classicpotatochip - 2014-04-22 3:09 PM Read through most of the replies. Nobody means to attack you, but it's really hard to not come across really strong, because we've all been there and done that to our nice horses too, before capitulating and heading to a good vet, or in my case, A&M. The truth is, that when you add the time off work, hauling money spent going vetting, wear and tear on vehicles, your time, your frustration, your wasted entry fees, your wasted hauling fees, the horses pain, your time practicing and training an unsound horse, shoeing for said unsound horse, maintenance, feed, vaccines, etc, etc, etc, it is cheaper to just spend the money up front and haul somewhere that knows what they're doing. True 1D horses are using their bodies to bits. I know it, you know it, and very one else here does too. It's our responsibility to recompense those animals with the least pain, most comfortable existence we can buy. It's not fair to them to keep asking that they work when it hurts for our pleasure. Believe me, if somebody is chasing me out across the desert looking to murder me, those mules of mine better antey up !!!! But for my obsession, not so much. If I can't afford to figure out what's wrong, they hit the road or are retired to a new profession, like hay eating or pasture growth maintenance, depending on how much they owe me. The board has recommended at the least, new vets. I agree whole heartedly. If you can't afford treatment, consider spending the dough on genuine diagnostics, that way you'll at least know if Chance taking 2014 off will be beneficial, maintain, or exacerbate the problem. I don't see a sound horse in your videos, I really hope you get answers soon!

rodeowithjoker - 2014-04-22 9:35 PM

Sorry if anyone thought I disappeared. Had to finish the weekly newspaper and hustle to a middle school track meet so I just now got home and turned a computer on. I've got the number to the vet in Pryor that you guys have recommended and I'll call first thing in the morning. Meant to do it this afternoon but got buried in work and by the time I looked up, it was 5:30.

I probably shouldn't have read anything on here this morning - I was stressed with work (Tuesday is the craziest day of the week) and it was pretty easy to get under my skin then. Please don't think I am going to run Chance without getting things figured out. I thought I was doing the right thing by following advice of 3 different vets and running at Lincoln - obviously I should have just stayed home and eaten my fees since absolutely nothing went right up there on any of my horses. Again - hindsight is 20/20.

casualdust07 - 2014-04-22 10:03 PM


it always is… I've missed the mark several times on horses even though I was trying to find what was wrong with them. It happens to all of us. They can't talk, and we try our best!

bennie1 - 2014-04-22 8:56 AM I am just going to add this. 



Every single time I have thought my horse was sore, but chose to dink around with local vets instead of biting the bullet and driving the 200+ miles to a good vet, I have wasted hundreds of dollars and months of time when my horse could have been healing, instead of still trying the myriad of guesses on why they were sore. 

classicpotatochip - 2014-04-22 8:48 AM


^^^^^This.

I'd be on my way to Oklahoma or College Station to A&M. Sometimes, one or two vets just won't cut it. I want the whole team that TEACHES the vets. I've had three now that I've dumped out at A&M and said, "Keep them until you figure it out." Sometimes it's six hours, one time it was three days, but I had an answer and a treatment plan, either way, they found the problem, and each time it had been totally overlooked locally. Not every teaching facility is equal, either. My big brown gelding was one that CSU totally bombed, and A&M nailed the problem in two hours.

I plan on keeping this habit. $600 in diesel and $1500 in vet bills is often a lot cheaper then hauling and trying to henpeck a sore horse one injection at a time. That's my thought, having been here and done that.

rodeowithjoker - 2014-04-24 2:19 PM Lameness locator appointment has been made for May 7th. Going to get to the bottom of this. Thanks to those of you who have legitimately tried to help without getting crabby or talking about me behind my back. To the rest of you - have fun acting like 3rd graders. Glad I could give you something to talk about amongst yourselves. 

rodeowithjoker - 2014-04-24 2:19 PM Lameness locator appointment has been made for May 7th. Going to get to the bottom of this. Thanks to those of you who have legitimately tried to help without getting crabby or talking about me behind my back. To the rest of you - have fun acting like 3rd graders. Glad I could give you something to talk about amongst yourselves. 

dashnlotti - 2014-04-23 10:29 AM THIS!

I have several vets within a few miles from me.  I call them for things like bloodwork, teeth, or meds.  When I have a lameness problem, I go straight to the track vets which is about a 2 hour drive.  That long day saves me a lot of time and guesswork.  What I really love about them?  They don't get ****y when I tell them my horse has seen a different vet since his last visit.  They understand that I'm not hauling that far for "minor" things.  But when I tell my at home vet that I took him and they injected his knee bc it had arthritis, he visibly got annoyed.

 



 

Southtxponygirl - 2014-04-24 2:57 PM Glad that you are taking Chance so hopefully you can find out what the heck is going on with him , how far away is this Lameness Locator from you? 

HDNAQHA - 2014-04-24 2:30 PM Have you thought about Heartland Equine Vet? They are amazing and have quite the credentials and they are close and can get you in faster then May 7th. They are working out of Mark Gratnys barn right now, as their shop gets finished in May, but they are state of the art and will be able to do eveyrthing a major equine hospital can do. You get to vets for the price of one with Eric and Kelly Carlson. let me know if you want their info.