Have you ever consulted a vet about what an animal communicator has shared with you?

So as a skeptical person who has poured thousands of dollars into diagnosing a mystery lameness to no avail, I reached out to an animal communicator who has been highly recommended for my horse. I know a lot of people scoff at the idea, but I’ve heard so many people had a good experience with this communicator that maybe even if its not legit, the AC must just be perceptive enough to see things that other people miss.

I figured, what’s $50 after I’ve already spent so much money with no answers. Anyways, the animal communicator shared that my horse has pain in her shoulder. This actually aligns clinically with how the horse was presenting as her lameness only becomes apparent when working in a circle when the affected leg is on the outside.

Anyways, I have a reputation as a non-crazy client that I am trying to uphold, and I am trying to imagine how/if I should bring it up with my vet that my horse said her shoulder hurts and I want them to look into it. :crazy_face:

Has anyone asked their vet about a reading from an animal communicator? How did it go if you did?

I would say, “Hey, I watched her the other day and I got a strong feeling that it could be horsie’s shoulder”! Why bring the AC into it if you think it might cloud your vet’s view?

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I haven’t, but I have a good friend who uses animal communicators and swears by them. I don’t know how she brings this up with her vet, but I know she has.

Could you bring it up like “I suspect it’s in her shoulder, I;m not 100% sure why, but I think it is”? This kind of approach leaves the communicator out of it but gets your vet to focus on the shoulder. Your vet can say “Oh yes, there is something here” or “no, there’s nothing here” after an exam.

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  1. I often ask my vet to check out things I have a hunch about.

  2. I would never hire an AC because I feel totally qualified to communicate with the horses in my orbit. I know when they are asking for help, despairing, angry, happy, afraid, neurotic, etc. and I can see minor lameness. Obviously I don’t go around telling people about what their horses are feeling as it’s none of my business.

  3. If I were in your position and I felt the AC was correct I might try to explain what I saw in the horses movement that pointed to a shoulder issue.

  4. One time years ago a barn friend dropped by with a self styled AC who went through the barn saying he’s got a sore back, he’s got a sore foot he wants this he wants that. We got to my stall, opened the door, and big mare came in from her paddock with a big smile to say hello. AC said “she’s perfectly happy, she doesn’t want anything at all.” Well, yeah.

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In general, I agree with that approach, but the shoulder is such an uncommon lameness site, so communicator or not, I’m just not sure how I would justify it without seeming a bit nuts.

Can you do a nerve block to the shoulder? I believe we blocked the elbow as part of her diagnostics, but can’t recall doing anything with the shoulder.

Wait…you have to justify asking your vet to examine your horse’s shoulder when you’ve already spent thousands of dollars with no answers? Your horse presents lameness when the suspected foreleg is on the outside of a circle, and you’re worried to ask him/her to check the shoulder? I think I’d be searching for a new vet vs fretting if your current one thinks you’re nuts!

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I promise the anxiety is squarely from me and not from my vet being rude or dismissive or inattentive to anything I’ve brought up previously. A new vet wouldn’t help the situation, I’m just weirdly obsessed with what everyone thinks of me. It’s a problem that would follow me no matter what vet I choose, but you make a good point. It’s a perfectly justified question to ask and I should just do it.

I have never gotten any pushback from my vet when I ask them to look into anything further. I get the impression they are trying to prevent me from turning this horse into any more of a money pit than she already is, so the only reason I imagine they might push back on me digging into the shoulder more is if they feel they’ve already ruled it out in a previous work up or if they have some other reason to believe it is definitely not the shoulder. And even if that’s the case, they will simply explain that to me. And probably wont think any less of me, and even if they do oh well!

Now that I’ve effectively used COTH as my therapist and had a breakthrough… I’m still curious if anyone was able to diagnose a mystery lameness based on a tip from an animal communicator!

I dont know why an AC would be able to diagnose things I can’t.

That aside, are there diagnostic stretches you could do to examine the shoulders? My horse is just naturally tight through the shoulders.

Have already had you had your vet evaluate this lameness? Because this totally changes the conversation. By which I mean, if this lameness is new and you are asking the vet for a diagnosis, I probably wouldn’t whip out the animal communicator thing. Let the vet work up the lameness from zero with fresh eyes, if that makes sense. Fresh eyes are a great thing! At this point, see if the vets lameness eval and/or treatment plan makes sense or is successful.

If continued effort with this vet’s lameness eval or treatment stalls, despite the vet still dinking around with different causes/plans/etc, then perhaps bring up the AC or whatever angle the AC told you about. At that point, your vet can either address it and/or refer it. Address or explore that angle even if they think it it is bogus, or they refer you to the next level/opinion. If not referred, the move your horse up the appointment level yourself. Either way, you need to move on. AC doesn’t have much to do with it. Feel free to throw the AC opinion out there whenever at that level. That level of mystery lameness is just so hard

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The shoulder is not that uncommon. You can block the shoulder. If you haul the horse into a clinic with a big xray machine, you can even xray the shoulder. It’s not uncommon to ultrasound the shoulder in the field.

Furthermore, if you have been chasing a lameness that doesn’t block or respond to distal limb things, it’s very likely the shoulder or neck. I would feel 100% fine asking vet to look into those things.

To answer your other question, I didn’t do it, but I do personally know someone who had an animal communicator diagnose a horse correctly. The horse was owned by one person and ridden by another, the owner called the communicator. Everyone was very skeptical, but the vet shrugged and went along.

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My former vet (retired his equine practice after 20+yrs as a client :persevere:) had no problem taking my suggestion - rec’d from this COTH BB :+1: - to try Naquasone for a case of cellulitis.
Worked great.

Not from an AC, but back when I boarded & had a good hour drive from home to barn + wing nut BO, said wingnut called me one day to tell me he thought my TB was suffering “neurologic damage” evidenced per his seeing a stringhalt-like hitch behind :hushed:
Of course, I immediately called my vet for a non-emergent visit & drove to meet him at the barn.

While waiting for the vet to arrive, I took horse out to walk to see if I could see what had been reported. Saw nothing.
I was standing in horse’s stall, thinking sad thoughts…
Horse kept dropping his nose to his left front, then looking at me.
I felt the hoof, thought I felt maybe minimal heat, but put that down to my worried imagination.

Vet arrived, watched horse walk - showing none of the reported neuro symptoms - and found an abscess brewing Left Front.

Sorry to ramble, but you are perfectly justified asking your vet to check the shoulder.
Sounds like you’ve already observed the issue.
Revealing why you are asking (AC) is not a component you need to explain.

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I have never used a communicator so that answers your main question.

I see nothing wrong with saying to the vet that you were talking to a friend and they brought up shoulder pain, which you have since researched and that is where you would like to vet to look into next.

If you think it will make you into a crazy horse person by saying that the friend is an animal communicator then stick with ‘a friend’.

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We had a clients horse that was not presenting lameness, but would be perfect one day under saddle, then the next day be a total nutcase and spook at everything, spin, take off and and be the total opposite horse from the previous day. It was so odd as he was like Jeckle and Hyde - but never appeared off or sore.

The owner had the AC in just to see what he was “thinking” and why he was so different from day to day and she stated that he was sore in both his front feet. He never seemed lame or shown any lameness whatsoever.

Had the vet out to x ray his front feet and ankles and he had ring bone in both fronts. Made total sense on the “off” days. Poor guy!

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I agree that you should just mention that you suspect the shoulder and ask that it be investigated.

I haven’t used a communicator but several fellow boarders have. Nobody got useful information. It was either vague or emotional like"he doesn’t like the brown horse" or oddly specific like “his liver hurts”.

Disclaimer, I’ve never used an AC and I don’t really understand how they communicate differently. However, I will say that I know of one near me who has worked in conjunction with vets and is even recommended by them because for some reason, she seems to be able to help with weird mystery lameness situations.

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This is a very helpful post. There are so many stress points in the neck and shoulder area that can cause major discomfort in horses. A good body worker or a good body worker type book might be helpful, if you haven’t tried that. I haven’t had much luck w vets considering muscle discomfort, unless it’s the back.

I have had several times in my life where an animal communicator and/or my 2 energy healing ladies have diagnosed problems correctly. And in the case of the energy ladies, horses that appeared to be dying, didn’t die. Plus, they fixed stuff that was messed up in my body that amazed my doctors, since problem basically just poof, got healed. So, I very much believe in energy work and animal communicators. Although, I am guessing many animal communicators are NOT nearly as gifted as other ones. I have used a couple very gifted ones, over 40 + years.

Example: My Jack Russell had this really weird problem. Took him vet to vet. Spent a fortune. No help. This was way back when, before I incorporated an “alternative” person in diagnosing an odd problem, early in the process. Long story short, animal communicator told me what the issue was. I went to this super specialist and told her what the (very rare) issue was. She looked at me like I had 3 heads when my answer to “who told you this?’” was “my communicator”. She said that is what was wrong with my dog, but it is IMPOSSIBLE that I learned about what was wrong this way. Okie dokie, whatever. Not my regular vet, or our relationship would have been terminated at that point. I consider that I work with a team. My team includes chiropractors, incredible farrier, and my “alternative” folks. Plus, of course plus a vet. Or vets, if I need a second opinion.

Once a horse had some long-lasting weird lameness issues. My regular vet did all this testing/therapies over a few sessions. Expensive, but nothing helped. Asked communicator. Horse said his shoulder hurt. If the shoulder hurts, in order to compensate, horse might have problems behind or through their back or whatever. Yeah, those hurt, and will show up as causing pain, but weren’t the cause. Once again, I should have asked the horse where he hurt, earlier in the process. Hauled horse to esteemed animal hospital. Told main vet what horse had said. His reaction was, "OK, let’s check that first. Do you want me to just go ahead and x-ray it, or do you want a clinical exam first? I said, “just x-ray it”. When vet came back, he said “yes, it is the shoulder. That would NOT have been the first place I checked. Tell your communicator she just saved you quite a bit in vet bills having me go directly to the problem”.

My regular vets through the years have all had the same type response. They do no poo-poo the info I say comes from one of my “alternative” sources. And said alternative sources have been right in other instances. Personally, if a vet DID look down their nose at me for having possibly an “unusual” team I consult, I wouldn’t be able to work with them. But I have never had this happen, except with the dog vet I did not know.

I don’t work well with folks who discount my belief in using whatever alternative sources I might feel might be helpful. But that is me. Your mileage may differ.

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You had me at “energy healing ladies” :hugs:

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I’ve used an AC for many years for several animals. And I just flat out tell my vet “I’m one of those crazy people who use an AC and she told me …”. I don’t care what they think of me; they’ll take my money whether I’m crazy or not. I’ll bet vets have heard it all before and have both correct and incorrect "diagnoses’ from them.

Your vet hasn’t found a cause for the lameness yet, so what does he/she have to lose?

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