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I personally had my horse come up lame once because of muscle soreness -
knew it before I saw the ride vet at the check and chose to pull myself.
A number of other horses were being pulled because of soreness they
developed from working in the mud. She (ride vet)
"strongly suggested" that I let the treatment vet "look at him". I did
so, he told me that he was lame and "needed rest", and gave me a bill for
$25! I felt violated since I did not need him to tell me my horse was
lame in the first place - I knew it and had
already decided to pull and let him rest. Another rider at that same
ride was urged to let the treatment vet "see her horse" that had a
scrape on a leg. That treatment vet insisted on giving the horse a dose
of bute and charged an evaluation fee and a drug administration
fee. She had nitrofurazone and bute that she got from her home vet in
her trailer and did not need to pay $50+ for the treatment vet to
do it.
This appeared to really be gouging the riders. It is one thing for a
vet to be persistent in treating a horse that is in serious metabolic
trouble and another very different to push for evaluations and
treatments for lamenesses or other things that can wait until the rider's
regular vet can look at the horse.
Other vets in the Southeast are much more reasonable. They work rides
because they like horses and want to be involved with the
endurance sport. Most are paid a token amount which is much less than
could have been
earned by a day in the clinic. I have even seen one apologize to a
rider for having to ask for payment for fluids and drugs that he
gave to her horse. The vet should at least break even on supplies that
are used with a horse at a ride. They should not expect to
break even with what they would have earned had they not donated their
time to the ride.
Dave Bennett
Chickamauga, Georgia
email: benamil@juno.com
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