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Not-So-Speedy Dressage

From Endurance to Dressage

Who is Your Vet?

1/20/2015

 
Since we're talking about vets ...

A few days ago, Austen, over at Guinness on Tap, posted a really disturbing account of her most recent interaction with a vet. It was enough to get any horse owner hot under the collar.

It got me thinking though. We have three or four large animal vet options here in town. There are two brick and mortar hospitals and several independent mobile vets. At Bakersfield Vet Hospital, the hospital I use, there are three doctors on staff while the other hospital has only one doctor. Basically, if you call a vet out, you know who you are getting.

After reading about Austen's experience, I realized that might not be the case around the rest of the country. So, I am curious. Do you take your horse to the vet, or does she come to you? Do you always use the same vet, or do you use whoever is on staff?

I put together a small poll below. I'll give it a few days and then publish the results later.  Thanks for participating!
Lauren link
1/19/2015 11:45:48 pm

I didn't answer one poll, because I will call a different vet for different things. Vaccines? Vet A. Lameness? Vet C. Emergency? Any vet at Clinic B. Etc.

Also, my vet bills have been outrageous the past two years so I'm hoping for a more normal baseline this year!

Bakersfield Dressage link
1/20/2015 09:14:48 am

I hadn't thought of putting an answer like that: depends on the problem. I normally use one vet, but I have hauled over to Alamo Pintado for special things. And, yeah ... I've had a couple of really cheap years, but I am making up for it this last few months myself. :0)

stampyandthebrain link
1/20/2015 12:06:56 am

I had a hard time answering the poll since I have a regular vet then a couple specialists! Here are some details to go with my answers!

My regular vet is not who the barn uses because I had a previous relationship with her before moving there. She trusts my instincts and in many ways lets me take the lead on things which I appreciate. She loves my horses like they were her own and takes her time with them. I use her for shots and emergencies.

I work with two different specialists off an on. One is a lameness guy who does almost all of our barn lameness exams and joint injections, but doesn't do backs beyond diagnosis. He used to have a physical clinic but doesn't any longer so he comes to the farm. He is the one who sent Stampede for his bone scan to be diagnosed with kissing spines. He also vetted Phoenix for me back in 1998. :)

The other vet has a clinic you have to travel to, and specializes in several things including equine back issues which is why I sought him out.

Bakersfield Dressage link
1/20/2015 09:17:20 am

Lauren said about the same thing. i hadn't thought of that as an answer. We don't have quite so many choices here that I can go to one vet for this and another vet for that, which is why that answer hadn't occurred to me. My vet is similar to yours. he really listens to my experience and needs. We always hash out a solution together (usually). I changed vets for my dog because the doctor we saw didn't take the time to hear what I already know. The new guy is great!

Amanda link
1/20/2015 12:40:27 am

Uggghhhhh, I checked off the "6-10 times per year" and felt kind of ill. Sigh. Maybe 2015 will bring that average down?

Anyway. 95% of the time my primary vet is my first (second, third) call. She's a one-vet practice who sometimes has students along to help out but she's always primary, even when she was 8.75 months pregnant. She lives like 2 miles away from me and is at our barn once a week for one horse or another, and I trust her implicitly. She's really terrific AND a great person.

She's also been honest with me about when we need to bring in bigger guns. There is an outstanding lameness vet in the area that is at our barn occasionally for more complicated things, and we do have a vet clinic ~1 hour away where Tristan had his surgery and where we would go in the middle of the night with a bad colic.

The only time I've ever just called a vet practice and asked them to send anyone was when Tristan colicked at a new barn and I hadn't established a relationship yet. Other than that I do try to work with one or maybe two vets exclusively.

Bakersfield Dressage link
1/20/2015 09:20:18 am

Yeah ... i like working with the same vet. I find that it really helps in an emergency because you already have a relationship established.

I can't imagine how convenient it would be to have my vet out at the barn once a week. I would die and go to heaven. Mine is across town, the wrong way, so if I need anything it is such a pain to go pick it up or drop it off.

Tracy link
1/20/2015 05:11:38 am

We have two smaller practice vets that we use for routine vaccines, etc., as well as emergencies and small lameness issues. We also have a larger practice that is well known for diagnosing more difficult lameness and finally, Ohio State University for surgery, etc. We're pretty lucky to have so many options relatively close by!

Bakersfield Dressage link
1/20/2015 09:22:46 am

We are pretty limited with our choices which makes me especially glad that I like the vets that we do have, but it sure would be nice to multiple options!

Katharyn
1/20/2015 01:00:03 pm

My answers were definitely situational. Most years all I pay for is a float. I'm a vet myself, used to do equine practice, and do small animal practice now. But I can buy my own vaccines and dewormers so I usually do. From July 2013 to Sept 2014 I kept my horse at a barn where one of the boarders was a vet at a really fancy hospital and had her stocked truck there all the time. So I used her quite a bit during that time - for a dental, then once when he was a bit off after a vaccine when she gave him some banamine (mine was expired), then she injected his hocks. Then in July he got a weird swelling in his RF lower leg that I originally attributed to kicking the fence or something, but took way longer than expected to go back to normal. I wrapped it for like a month, then left him just "off" with no riding and no wraps for probably about another month. After that I was worried about it and decided it should be ultrasounded just in case. I made an appointment at UC Davis. Even though I was trying to be frugal and was just going to do the ultrasound, I ended up with a full lameness exam, with nerve blocks and xrays, in addition to the ultrasound. The ultrasound ended up being normal and the xrays showed some old stuff in the fetlock, which they injected. So that little trip put me for once in the over $1000 in a year category not counting the other 3 vet things done at the barn earlier in the year. Unusual for me. I like to go to the vet school for lameness stuff since they have the xrays and ultrasound right there. For other stuff it depends. I read that other blog entry you referred to. I'd be angry too if I was charged for chiro and chinese herbs without asking for them. I wonder why she went to a new vet. Lastly, I'll throw out one more shout-out for Dr. Tolley and BVH!! Woot!!!

Bakersfield Dressage link
1/20/2015 09:12:01 pm

Being your own vet would certainly save money. :0)

I used to give my own injections, but Mickey, the black Arab i used to own, would always have a reaction so I started taking him in for his vaccinations in case it was just my technique ... nope, he still had a reaction even when the vet did it.

After that, I just decided to pay for a visit because I needed teeth done anyway. I also found that by seeing Dr. Tolley (or for a while, Dr. Blanton) for routine stuff, a better relationship was already established for more serious stuff. Fo a long time, I didn't need much of a relationship because my horses saw the vet so many times a year when I was endurance riding. I saw most of those vets over and over so I could ask them for advice about this or that.

It's great that Yozo has a vet mom - it makes his life a lot less complicated. :0)

Val
1/21/2015 09:06:23 am

I always use the same vet. She has known my horse longer than I have and understands his needs very well. I drive to her practice to pick up medications and she gave me her cell phone and email in case I have questions about Harley's ongoing allergies. She is so busy, but always makes me feel like my horse is the most important thing on her schedule. Love her!

Austen link
1/26/2015 09:16:45 pm

Oh. Oops. I thought I commented on this, but apparently commenting via phone on a plane taxiing up the runway is not an effective method of comment-leaving. :)

I talked about some of this in the comments on my blog, but... I used to have a fabulous lameness vet in Ohio, who was the only vet my horse would see. I do all my vaccinations myself, so the only reason (other than a Coggins, and I don't care who pulls those) for my horse to see the vet is lameness related.

In Indiana, it seems the only vets we have are general large animal vets. They are far more accustomed to seeing cows and pet horses, rather than working sport horses. They don't have any diagnostic equipment, for that you have to drive the 2+ hours to the vet school clinic. Sometimes that option just isn't available, so I call the large animal people and hope the guy who is semi-okay with lameness is available. Unfortunately he is really difficult to schedule for farm visits.

Thinking about vets just makes me angry ... grrrr.


Comments are closed.

    About the Writer and Rider

    ​I am a lifelong rider. 
    I began endurance riding in 1996 where I ultimately completed five, one-day 100 mile races, the 200-mile Death Valley Encounter, and numerous other 50, 65, and 75 mile races. I began showing dressage in 2010.
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    ​Speedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. After helping me earn a USDF Bronze medal in the summer of 2020, he is now semi-retired. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.
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    Izzy was started as a four-year old and then spent the next 18 months in pasture growing up. I bought him as a six-year old, and together, we are showing at the lower levels. He is a 2008, 16'3 hand warmblood gelding. His Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) name is Imperioso.
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