Gets progressively worse. Make topic here. Not too thrilled about picking her feet up. Instructor detects back pain and I stop riding her.
Good Friday: Vet comes. Diagnoses kissing spine. Footsore.
Tomorrow: Farrier comes, adds shoes, ??
Also you suggested this is a bit of a ‘desert’ for horse professionals, correct?
So a local farrier in biz for 20 years in this same ‘desert’-where there aren’t many other options isn’t necessarily the same as a farrier in an area with more options.
Most drug screens you have to be specific what you are testing for. If she’d had some nerve blocks for example or some herbal things or other nerve drugs or isoxsuprine etc, that isn’t going to show up on a typical screen for NSAIDs and sedatives.
I know someone who was totally swindled by some sellers (not related to the sellers of your horse) where horse was NQR for forever. Even had more or less exploratory surgery on his feet because all signs pointed to feet despite pretty clean MRI, X-rays, and even visual inspection during surgery. Horse developed balking behaviors and also was not a great horse to live with generally in turnout etc. Was bought as a fancy dressage prospect. Was out of state from buyer but buyer did go try him. Horse was never ok. Sometimes visibly off but often not because he had issues bilateral. When he was off it was just one foot was worse that day than the other. Ok to a point for groundwork but definitely did not tolerate rider weight. Owner spent a fortune chasing any possible thing. There was no way he was sound before purchase but somehow he passed the PPE. I don’t think she did a blood test. Sometimes it is just heartbreaking.
I can relate to the insurance thing but do not let insurance alone rush your decisions. My carrier has started a category called “non-surgical lameness”, which covers any lameness including caused by accident, injury, or illness despite some blatant ambiguity in their language…but I digress. Accident, injury or illness coverage (for anything except “non-surgical lameness”) goes one year. But non-surgical lameness is 6 months. I considered my horse to be extremely lucky not to need surgery for an accident he had causing severe lameness (and lucky that he lived through it at all), but at 6 months, he was just taking short walks in the barn aisle and contemplating walking in the arena and only that because he was a star patient and ahead of schedule. The adjuster felt terribly for me but the underwriters wouldn’t budge. And I could have written an angry letter from my lawyer self but then I’d probably not have coverage at all anymore (BTDT), so I refrained.
Remember that this is property insurance not health insurance. You have a lot to think about and some things to do in the meantime. But you do have some time to think about it.
Injections and/or shockwave I would give a month tops to decide if they helped or not. And if they don’t help, that could be a sign that surgery won’t either in the long term. Or at least something to consider about how long the behavioral rehab is going to be.
Also, please do take your vacation! I haven’t gone anywhere in over a year and a half due to caring for and rehabbing my horse. The BM keeps asking when I’m going to the beach / telling me I should go to the beach. I think (hope) the 24/7/365-ness of it is nearing the home stretch. I’ve also been there in the past with a more difficult horse and the emotional stress is a nightmare.
Okay so if she was acting poorly, treated with UG, improved significantly, came off UG, went back to acting poorly….I’d be investigating ulcers further? Belly hurts, back becomes tight, back becomes sore. If cost is a concern you could always do the Nexium protocol, if you do it for a few weeks and she’s suddenly happy and relaxed and manageable, you have your answer for under $20.
Who do you think might want to buy this horse?
And for what use? Pasture ornament?
You can’t think you can recoup any of what you spend.
Assuming you disclose the medical history, price has got to be really low. Any PPE is only going to lower your asking price.
4 figures would be a stretch.
I use the store brand because it’s $10 cheaper. As far as dosing, the general idea is to do 3 capsules/day for several weeks, then wean down to 2 capsules/day for several weeks, then 1 capsule/day for a time. Go read the thread for more detailed info, it’s a lot more helpful than my lone post
Even if your horse didn’t have insurance I would not fudge around with Nexium. I had a young horse start to show some ulcer signs and I put him on Nexium. He initially seemed better then got worse. Had him scoped and while on Nexium he had full blown 6-7 ulcers and was very very painful. Because of the severity it took two months of gastroguard for his ulcers to clear up on the follow up scope. Involve your vet, get a scope and actually treat the ulcers. With needing to make a decision about surgery etc you don’t have the luxury to try off the counter things to see what sticks.
If it makes you feel better I got my first horse at 20, 15 years later and idk over at least 100k down the hole I finally have a rideable horse. The first one was ok for a few months then nqr and retired a few years later after spending every penny I had as a college student to try and treat him. I didn’t really know much better then and found a companion home. Next horse was perpetually a w/t horse with a nasty random buck with constant nqr issues. Chronic lyme, loss of eyesight in one eye, SI issues, finally tore his suspensory did the full rehab of over a year then he re-tore it a year later and retired. Found the ideal babysitter home and kept in touch. Next horse was a yearling because I figured if I start young at least I’ll have a few years ot ride before retirement hahaha. Popped up with hock arthritis at 2, was treated broke at 3 per the vets recommendation and rode lightly for 6 months then he tanked and is currently retired sitting is a field at my dime until he’s too painful and I have to say goodbye. Then bought my current horse who has some track wear and tear but does better the more he’s ridden and I’m in heaven waiting for the ball to drop at some point.
Forgive me if this was mentioned because I haven’t read every single reply.
how long were you working with this trainer before buying a horse?
why didn’t you have your trainer find horses for you to look at instead of searching on your own?
This entire situation leaves a really bad feeling in my gut. Having owned a horse that had no major physical issues that I just didn’t enjoy riding, makes me tell people now to not waste time on the wrong horse.
I think you are doing everything right by the horse now that you own her and it’s an extremely unfortunate situation. I just have a major issue with how the horse was acquired to begin with. And that has nothing to do with where the horse was purchased from.
You’ve not mentioned (at least not that I’ve seen) what your skill level is with horses, other than this is the first horse you’ve owned. Are you a skilled rider? Are you a beginner?
My family is comfortably middle class, but as of this time we can’t afford to purchase or keep a horse. I won’t own another horse again until I can afford a horse I’d actually want to ride and be able to keep the horse how I want to keep it. All that to say, I don’t think owning a horse is the be all end all. Has it taken me years to come to grips with the fact that I can’t ride in the capacity that I want to? Yes. Do I still struggle with it? Also yes. But at this point I’d rather ride horses I enjoy riding than try to make horse ownership work and not enjoy the horse I’m riding or the situation that I am keeping a horse in.
I am so sorry you are dealing with this and I am very sorry that the professionals you have worked with did not appear to have your best interest from the get go. Or didn’t have the skill set/wherewithal to set you up with an appropriate horse (which I don’t think this horse is regardless of physical issues currently plaguing her) from the beginning.
I think (hope) the 24/7/365-ness of it is nearing the home stretch. I’ve also been there in the past with a more difficult horse and the emotional stress is a nightmare.
