Grade 5 heart murmur - any experiences?

[Patterdale]

Does anyone have any experience of this?
Our wonderful, perfect, one in a million first ridden pony has been diagnosed with a grade 5. She’s been referred for investigations so we’re awaiting the appointment.
She got the check up because of decreased performance, loss of condition, respiratory issues and generally being reluctant to go forward.

Would really appreciate any experiences please. Thank you.

 

[hock]

No experience I’m afraid I just wanted to say best of luck and hopefully a treatment plan will be found that will improve your ponies quality of life.

 

[bouncing_ball]

https://belmontfarmandequinevets.co...ine-Rebranded-053-Heart-Murmurs-Factsheet.pdf

A horse that used to be at my yard was diagnosed with bad heart murmur. Thinking retirement. Then when did tests with heart specialist a few months later wasnt as bad. Not sure if improved or inaccurate diagnosis. Horse could stay in light work.

 

[Orangehorse]

What is its red cell status? I knew a driving horse that was diagnosed with serious heart murmur. As in should not be working at all.
Took a blood test to find it was very low in iron and after a course of treatment was fine.

 

[TPO]

My story didn't have a happy ending.

Horse collapsed in walk when ridden. Vet investigation found the murmur.

He wasn't a horse that coped well with being stabled or away from home/his friends so decided against sending him to horspital for a stay to do an EGC and further investigations. At the end of the day there was no cure available for him so further diagnosis didn't seem of value in that position.

As he'd already collapsed there was a real concern that it could happen again when having a yee haa in the field and badly/seriously/painfully injure himself or that he could collapse when being handled and seriously injured or crush and kill a person.

I hope that you get better news. From the little I know they all seem to differ. I think it was different as he had collapsed out of the blue when all he ever did was walk so not under any exertion

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

I'm sorry to say I would retire the pony to the field. I would not feel happy for the pony to be ridden incase they just dropped underneath the kid.

We have had various heart issues with horses at work and generally the outcome isn't great. Atrial fibrillation we can deal with, the rest we can't.

 

[nikicb]

My 29 year old pony has a grade 3/4 heart murmur which sadly ended his ridden career. He was still having a ball at pony club up until a couple of years ago. The vet said he could still be ridden at walk, but as it was other people's children riding him, I took the decision to retire him from ridden work. He still charges up and down the field when he feels like it, and I dread him dropping on the spot, but at least it would be quick I guess. Day to day he is absolutely fine. I know there can be situations of viruses causing the heart murmur which they can recover from. I hope that's the case for your pony. xxx

 

[Patterdale]

Thank you very much for the replies.
Not sure about anaemia as we haven’t run bloods yet, assuming they’ll do all that when she goes in. But it’s a proper murmur, I don’t think anaemia can cause S3 and S4 sounds so probably won’t be that simple in her case

We’ve taken vets advice and she won’t be ridden until she’s been investigated and diagnosed. I don’t expect the prognosis to include riding in the future either. Just my gut feeling.

I’m so sad about it. She’s my daughters best friend. She’s got all my children going off the lead and she is just the kindest pony ever. She’s the first ridden that everyone wants and few people find, so I suppose we should try and feel grateful for the ridden time we had with her. She’s only 11 though ?

 

[Patterdale]

And also with the current price of first ridden ponies I don’t know how we will ever replace her ?

 

[Orangehorse]

I had a lovely connemara pony on trial once, show quality and a nice all rounder. She was 7 and I nearly didn't get her vetted, but I did and the vet said dismount immediately and don't ride again as she had a serious heart problem. I cried.

 

[Goldenstar]

When I had Fatty vetted I also had to get off quickly he was described as a death trap we where advised not to handle him in a small space in case he collapsed on us ( he was on trial )
Luckily his owner had super duper LOU insurance and the insurance company referred him to a centre of excellence and had another vet from another centre of excellence came over as well .
The upshot was he had a virus it had damaged his heart periods on steroids corrected it but when they stopped the effect quickly wore off .
The prognosis was uncertain because they usually see these horses after they have died and don’t know how many just get over it in time .
His owner took a reduced LOU pay out and I bought Fatty ( who was 8 and an epic character ) for £1 .
We turned him out and by chance a horsy friend asked about him and I told her the tale she was a GP and it was interesting because it happens to people and we make them exercise and yes they can pass out but usually the heart rights itself .
So I rang the vet and asked if the only reason we did not ride Fatty was that he was dangerous to us the answer was yes .
SO we rode a horse and lead him and lunged him and after about three months he just had a different vibe so we got the cardio lady back and lunged him in the thingy that records their heart as they work , his heart was normal he’s twenty now and still with us .
Get a real understanding of what type of murmur you are dealing with , understand if a period of steroids might help .
Get some really heavy duty advice before you give up .

 

[ycbm]

A guy I sold a horse to had an intermediate eventer which failed a sales vetting on a heart murmur. It was rested for the summer and by the winter it was declared fit to go hunting. The assumption was it was a viral thing. I hope yours is similar.
.

 

[Annagain]

And also with the current price of first ridden ponies I don’t know how we will ever replace her ?

What sort of size are you looking for? I know of one but it's only about 11hh and a bit older. Hopefully it won't come to that but in case it helps.

 

[Fransurrey]

A friend of mine had a horse with a Grade 4 I think it was. She was told that she shouldn't ride him due to the danger of collapse. He wasn't the retirement type though (endurance competition horse). She downgraded his rides on the understanding she'd never get a Grade 1 at vetting gates, but he did actually do quite well. It was only in the last couple of months that his heart started to fail and he developed ascites as a result. He was pts at that point. Not sure how I feel about continuing to properly work a horse like that, but he certainly seemed very happy out on the plains.

 

[Patterdale]

Thank you very much. A bit of hope here so I’m clinging to that!

I think my worry is because you do hear stories of asymptomatic horses who have heart murmurs picked up by chance and are fine, but this one is very symptomatic (lethargy, loss of condition, cough).

Just waiting on pins for the Leahurst appointment now!

 

[Goldenstar]

Fatty was symptomatic we just did not realise .
Fatty had changed home a couple months before he was vetting then and passed , his new owner then suffered a change of circumstances and opted to sell him because her other horse was older and had been lame .
He had been naughty from shortly after she got him lazy then bucky ( feeling he did not want to go ) he had cough ( which I put down to straw and poor environmental control in yard ) he was not thin Fatty is never slim .
As soon as we found the problem I understood his poor coat his sarcoids the laziness the skin issues he was severely immune compromised .
The thing we did not know the horse neither did his owner who worked away and did not see him everyday he had become ill around the time of move to his owner and no one noticed .
There is hope you just need to understand fully what’s going on .What’s his blood work telling you ?

 

[Bluewaves]

My horse was in his late teens when a severe murmer was noted when he was being sedated for dental work. One vet said Grade 6, another Grade 4/5. I was advised to retire because he could go down at any time. He is still prancing round his retirement field three years later loving life. It was an easier decision to make because he was older and also had on and off joint issues.

 

[Lucky Snowball]

Years ago one of my jumping horses was diagnosed with a heart murmur. (Back then I don't think there was a grading system) the vet said definitely not to jump the horse in case it dropped dead in mid air! He was doing really well at the time and had qualified for Olympia - what would you have done??? I carried on as normal, jumped at the show and continued jumping him until he retired at about 17 to be a light hack. With hindsight it was silly but I was young and stupid. No regrets. Now I'm I'm old and hopefully not quite so stupid.