impresario08
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have experience of owning a horse with atrial fibrillation? My horse has recently been diagnosed.
oh gosh it must have been horrible to see the heart attacks!
I know a horse that is rather large - 18.3 hands plus with this.
He's extremely lethargic, and struggles to jump. Owner jumps him regardless. Its like watching a horse jump in slow motion. Front legs land before he can pull the hinds over. Due to his size it doesn't impact his ability to leave fences standing, but I do think if he was a smaller horse, he would plough through everything.
His heart was shocked back to a regular beat. There are days were he quite obviously is struggling and seems very tired. I'd say he feels like he's been hit with a tonne of bricks all the time and its painful to watch. No energy at all, life just seems tough for him.
That's really interesting M88, thank you. The vet used the term heart attack, but he really doesn't seem bothered as he gets over it. We had the ECG, and at first were told that he could be ridden at walk and trot, but then had a letter from the heart specialist saying that, on a second look, she thought only at walk. We retired him because the chances of him only walking were remote, whatever his rider said! For the moment, he's a happy, and very large, field ornament.
I presume he is more likely to collapse in the field than a horse without AF, though as Murphy 88 said above it is more likely to be a faint than a heart attack. He has only done so twice that we are aware of in 9/10 years; once he got up very quickly and was fine by the time the vet got there, and the second time was associated with an attack of colic, which he recovered from, somewhat to the vet's surprise.is he at increased risk for collapse in the field? this is what I'm trying to figure out with my lad
Can't horses be given beta blockers like humans for AF? My Mum had been on them for years and then she had the cardio conversion thing in hospital where she was sedated and shocked to rejig her heart. It worked for a few days but it went back out of rhythm a few days later and she's on beta blockers for life. She's been told she can't have the procedure a second time although I'm not sure if that's because it wouldn't be likely to work again or whether its dangerous to repeat the procedure.
So would betablockers not be suitable for horses? Or the equivalent drug whatever it is called?
Thank you for that - very interesting.There was a paper published this year looking at a beta-blocker for potential long-term use in AF, but it's only in the early stages - ie we know it has an effect on heart rhythm, but not what long term use etc might do / whether it would work as a long term anti-arrhythmic. Currently, the only treatments for AF are TVEC (electrical cardioversion) or quinidine therapy (a drug given via tube in to the stomach). Both have similar success rates, quinidine can have side effects including colic and occasionally fatal arrhythmias, TVEC requires a general anesthetic and only a small number of specialists perform it. Heart meds for horses are still quite far behind humans / dogs, it's only in the last few years that we have had evidence for using certain meds for heart failure which have long been in use for dogs.
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My horse had it, he lasted six months after diagnosis when, during the first hot weekend in May, he went into heart failure and I had him PTS.
Not always... My stallion had two attacks whilst out being ridden. The first time, he appeared to be sliding about as if on ice, sweated up and was distressed. By the time I'd dismounted, and led him home, he was fine. The second time, again out doing steady roadwork, he appeared to be blind, staggering, and refusing to move. Same as before, he recovered very quickly. We could not replicate these attacks even after 30 mins cantering on the lunge, so couldn't do an ECG. It wasn't until a vet asked had he been given a flu vaccination, that we deduced the vacc had given him a virus that led to the AF. He wasn't given vaccinations for 2 years, and had a year off work. Never had a problem again, and he is now 22.My vet told me this - Afib leads to heart disease and heart disease leads to heart failure and that is what happened.