Friends Horse Died Last Night - Ideas?

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Tia

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I just had a call from a friend of mine to let me know that one of her horses died last night. I asked what happened and what was wrong - details are a bit sketchy right now but here goes:

Horse is young, under 10 years old, lived with friend for the past 2 years without incident. She was slightly overweight and not being given a whole lot of exercise as won't ride out alone. Living in a dust paddock with one other horse and being given hay (not sure how much but NOT ad-lib), no hard feed.

Yesterday horse started looking "unwell", or, not right. They take horse to arena and walk her around. Vet is 4 hours drive away so they opt to phone another vet practice. Vet arrives an hour later and gives horse a sedative. Horse calms and they put her in a stable. Half hour later horse is looking unhappy again, so they take her outside and have her walk around again. After a while the horse goes down, so vet is called again. Once again he gives her a sedative and tells them that he doesn't know what it is, but he says it is not colic or twisted gut.

Couple of hours go by with horse fairly quiet; then horse gets all upset again, so vet is called again. He comes out and says he doesn't know what it is but that horse is in extreme pain. The decision is made to have the horse put to sleep then and there.

Yard has a worming programme and all horses look to be in good condition. Perhaps once more details come out it will be clearer; I have a couple of ideas though but didn't say anything as was not really the right time.

Any ideas?
 
How tragic, sand colic?

Edited to say, I know you said not colic, but unless there is an autopsy, would they really know?
 
Sounds like colic to me....contrary to popular belief colic can strike horses who are in good condition/well wormed.
I'm surprised at a few things;
1. The vet gave a sedative and not a painkiller like Buscopan.
2. The vet could tell it wasn't colic without exploring further...(my vets always tell me that you can't really tell what's happening inside unless you can feel it or open them up).
3. Could be laminitis I suppose, as it often has a colic element due to the toxins....but strange if nothing unusual happened in terms of management and not presenting with lameness.
4. Could be azoturia...grass sickness....but difficult to know with this info.
Condolences to your friend on her loss
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....and that's the reason why I wait 4 hours for my vet (who is also their usual vet) to arrive when I have a problem......

Shilsadair; you have mentioned at least a couple of things that I was thinking
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How awful for your friend and I'm sorry for her loss
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first things I thought of:

sand colic
gastric ulcer
in foal
hypolipemia(sp)
internal bleeding(thinking encysted redworms)
lead paint/ or in water system
dehydrated
 
I knew a horse who was similar, but did show more colicky symptoms, we couldn't control the pain enough to get her in lorry to go to Bristol, we tried for ten hours, the vet vouldn''t find a twist etc and it wasn't like normal colic, he then did an abdonminal tap on her, it was full of blood so he thinks she had an anerisum
 
Unusual treatment IMO especially with no internal exploration. Could be any number of things but immediate thoughts are a breakdown of the gut wall somewhere along its length - if thats the case there would have been very little they could have done apart from PTS.
 
copied from HHO Q&A page
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Horses grazing on sandy locations inevitably ingest sand, and younger horses are more likely to over-ingest as they tend to be less fussy about what they eat.

Sand will irritate the large colon, causing inflammation of the gut wall, which leads to either chronic diarrhoea or an impaction blocking the gut.

To help avoid this problem, make sure that your horse is fed any hard feed from buckets or mangers, not from the ground.

Under direction from your vet, you can give your horse Psyllium in his feed once a day. This is a powder which is designed to get between sand particles and break them up. Beware of giving Psyllium long term, as its effectiveness can diminish over time, as gut microbes adapt to it.

Feeding a high-fibre diet is also essential to maintain gut mobility. Provide hay in the field if the pasture becomes too poor, preferably in haynets which are tied high enough to avoid legs getting caught.

If you suspect sand as the cause of a gastric problem in your horse, dissolve some of his faeces in a bucket of water. Any sand in the faeces will sink to the bottom, so establishing its presence.

The amount obtained should be compared with a sample taken from a healthy horse in the same location, to assess what is a normal, acceptable level in the faeces, as sand may not necessarily be the cause of the problem.

X-rays can reveal sand impactions in foals and ponies, and diagnostic ultrasound may reveal it in larger horses.

If there is an impaction, your vet may prescribe laxatives which will lubricate the gut and help to move sand through it without damaging the gut lining further.

In acute cases, your vet may administerPsyllium dissolved in water via a stomach tube. This may need to be repeated several times a day by your vet for many days until the obstruction is cleared.
 
The only way your friend will know for sure is to get a post mortem done...but perhaps I'd use another vet?!
And if the PM suggests it was treatable...your friend may react badly.
S
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Thought of sand colic - a client of my OH has lost two horses to this over the past couple of years - imported from spain. One was operated on but died in surgery, the other had colic so severely it was pts on humane grounds and PM confirmed sand impaction had killed large amount of the intestine in both cases.

I have noticed a lot of the US sites sell a supplement to prevent this, so wonder if it is common in places where there is not much grass grazing.

Sounds like the vet was not sure of the problem, and one assumes that the horse was not able to easily get to an equine hospital with facilities quickly enough to do anything other than pts to prevent suffering. Was the vet an experienced equine vet?
 
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Thank you for all of your thoughts and suggestions. I only know as much as you guys so more information is probably needed - I am seeing her tomorrow so if she wants to talk about it then maybe more can be gleaned.

The equine hospital is about 4 hours drive from her so that really isn't an option for us living out here unfortunately.

As to your quote Theresa:
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Was the vet an experienced equine vet?

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The one they ended up using is the practice owner and has been dealing with horses for at least a couple of decades. One of my boarders used to use him and his practice.....after watching them, that was enough for me to decide not to!

You know I keep coming back to some worm/perforation/gut issue here. I really don't think it is sand colic, although who knows.

No post mortem is being done - the horse is being buried today in their back pasture, so unfortunately it may just be one of those things that she will never know.

When she feels more up to talking about the mare, if anything else comes to light, I'll let you know.
 
Ragwort is very rare around where I live - you hardly ever see it. Doubtful it was grass sickness and they have owned the horse for a couple of years so worms shouldn't have been an issue......I'm more flummoxed as to how the vet dealt with it, than what caused it, although I would like to know that too.....as I have just sold them one of my dear horses and wouldn't like anything to happen to her.
 
Maybe it is just as well that no PM is being done, that way she will never know that something could have been done if this had been the case.

Think we in the UK don't realise how lucky we are to normally have a vet close at hand when this sort of thing happens and an equine hospital normally within a hour or two drive.
 
My vet was only 10 mins drive from my place in England and he had a hospital at his place aswell as the surgery hospital 15 mins away. You really do have to have fairly decent vet knowledge to live up here as not only is the hospital miles away but the only decent vet in the area often is too!

This is why my farm is fully stocked with most emergency needs, needles, anti-b's etc because if something serious does happen, generally I can keep the horse going until the vet eventually gets here, which is often the late hours of the night.

You do get used to it though and I am only thankful that I had a great vet teacher back in England, as all his passed on knowledge definitely helped me through the early days here.
 
Could be a hernia, sometimes they can tear so the gut enters them. That in itself doesn't kill the horse but the pain and shock can. It's very, very rare though. What an awful thing to happen.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like colic to me....contrary to popular belief colic can strike horses who are in good condition/well wormed.
I'm surprised at a few things;
1. The vet gave a sedative and not a painkiller like Buscopan.
S
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my horse who is regulalry wormed/good condition has had colic twice and vet gave both a painkiller and sedative to keep him calm.

condolences to your friend
 
Heart?

Vet told me he was asked to look at a horse that had been a bit off colour but nothing specific. Slightly off feed, looked a bit unhappy. He got out his stethoscope to listen to his heart and said "this horse is dying" stepped back and it crashed to the floor.

It had been in work until a few days before with no symptoms.

Usually the vet says colic if they think they have a pain. Could have been internal tumour/bleeding/worm damage?
 
Years ago a friend of mine's pony suddenly died after colic like symptons, but it turned out he had liver failure. He was fine before and showed no symptons or being ill.
 
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To help avoid this problem, make sure that your horse is fed any hard feed from buckets or mangers, not from the ground.

Under direction from your vet, you can give your horse Psyllium in his feed once a day. This is a powder which is designed to get between sand particles and break them up. Beware of giving Psyllium long term, as its effectiveness can diminish over time, as gut microbes adapt to it.


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Condolences to your friend on losing their horse
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It must have been a very stressful and traumatic experience.

We have a big problem with sand colic in our Australian horse population mainly due to the long drought we've endured. I asked a very highly regarded Aussie Vet - http://www.kohnkesown.com/ how to administer Psyllium Husk as a preventative measure.

He actually recommended a much higher dosage than a small amount once a day - which he feels is ineffective. He recommended 70-100 gms (1 gm = 0.35 oxs) per 100 kg (1 kg = 2.2 lbs) of equine bodyweight in a dry feed over 2 consecutive days once a month. Here is an article he wrote that mentions this and, how to avoid colic via feeding techniques - http://www.highlandssaddlery.com.au/Text/1149161418062-7946/uploadedFiles/1164246376406-9611.pdf

My four horses didn't suffer any negative consequences as a result of the larger dosage of Psyllium Husk. However many of my fellow horse owners down under have had advice of giving a smaller dosage regularly. I went with John Kohnke's opinion of the higher dosage.

All the best. ANG
 
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