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[RC] what the vet said about the homeoapthics - rides2farLast week, I woke up and Sunny was holding up his left front leg. I panicked, > and took him to the vet.> This is probably pretty much what most of us did when we had our *first* abcess. $140 later, the vet tells me to keep soaking Sunny. > So I am doing this as we speak. In a way, I feel silly for spending > all this > money and worrying so much when I know that the natural way has > worked for me so fa> The thing that I hate about "the conventional" way is that it costs so much It's not a matter of "natural" or "conventional" it's a matter of informed/experienced, vs. people who are totally dependant on vets. I don't do homeopathy, or herbs, and I also don't have to rush my horse off to the vet every time I see an abcess. If it weren't for abcesses I wouldn't have nearly the reputation for "Equine guru genius" that I have in my neighborhood. People come to me and say, "My horse is hurt, will you look at him". I go. The horse is three legged lame. I figure it's either A: a compound fracture or B: an abcess. So far it's always been B. By the time they notice it (they glance at their horse 200 yards away as they drive by each day) it's usually pretty advanced. I check it with hoof testers, take my hoofknife and barely scrape the surface and BINGO I am a genius and the reputation grows. I try to open it up a bit since I don't think any of them has ever gone so far as to soak one. One of the women who came to me had already had a young dog & cat vet out. The horse was laying down and would barely get up. (1300 LB QH). When he stood he held a leg up. When they left him alone he lay back down. The vet charged her $180 and gave her medicine for COLIC. Meanwhile, this horse is 1/4 mile from the creek where he has to walk for water. I gave the horse water (he drank a LOT), hit the abcess and drained it and gave him a tetenous booster. I told her he looked a little foundered (she'd just bought him) with maybe 4 degrees or so of rotation (wild guess, sounded good to me). She was considering demanding her money back (her husband was a lawyer). We hauled the horse to a *good* vet. He said I'd gotten the abcess and it looked great...offered to give a tetenous booster, but we had that covered. She asked for x-rays because of what I'd said about founder. When the vet looked at them and said he had about 4 degrees rotation her jaw hit the floor (great for my street cred). So...was my way the *natural* way (didn't cost her anything), or the experienced way? and it seems to me to be based, often times, in a lot of fear: What if the > cofin bone is attacked by bacteria? What if the abcess turns systemic? It just takes dealing with one of these once to know why someone would be very careful to avoid it. Personally, I fear the bowed tendon on the opposite foreleg most and consider it the primary reason to hurry. As to your horse running around the field and then suddenly holding up a trembling lame foot...one time Kaboot's hoof slipped off pavement and apparently onto a sharp rock puncturing his sole. He was off for a few steps, then OK for a few minutes, then dead lame. I was horrified that he'd broken a bone since it looked as painful as a bad abcess but had happened far to quickly. Took him to the *good* vet who thought the same, but as it turned out there was bleeding under the sole forming sort of a "blood abcess" rather than a pus abcess. The pressure was the same. (never heard of a gaseus one...would like to hear the explanation of that). He drained black blood out and the horse was instantly sound. I'm wondering if your horse didn't puncture the already vulnerable spot where the abcess had been. You might consider putting an easyboot on to protect it. By the way, we put on a pad and he did a 50, top 10 that weekend. By the way, sounds to me like you've made good decisions. Yeah, $140 to get rid of an abcess is a real bummer, but it's a heck of a lot better than a bowed tendon. As you get experience with these things they'll cost you less. As to those x-rays, take advantage of the fact you paid for them and get hold of them for your farrier...or hoof care specialist to look at to determine your horse's proper angles, etc. Also, make sure they hang onto them so if your horse has problems later you've got a baseline to compare them to. If I'd done that earlier in Kaboot's career he'd probably have had fewer problems. Long as you paid for them get the use out of them. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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