2008.06.08 – A new horse in the barn, Rody the Mare
November 24th, 2009
Soon after aquiring “Rody the Show Jumping Mare” it became apparent that there were some soundness issues. I reached out to one of my most trusted advisors in Washington State …
From: Author – MarkRector
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 12:02 PM
To: M***A****
Subject: For M***A****, from Mark Rector, re: assessing/evaluating a horse
Dear M***A****,
I need to evaluate the soundness of a horse.
I know you and C**** evaluate the training levels and and skills of horses.
Are you able to suggest somebody who can evaluate the soundness, also?
The issue: Ashley got a great deal on a free horse, from SafeHorse rescue.
~ It was an emergency, first come/first served deal. She was not able to obtain a prepurchase examination, as we had strongly urged her to do with any horse.
Rody the Mare …
~ 7 yo, 16HH TB mare from California, trained in SJ, bought and transported to WA ($30,000).
~ Owner/rider (a young woman) got a last-minute scholarship to some LV, Nevada Equestrian school; had to fly out over the weekend to be present on Monday morning. She dad nowhere to put the horse, so she “gave it away” to somebody who was not maintaining it well (confining it in a dog kennel).
Ashley accepted Rody, without verifying its history, or the story that came with the horse.
~ When the horse arrived, it had a very mild gaminess in FL foot.
~ She was told that the mare had incurred a slight strain, during trailering, and that it would go away within a few days.
~ The condition has not improved; it is apparently a recurring issue over the last 2 years (cronic occasional lameness, in the same leg – which appears and recedes sporadically).
Yesterday, I spent several hours driving around Issaquah asking people for referrals to a competent assessor of soundness in horses (not a veterinarian, not a trainer or teacher).
I also, went to the owner of the pasture where she is being boarded. The retired gentleman was not able to advise, but he told me that the mare’s condition is very sporadic: sometimes she will hardly move around, other times she will run and jump and kick etc.
M***A***, I do not know who to trust – among the “professionals” in Washington – to be competent to assess the soundness of this horse. I
(1) I fear she has been misdiagnosed, or more probably incorrectly and/or misadvisedly treated, by the previous owners for 2 years.
(2) Specifically, I think Rody’s condition may be incipient, well, I don’t want to say what I think (do not wish to affect your thinking).
I would feel comfortable with using somebody that you advised – if:
(1) they are not a “dope them up” veterinarian – with little other equine practitioner experience (e.g. I would not want a racetrack vet, or a breeding stable vet, or a training facility vet),
(2) or if they are exclusively an equine practitioner for several decades (AAEP), with a more holistic approach to diagnosis/treatment.
(3) If they were an Amish practitioner, old school (none out here, though) – one who brings horses back from unsoundness (not necessarily wanting Amish-style “training” – of course)
My questions:
(1) Would you feel competent, and willing, to assess Rody?
(2) Would you be able to refer me to somebody who is competent to asses Rody?
Best regards,
Mark Rector
p.s. M***A****, I am no judge of “horse flesh” – but when I first saw this horse I was shocked at the quality of horse that was given to Ashley for free. ==============
Her reply ….
Mark,
Here’s the Monday morning quarterback talking: Pre-purchase exams are such a lovely thing. Any time you’re getting a horse, unless it doesn’t matter whether you ride it or not, do a prepurchase exam. They’re just as expensive to keep and much more time consuming and expensive to treat if they’re lame.
Get off it about vets. You’re operating on old information. There are bad ones and good ones, but they aren’t all crap, and the Amish have screwed up just as many horses as the rest of the horse world. They just wear better hats.
C**** can assess lameness very well in terms of identifying which body part is the problem- stifle, hock, or fetlock kinds of questions, but to identify whether it’s a strained tendon, arthritis, ringbone, a chipped or green-stick fractured bone, shin splints, cancer, muscle spasm, or just chronic crappy training you need a very good vet, and you need x-rays, and you need luck. There isn’t any such thing as a good assessor of lameness that’s not a vet, because you need someone who can use diagnostic tools. Good vets don’t dope them up, they use flexion tests to determine lameness issues, then having identified the leg involved, if the location needs to be specified they will use a block like a Novocain injection first to the foot itself, then the fetlock joint, then the knee… when the horse trots out as though sound you have a location to x-ray. You often don’t get a definitive response, even so, because lameness is not simple. But, you get a ball park and the vet gives you treatment options for the assumed injury, and you then get a response or you don’t for the treatment.
For a thorough soundness exam I’d go to a good veterinarian. I don’t know the vets in your area. To get the referral, call the most expensive hunter/jumper barn in your area and ask the trainer who she or he uses for pre-purchase exams. The high end horse owners, especially jumper owners, try really hard to assess those legs before they invest $80k in to a horse. There will be a “leg man” they like and you’ll get that recommendation.
For treatment options, talk to the vet, read up about what they suggest, and make an informed choice—they aren’t all nuts.
\M***A****
~30~