British Owner Sues Veterinarians Over Laminitis and Wins $600K Damages

July 26, 2005—According to a report just received via the BBC, a British horse owner has been awarded more than $600,000 in damages because of a veterinarian’s failure to warn her that steroid injections could cause laminitis.

The case involves the high-profile dressage mare Annastasia, who was the national dressage champion of France in 2000 but was British-owned. The owner insisted that her own British vet be involved in care decisions, while the horse was under the care of the French team veterinarian.

Ultimately, both British and French veterinarians were named in the suit.

In 1999 and again in August 2001, the horse received corticosteroid injections and, on the second instance, developed laminitis and was destroyed due to the severity of the laminitis. The assumption is that the steroids directly led to the sudden and severe laminitis attack.

The judge agreed that the owner might have refused the treatment if she had been told of the risks. He placed 85 percent of the liability on the French veterinarian, with 15% on the British veterinarian.

(Please note that the value of the judgement was 350,000 GBP, which has an equivalent value of about $600,000USD.)

Australian Seminar on Shoeing the Thoroughbred Racehorse

Farrier John Godwin was key note speaker on shoeing the thoroughbred racehorse at a farriers’ workshop held at the University of Melbourne's Equine Centre at Weribee, Victoria in June. There were 47 attendees at the workshop sponsored by Racing Victoria, Virbac and Decron. The farrier’s seminars are a joint initiative with the Farrier’s & Blacksmith’s Association of Victoria, the Victorian Master Farrier’s Association and the Equine Centre.

John is a Hoofcare & Lameness subscriber who lives near Perth in Western Australia, where he specializes in racehorses.

The University of Melbourne's Equine Centre is a division of the Veterinary Clinic and Hospital which is a department of the Faculty of Veterinary Science. It is one of only four University teaching hospitals in Australia that also operates as a specialist equine referral clinic. The Equine Centre provides veterinary care for over 3000 horses 24 hours a day 365 days a year; and provides training for over 80 veterinary students each year.