Ridecamp: [RC] navicular horse/vet's prognosis

> am concerned that the emphasis is on old issues
> with the coffin bone when this owner really needs to be looking at
what's happening with her horse right now. From what Angie > described,>
the horse appears to be suffering acute laminitis,

Well...pretty good guess. Just back from a 6 our trip to the vet. OF
COURSE the horse was apparently touched by an angel last night and
decided to show nothing even approaching the amount of discomfort
exhibited 2 days ago.  Vet thought laminitis too (guess I'll give up on
thinking the rear should tuck in laminitis). He looked at old x-rays,
then took new ones. No rotation whatsoever, ever.  No heat in the foot
either...but he still says some laminitis, along with navicular.  X-rays
of navicular bone show the worst *looking* one is on the *good* leg.
Thinks there's some compensatory stuff going on.  Horse showed no
sensitivity to hoof testers anywhere.  I had to hold him some. Liked him
much better when he was really hurting. Dragged me everywhere...no sign
of ground manners.  

Someone today repremanded me for saying vets might think "$$CHU-CHING$$".
 Well...it seems as if they assume that since you brought this horse in
you want desperately to save him and will do anything you can.  I think
this is the second time I've gone with someone who simply wanted the vet
to tell them they *should* put an animal down so they could feel they
were doing the right thing and the vet never even brought up the
possibility.  

Surprisingly enough, the owner hinted several times that she worried
about his "quality of life".  We explained he will never be ridden.  That
she is moving out of town and will not be here to watch over him.  That
he has beautiful thick grass on her field.  The vet simply smiled and
said, "We can manage this.  He cannot have grass.  He needs egg-bar shoes
every 5-6 weeks, with wedges.  He needs MSM every day, but want him to
also have bute for a few days till the MSM takes over." 

The problem is they're leaving 4'10 Bekki Crippen the burden of
overseeing all this.  Bekki has a mental disability and it's a lot to ask
her to be responsible for both the monitoring of his condition with this
elephant of a horse, and the carrying out of all this complicated, time
consuming care in the owner's absence....which could last the rest of the
horse's life.

The vet's prognosis sounded so optimistic that I stepped in and said,
"What it means is this. You have to put up a confined area which you plan
to let him eat down to dirt. Then provide him with some fairly low
quality hay to subsist on while he lives out his days...Bekki has to get
medicine into him daily without giving him grain with it...and you've got
to find a farrier who will work on him, possibly drugging him so he can
stand on one foot long enough to get all these special shoes."  She
looked at the vet and he said, "right" as if that was what he'd been
telling her all along.

 The owner repeated her concern that she did not like the idea of him
being confined in a round pen deprived of food, and was concerned about
the quality of that life.  The door was WIDE OPEN for the vet to discuss
the possibility of putting the horse down but he so ignored it that I
believe now she'll feel guilty to have considered it.  Of course the
horse was licking hands, nuzzling, and generally laying it on as if he
*knew* his life depended on it.

 The horse did have some white line, but it was caught early and no great
concern.  No sensitivity to sole pressure.  Looks like a money pit to me,
and a not so fun life for the horse, which will mean a never ending
source of work for Bekki.

Angie  

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