Competing horse with a heart defect

[hottoddy]

I have a home bred four year old that I am breaking and who is going very well. On Thursday night, for reasons known only to herself, she tried to jump out of her stable. When I found her on Friday morning she had many cuts, mostly superficial but one on her fetlock, very close to the joint. She was taken to the vets for examination and during this examination, a heart murmur was noticed. She had an ECG and apparently it is a very rare type (vets were very excited about it!!). They were suprised she had made it to four, she has a hole in her heart and faulty valves. She was bred as an eventer and now this is out of the question but they have said that she is obviously coping with it and as long as it is monitered she should be ok to do dressage and low level show-jumping. I'm devastated about this, she is a lovely mare and I was hoping for a big future with her, I didn't really want to wait all this time for a dressage horse.

Was just wondering if anyone had any experience of this type of problem, and what sort of work she may be able to do.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Britestar]

I have a rising 17yr old, who, when she was born was diagnosed with an hole in heart heart.

Shortly after her birth (hours) I noticed that her hinds legs were very swollen, and she was only able to bend them with difficulty, and found it hard to stand. I called the Vet who listened and said she had a hole in her heart. This was verified by another Vet. I was told there was very little I could do, but wait and see.

She grew up normally, but each year I had her heart checked, and each year the noise it made was less. By the time she was 6 it was inaudible to all but the one Vet who had originally seen her, and he thought it was probably because he was searching for it.

She went on to compete in all disciplines, never having a problem, and last year she had her 1st baby.

Is there any chance your horse may improve as he gets older? I was told that like children who can be born with holes, they can resolve over time themselves.

Maybe not a lot of help. Sorry.

PS. I know of someone who had an advanced eventer that had a very weird heart, and it competed in 3DE's and died at about 25yrs!

 

[hottoddy]

Thanks, thats encouraging. Will talk to the vet and try to find out more tomorrow. As she is only just being broken, they have suggested I carry on with the work and see how she copes and have the heart monitered regularly. They have said if I work her it will probably shorten her lifespan, but your post seems to contradict this! She has appeared perfectly normal up to now, perhaps a bit of a late developer, and no-one has picked up on it before although it must have always been there

 

[amage]

I would want a bit more investigation done tbh....sorry to be morbid but if she was to drop someday while you or someone else was riding her the consequences could be very bad...