Looking for stories from owners seeing obvious and ongoing lameness issues with their horses, and when sending them for 2nd opinion vetting, the horse is ‘miraculously’ sound. Has this ever happened to you? What did you do?
While an interesting question, let’s first remember that the veterinary field is struggling to have enough staffing and young folk interested in doing this work. We all need to take care of our vets, supporting them and their mental health. It is incredibly hard work, physically and emotionally. And, they are human. Every equine vet I have worked with has been 100% in it for the right reasons and truly cared about my horse’s soundness and comfort.
I imagine there are some stories out there of horses with obvious lameness that are " ‘miraculously’ sound" at the second vetting however I am not sure that is the vet’s fault or doing. I’ve seen plenty of inconsistent lameness that stumps even the best vets. My hope is that this thread does not turn into a vet bashing discussion because that is not very productive. Thank you and carry on!
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I don’t know that I’ve ever encountered this from a vet. I jokingly say that I’ve had a horse who’s like a kid who wants to be picked up sick from school but is miraculously fine when they find out they have to go to the doctor.
I had my late WB examined for heaves in 2018 because of consistent coughing fits during work and decline in performance. Day of the exam? Not a single cough under saddle. Rebreathing test? Nope. The vets even pulled out some kind of test that reliably induced coughing and not a one from him. We ended up scoping and diagnosed it that way, but I think a lot of the time horses’ natural stoicism makes the vet’s job a lot harder.
Also, some of the most valuable advice I was given while chasing down some lingering NQR-ness with my TB is to keep them doing something right up until the vet exam. The goal is obviously not to make anything drastically worse, but to help keep it at the forefront so the vet can see what you’re seeing. Say horse is in consistent work. Vet A examines, identifies lameness. Work is stopped. By the time Vet B’s appointment rolls around, whatever ailment may have resolved or may just be dulled enough by the rest that it’s no longer readily apparent.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. I don’t think seeking a second or even third opinion is wrong. Different vets have different equipment, knowledge and experience informing their practice, and sometimes it takes trial and error to get to the answer.
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Vet A does not have to be wrong to get a second opinion from Vet B. So really, there is no reason to hate on Vet A. Opinions do not have to agree, especially on something so not obvious as lameness sometimes is.
Is there a reason you want a whole thread bashing vets instead of a whole thread just looking for thoughts on what I assume is a subtle lameness and how to pick the best vet for a second opinion?
I have seen some great threads here on COTH about this very topic, where posters were able to help the OP figure out the lameness and find a vet that specialized in that type of thing.
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Depends on the context - horses have a knack for being miraculously sound for the vet. This is why I take pics and videos whenever possible, so if the horse is not presenting as expected, I can at least show them what has been happening. My horses seem to love making a liar out of me 
Echoing another poster, but I see this happen when the horse is lame, gets stall rest or time off, and then is sound for the vet. This is why my vets have us keep things as normal as possible (no bute after a certain time, no stall rest, keep them hacking or hand walking and turned out). Obviously if there’s something catastrophic or non-weight bearing that’s different.
I have had a horse I know very well be NQR and been told it’s just fitness or whatever since the vet doesn’t see anything out of the norm. I’ve learned to trust my gut and insist upon the diagnostics I want (hoof balance X-rays being the big one), and it usually goes fine. I see my horses every day, and have had one for almost a decade. My vet sees them twice a year (if we are lucky), and I move enough to be the perpetual New Client.
Vets are human and horses hide issues by nature. I absolutely would NOT assume nefarious intent/gaslighting in this context. Unless this was a PPE on a potential purchase for you, I don’t really understand what you’re looking for here.
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This is oddly specific.
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Vets provide an opinion. They can be wrong. Just because a vet’s opinion doesn’t agree with your opinion, or another vet’s opinion, doesn’t mean they’re gas lighting.
I can’t say I’ve ever had a vet, or any other animal or human medical professional, gas light. I’ve gotten some outright awful and incorrect opinions about issues, but that was their honest assessment.
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While I agree with other posters that vets don’t intentionally gaslight people…
There are owners out there (not saying this is the OP) that think everyday that something is wrong with their horse. Those people get a reputation with their regular vet that may or may not carry on to a second opinion vet, of blowing things out of proportion. If you (g) think your vet is gaslighting you, maybe take a good long look at how often pookie comes up lame, or has a cough, or has a puffy leg, and maybe ask some other people in the barn or other professionals (trainer, body worker, chiro, etc) what they think before you involve the vet, and if everyone is telling you the horse is fine, maybe it is.
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Instead of this, I would suggest changing/requesting another vet and having a consultation where you take time to go over the horse’s full history and your concerns.
Not all vets catch subtle things. Not all vets are equally great at looking at the big picture.
If you know something doesn’t seem right, chase it down. Advocate for your horse. There are far more people who neglect vet care than those who might somehow bring on ‘gaslighting’ through their own behaviour.
P.s. most coughs are pretty much always a thing 
(wish I knew that some years ago)
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I’ve had times where I felt like a vet and I had very different perspectives or I’ve felt frustrated that the thing I saw wasn’t obvious to them. I’d recommend reading more about gaslighting. That’s a very large accusation and I’d wonder what is the nature of your relationship that a vet could even engage in the behaviors necessary to gaslight.
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As the horse’s owner you could see the lameness during the second opinion vetting, but the vet said the horse was sound? Is that right?
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This is exactly what I do. I get video and all the vets I have used have been happy to watch.
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Oh have I got a good story. I agree that with the vet shortage and how dedicated these professionals are to our horses makes for gaslighting stories to be done with tact and care but oh my do I have one…
Years ago I had a hind end suspensory lesion and hauled to the local lameness clinic and they did ultrasound and recommendations for healing. I also found Dr. Carol Gillis online - pHD from UC Davis in tendons and the goddess of rehab. She offered remote consults for cheap and why not given what I knew was the challenge of a hind end lesion.
She requested images from the vet and kept telling me what was sent weren’t clear. This local vet starts going after her with me saying she’s just a researcher and doesn’t know what she’s talking about. It got ugly.
Meanwhile, Dr. Gillis finally tells me that ultrasound imaging takes skill that isn’t a given and she could not give me an opinion on healing from what she was getting and I needed to get down to Rood and Riddle and have it done there.
Meanwhile, his fella continues trashing her - clearly not looking her up online I guess. So we haul down there and get the image and everyone down there raved about her and it was 1000% different attitude.
What was also interesting was the difference in post healed rehab and turnout and how conservative she was versus the local practice. This fella was like, you’re good to go, turn him out, get back to riding like you always did.
Dr. Carol was like oh no. You sedate him for turnout for a month, you’ll SLOWLY bring this guy back over the next year and you’ll ice after every workout. And always always remember you had that injury. No jumping, no overdoing it.
We bought him back 100% and never had another issue on that leg thanks no doubt to her awesome guidance.
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If I’m not happy with a vet’s opinions or performance, I don’t use that vet any more. I’m spoiled… I’ve used some awesome vets, whose opinions have most often been stellar, and whose advice has been successful. They tend to be humble, quiet people, who don’t claim to be all knowing. Since they have all been older humans that me, they are ALL retired now. The new crop I’ve experienced have been disappointing so far, in many cases. They don’t have the life experience that working in the field successfully demands, IMO. Maybe they will get that, in time. Maybe not. One thing that’s for sure… no vet is bullet proof, no vet is “GOD”, even if they think that they are, and tell you that they are.
It’s so expensive for a vet to be educated these days, and provide the level service that people demand, that the cost of getting an opinion or work from a vet is so high that when failure happens or mistakes are made, it’s difficult to accept. But it still happens. There’s nothing that replaces “experience”, and experience takes decades to acquire.
I’ve known several vets who have or have attempted to commit suicide. It’s not an easy lifestyle. There are major stresses on top of what a regular human puts up with. If you are not happy with a vet’s work, don’t put further stress on that vet. Just go elsewhere, and try another vet. You don’t know what they are struggling with.
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OP has already asked for a second opinion, so maybe there’s something else going on
All of this. I’m fortunate to be in an area where I have options and I’ve left vets because I don’t agree, but I don’t get into an argument or trash them to other people.
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OP, I feel for you. I have felt almost gas-lit by vets (even talked about it in therapy lol) although I know it’s not actually gaslighting and they have the best of intentions.
But years ago, I bought a OTTB from out of state. I had seen him but I wasn’t there for the vetting. He vetted clean. When he arrived he started some weird behaviors almost instantly. He kind of bobbed his head and turned out like a head shaker… But the weirdest thing was I saw him get on his knees and rub his head on the ground.
Things got extremely weird over about 2 years. After first the vets didn’t believe me. That was the most frustrated part. I was very concerned because the horse would throw himself onto his knees when he was stressed and rubbed his head on the ground. That did not seem normal to me… but the multiple vets I used were very casual about it at first. Until he started to have multiple injuries all the freaking time. He repeatedly injured one of his knees and one of his eyes from rubbing on the ground. Finally after 2 years they took me more serious and we felt like we tried everything we could try and had to euthanize him. I know the vets definitely cared and they were just going by what they saw at first. But it hurts to be treated like I was nuts and then I had a perfectly healthy horse for a while. It wasn’t until things really fell apart that the vets started to see what I saw.
I also had a horse that presented with neurologic symptoms. Thankfully my vet saw them right away and sent us to a clinic. But when we got to the clinic they did not see neurologic symptoms… In fact they passed him on the neuro exam and almost sent us home. Right before we were going to leave they decided they wanted to lunge him one more time. Well he fell in a really weird scrambling way on the lunge… So they opted to look at his neck and found out he had Wobblers. I don’t blame them. They just saw what they saw that day. But how scary that even though I knew deep in my heart that that horse was a neurologic that they almost sent us home saying that he wasn’t. Scary.
My own horse now is diagnosed with kissing spine. We also have battled stifles too. I can’t even tell you the uphill battle I had with MULTIPLE vets to diagnose him. I got a lot of, I think he’s fine, just keep strengthening him from multiple. All the while he was doing worse and worse.
But I don’t think the vets have any bad intention. Sometimes I think they’re are even actually really trying to look out for my best interest. I get the feeling that they don’t want to spend my money if they don’t need to and I really do appreciate that. And they can only see what they see that day. My own vet, has said now, that if I’m really worried about something she will look into it because I’m usually right about those things. It just comes down to being an owner and really attentive to the details. A vet only sees them occasionally which makes it harder to pick up things.
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Let me start by saying that I understand your frustration but please remember that vets are not God and can only do so much with the information presented to them at that time. I don’t think there are any vets that “gas light”…I think sometimes that some just don’t have the greatest eye or the experience and are pulling at straws with what they know at that time.
I am going through the “mystery lameness” saga myself right now. Horse started out intermittently lame on the right front in June, and now we are dealing with him being pretty lame in the right stifle/ SI area as well as trying to figure out the front end. I have insurance but every appointment I can’t help but die a little thinking about the total racking up. I am not made of money, and every appointment is another call fee plus more diagnostic costs. I raised my eyebrow when the vet missed a swelling in my horse’s fetlock and I had to point it out…I am the WORST person for trying to feel swelling and heat in legs and if I catch it before you, that’s pretty bad LOL.
While I appreciate my vet trying to figure this out while trying to be cost effective, and being just as frustrated about the situation on her end, I think it might be in my best interest to get another opinion. I have contacted a vet that mainly focuses on racehorses and lameness but have not written my vet off entirely. Am I starting to get annoyed about not having an answer-- you bet! But I have to remember that at the end of the day, vets are only human.
With horses, it’s always a craps shoot!
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I had a several year saga of chasing my horses discomfort which involved 3 different vets. I don’t think any over them gaslit me but, I found out of the 3, the older vet was the least likely to hear me out. He was dismissive and almost argumentative at times during my appointments seeming annoyed he had to come out again for what he perceived as my imaginary problem. The younger vet was the one who finally listened and subsequently got me some answers albeit not good ones.
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Vets only know what they’ve been taught in school or what they’ve learned by experience over time. The problem is horses don’t read the textbooks and can defy the odds. So then if you’ve got a weird problem you might be relying on the vet’s experience which if you have a really odd issue they probably have not experienced before… It can be a learning experience for all. Hopefully they can help the next horse with that problem lol
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