Physical or behavioral? great blog article

[OverandOnward]

IMO this well-written article/editorial deserves its own thread. IMO the comments section under the article isn’t adequate, what with spam posts and the non-linear format.

Is It Behavioral Or Physical? The Horse Person's Conundrum

Every owner goes through this at some point, if they own a horse or horses for long enough. Sometimes it can drag out for quite long time.

One of the biggest challenges I’ve found, and that writer Sophie Coffey alluded to, is the variation of opinion on what the problem is, and the variation of the sources of those opinions.

The question ‘what is going on with Boogie?’ can become a sort of personal sociopolitical tangle, as well as a diagnostic one, with competing opinions and suggestions. And a few people who take it personally that their suggestion was not the one followed up. (Especially an opinion/suggestion that is one of many. It seems that everyone has a thought on a NQR horse.)

All of the opinionators consider themselves experts, whatever their background. Background also varies widely. Trainers come from an experience mindset different from vets. Natural healers can be working from any of a range of philosophies on equine bodies and health.

There are the well-meaning opinions that reject vet science and always go natural, and those who reject all of the natural and follow only the vet, and a wide range that considers both.

And then … Possibly within each treating community there is not unity of opinion – there can be a range of ideas from different vets and different healers.

And then … With a condition that doesn’t clearly resolve, the owner’s evaluation of exactly what treatment is doing the most good can be difficult.

And then … Sometimes someone with a personal rather than healing connection, such as a friend or trainer, is pushing one set of ideas over another on the owner, maybe their own ideas. The owner may have to sort out the strength of the relationship if the owner is having other thoughts and doesn’t agree.

It can be alarming to look back on years of efforts to improve some NQR condition in a horse and realize how many different opinions have weighed in, and how much has been spent over time, trying to help a horse feel right.

There is one opinion that matters the most – the horse. But when a NQR condition drags on, either lingering or seeming to heal only to return over time, the horse sometimes almost gets left out once a primary opinionator has the most influence on the owner.

It is a weird situation to focus on the horse and realize that all of the opinions have latched onto their favorite symptoms that they know how to treat. And none of the opinions is really taking into account everything the horse is showing us over days, weeks, months.

[Lunabear1988]

I’ve lived this a few times. People sure do take it personally when you don’t take their advice. But I think the owner, the person that sees the horse day in and day out with great focus, has a greater understanding of what’s going on with the horse as a whole. Even vets and body workers miss things. Because again it’s hard when you’re not seeing the horse and all kinds of situations on all types of days.

[lenapesadie]

Living this right now with my retiree. In the beginning it was the opinion of two farriers that he had behavioral issues with his hind legs but vet and myself suspected physical.

Fast forward through time and…

Acute laminitis attack. He’s foundered looks chronic on x ray, sinking and rotation. Scary thin soles. Navicular changes. Chronic abscesses with the most recent being a major sub solar one. These are just his easily diagnosed issues on his front feet. He’s got more problems on top of that; systemic issues, a knee, a fetlock, and god only knows what kind of condition his spine is in.

We’ve got my option, three vet opinions, the farrier’s opinion and the opinions of every single person that I talk to about the horse.

Then we have the horse’s opinion.

[OverandOnward]

@Lunabear1988

People sure do take it personally when you don’t take their advice.

Some certainly do. To the point that they make harsh judgments based solely on lack of agreement with them.

Honestly I find it easier to manage the search for a diagnosis than to manage the people who are certain that their own point of view is the only one that matters.

Discovered that I have a couple of horse friends who are 100% anti-vet. Seem to think that all veterinary science is evil, all vet treatments are to line the pockets of the industry. No respect for people who are vets. No room even for considering the input of both natural and vet.

@lenapesadie

Then we have the horse’s opinion.

Exactly. Horse has spoken, could not be more clear, I can’t ignore it or explain it away.

I don’t know why so many people focus on their own bank of knowledge to the exclusion of the actual horse. I appreciate their learning and experience. But it may or may not be fully (or partially) relevant to this case. We need to find what is best for the welfare of the horse, not just whip something out of their bag because it’s something they already know.

[OverandOnward]

@lenapesadie

We’ve got my option, three vet opinions, the farrier’s opinion and the opinions of every single person that I talk to about the horse.

Then we have the horse’s opinion.

All good thoughts and prayers for you and your horse. Whatever is the path from here. I feel for what your horse and you are going through.

[lenapesadie]

Thank you.

It can be a delicate process to coordinate so many opinions, but we are doing the best we can. I am fortunate that he lives at home. I am able to constantly monitor his general condition and also don’t have to juggle the opinions of a BO or trainer type. The healthcare professionals are enough!

[AAHunterGal]

I’m going through this with my mare now, and it is very true that folks can take it personally when you don’t take their opinion as the “top” opinion.

And yes, that can be doubly hard when you’re caught between various professionals and don’t want to risk harming any of those relationships.

You wish that everyone could just band together to be the best advocate for the horse and leave personal ego out of it. In the long run that would probably save a lot of time and money/heartache for the owners.

[endlessclimb]

I agree that some people take it personally. In some cases, I am that person (but without histrionics) - I will lose sleep thinking of situations that I’ve been in, what I would have done differently if given even half a chance, and worrying that the other person will end up in the same boat I was.

So, when people are giving their opinion, I do my best to hear them out. Maybe they’re trying to save me from a really crappy outcome, like I try to do with others.

Example: “Lesson” girl’s horse is marginally sore. They are screwing around trying joint supplements and hock boots and blah blah blah - meanwhile I am begging them to just get xrays and inject if he needs it. Why? Because I did the same messing about with holistic stuff with my Old Man when he was hock sore - by the time I quit screwing around with that garbage and was ready to inject, his hocks would not accept the material. We tried everything, no dice. Double surgical arthrodesis of the hocks and a permanently lame horse later, I relive this over and over in my head. If I had just gone straight to injections, would I have had more sound years with him? Would he have still “needed” surgery?

So my “taking it personally” is a byproduct of being pretty well mentally scarred by my own choices with my own horse.

[RedHorses]

I think for the average horse owner with not very many horse issues experiences they are going to default to what they know (have personally experienced) and try to prevent someone else from going through that experience. The problem is of course the lack of exposure to varied causes of similar symptoms. We learn most about what affects our own horses directly, and pick up generalities from fellow owners’ situations without either all the details of that specific case or the research that we would do if it were our own horse.

I’m sure a lot of us have gone through the experience of feeling like something wasn’t right with our horse, but not having anything specific to point to. That makes it harder for people who want to advise as the situation may be so superficially similar that any advice may only cloud the owner’s mind, or send them off in completely the wrong direction.

Having no relationship with the vet increases difficulty as well. The vet who knows the owner’s ability to read their horse will be more likely to correctly diagnose the issue than the first visit vet.

[endlessclimb]

There is a severe shortage of vets around here, and I’m looked at like I have 3 heads when I say things like “quit wasting your money, haul to Purdue”. To a novice horse owner, hauling to Purdue is unnecessary - but eventually they too will learn.