What to do about loaning horse with back ache

[Dizzy Woo]

Had the following text from girl we are about to full loan her horse from

K was sedated today by the vet and had the physiotherapist perform a deep treatment on her. She said she had very little, almost no, movement in her right side and her quadriceps, hamstrings, pelvis and lumbar region muscles were in spasm. This is probably the result of an injury she did many months ago that has slowly been putting pressure on the muscles and now it has peaked! However through treatment today using a H-wave machine, which involves putting electrodes on to the skin and relaxing and contracting the muscles with electricity, she made a huge improvement! There is going to be no lasting damage and in the long run this wont stop her from doing anything at all you wanted to do with her! However she does need another session of this deep sedated physiotherapy which she will be having on Friday 3rd May (day before your due to pick her up). As a result the physio then has said she must be worked according to a 6 week plan she will give me to ensure the muscles heal and recover properly. So for the first 6 weeks if she came to you, it would be a case of walking in hand, light lungeing and progressing to light hacking and then obviously back into full work and jumping!

The girl is smashing and giving us the heads up in case we don't want to go ahead with loan.
What do you think, we are quite happy to do the work with her if she is going to make a full recovery but is that our heart ruling our head?

 

[Trewsers]

I don't think it's heart ruling head - the horse could easily injure itself whilst you have it on loan and you would be in a similar position anyways (I know that is an unlikely scenario but just saying). It wouldn't bother me, I've had two injuries with Storm and had to bring her back into full work, and so long as you follow a set plan and listen to the vet then it isn't a problem. However, I do have a lot of patience and time on my hands, will your daughter be feeling the same? Just wondering if she might feel a little cheated if she can't get into doing the sorts of things she really wanted to?

 

[Dizzy Woo]

Daughter and loaner both thinking it will give horse and daughter a time to get to know each other and the area, OH and I will also have to do some of the I hand stuff (don't mind if I do!)

 

[Trewsers]

Daughter and loaner both thinking it will give horse and daughter a time to get to know each other and the area, OH and I will also have to do some of the I hand stuff (don't mind if I do!)

That's a good point.

 

[Cortrasna]

I think so long as you have some sort of water tight agreement set up, stating that you won't be responsible for any ongoing vets fees with the problem, it might be worth a shot.

If you feel she is perfect in every way for your daughter and she is happy to stick to the rehab schedule it could have some real bonus with the bonding and settling in side of things.:smile:

 

[juliecwuk]

Agree with cortrasna.

I think it's great how honest the owner is being

 

[Dizzy Woo]

Agree with cortrasna.

I think it's great how honest the owner is being

She really is a super young lady, has said she will pay for any ongoing treatment/physio in the future :smile:
Just wants 'her princess' to have a good home and is so happy she is going with daughter

 

[sjp1]

I think thats fab that owner is being so upfront - however, I would like to see the report from physio myself (if it were me?).

 

[OwnedbyChanter]

My last loan horse was recovering from KS, the owner was honest with me and paid all the vet bills. She was fab and I had the horse for 5 years