Grass sickness advice

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bumblelion

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Just moved house which we're renting. Found out from a friend of the landlords that two horses died here from grass sickness! Made me really worried obviously, as the fields must be contaminated! I will get some soil tests done but don't really know what to do! Iv been here a month now so still got 17 months until can leave due to contract!

Iv researched a bit and it says stable during spring and summer but my two will go completely bonkers! Plus due to arthritis need to be out as much as possible! Feel a bit stuck! My gut instinct tells me to do a runner! LOL! As obviously I don't want to lose them to grass sickness!

Any opinions/advice would be great please x
 
What sex,age and size are your horses/ponies?

Grass sickness is most common in young, male native ponies....... but young males are the main 2 points. Newly introduced to a pasture.

If the horses that died were on a particular pasture id try to get yours onto a different one if possible. Also be careful with regards to pasture rotation.

Grass sickness is thought ot be caused by Chlostridium boultinum C (I think thats right, cant remember the exact strain!) Although this has not been proven.

soil tests will help you say yey or ney to it being preset but wont help guarantee the horses wont get it.
I am assuming with arthritis your horses are of the older variety and so are at a decreased risk of getting it.
Also if the fields are chain harrowed this is also a big no no as it disturbs the soil and raisies the bacteria to the surface increasing the lieklyhood of horses getting it.

Hope this helps some.
 
My horse had grass sickness 2 years ago on our 3 acre field - we haven't moved and have two other horses who didn't have it, still on the same pasture (we managed to nurse him back to health - that's him in my siggy). Some outbreaks happen to a number of horses in a field one year and then nothing ever occurs again.

My advice is just to be cautious - there are a number of steps you can take to minimise risk - go to http://www.grasssickness.org.uk/main.htm and look at the advice tab, then the paper by Catriona Rowan, that should explain how you should manage the horses and the land.

In short, in the spring I minimise the land disturbance (from harrowing and rolling), feed pink powder as a probiotic and make sure that the horses are kept in a routine and not stressed too much in the highest risk months, April - June. For eg. this year, I didn't back my 3 year old or really start working with her until the start of July.

Remember it is usually younger horses who are most at risk - the disease is indiscriminate, but you have to trust the stats to an extent.

Not sure that soil testing will actually help you much to be honest -are you looking for C. botulinum?

Hope this all helps
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The only one i have ever known to have it was not young and not a boy. Sadly we lost her to it. BUT over 100 horses have been in the same field in the 10 years since on a BIG livery yard and not one has ever had it since
 
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Where are you bumblelion? I don't think it's understood why but it's more prevalent in Scotland.

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Yes - in my local area you would be hard pushed to find a yard that has not suffered a grass sickness death.

The website given above is the best source for advice.

I try to do everything it recommends as I lost my last one to grass sickness:

Manage stress -
I'm moving my mare at the start of February and to prepare she's now on the Coligone powder supplement, she'll have had her shoes, worming and clipping done at the old yard and I'll be using current haylage for a week before introducing the new stuff and her hard feed won't change at all.

I feed Pink Powder all year.

I try to bring in and feed a bit of haylage each day in the summer.

I would never put my horse out onto a freshly harrowed field.


The only advice I don't follow is where it says to stable in the Spring as my horse would be miserable and stressed if I did this - thus more prone!

I do have a friend (a vet) who stables overnight even in the summer to prevent grass sickness but I have chosen not to do this.
 
I sold a youngster (8 month old gelding) to a new home close to me in Yorkshire. Within 5 weeks he had grass sickness and within 1 day he had been pts. The lovely lady who bought him had tests done after and it confirmed grass sickness.

It is such an awful desease and he was below the most at risk age, it was December so there was hardly any grass and no other horse had been affected on the same paddock.

I am sorry I don't have any advice except to wish you and your horses well and follow your instints!!
 
At my old yard, we had a 20 acre field on which we lost 7 ponies over 2 yrs to grass sickness.
When I bought my 5yr old TBx I refused to turn her out in that particular field. Unfortunately, she went over the fence one morning and spent the day grazing that field. I'd only had her a week and the following day she went down with Grass sickness. We battled it for 2 months but she never recovered and was PTS to end her suffering.
I would never knowingly turn my horses out on a contaminated field, Full stop. I know that sometimes it's unavoidable but I couldn't live with myself if my horse got sick and I knew he was at risk. Grass Sickness is a horriffic disease and I wouldn't wish my worst enemy to have to watch a horse suffer like I did.
On a further note, I was told by my vet that horses are at higher risk if they have recenty moved and are new to the field, so I would assume that the longer the horse has been in the field, the less the risk - correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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PS - forgot, I also feed seaweed supplement in the spring - is that the same as Coligone?

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Yeah the Coligone website says it contains a Seaweed buffer, Yeasacc, Alfalfa meal, sodium bicarbonate, ScFOS and MOS Prebiotics.


I do wonder if pure Seaweed (fresh or supplement?) in addition to this would be better or if the amount in Coligone is enough
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Seaweed apparently contains very high levels of iodine so I am wary of feeding too much.


This is a great document:

http://www.herefordequestrian.co.uk/GrassSickness_doc.PDF
 
cant remember if I posted this in my original statement but a good idea if you are turning out onto a "suspected contaminated" field is to put haylage/hay or something out with them in the field in an attempt to reduce the amount of grass consumed...... I know it sort of sounds backwards as turning out allows them to eat grass and be "natural" as it were but if you can reduce the grass intake it means there is reduced risk of them consuming the suspected C. Botulinum!

it is a god awful disease which is really unpleasant for the owner to experience and it just looks like the most distressing horrendous disease for the horse.

And with that I am so glad that Pootleperkin managed to nurse her horse back to (what looks like) good health! There are only few and far between horses that get this chance (not due to owners but due to the type of disease, there is acute, sub acute and chronic!) and its nice to have one happy story out of so many bad ones!
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Only 1 of the 3 types of grass sickness (chronic if I remember correctly) is nursable (if the horse is up to it!) the acute and subacute are so horrendously severe its nicer to Pts a.s.a.p.
 
Gully had the chronic version - as you say, the other two, acute and sub-acute can't be cured.

I kept him at home and nursed him - luckily I work from home, so was able to syringe feed him 3- 5 times a day and give him all the other care he needed. There is an account of his illness and care on the equine grass sickness trust's website (see link above) if anyone needs to know or would find helpful to know what the level of care entails.

It is a horrific disease, made worse by not knowing exactly why it occurs. We have no choice in keeeping ours on the same pasture, as we have them at home and keeping them elsewhere just isn't an option.

He is now fully recovered, so far as I can tell - it has taken 2 years, but he now has full stamina and is full of life
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More ODE's and sj to come this year hopefully!
 
actually, I would ring up your CAB office and see if you have a legal right to terminate this contract. Forget trying to work around this risk - its not one you need to put your horses through and grass sickness is still a great unknown. I would be pretty sure that you would find that not telling you this could be seen as effectively offering "goods" not fit for the purpose. I would have no hesitation in breaking this contract and putting my horse somewhere else.
 
lost my last horse to GS.
Poo pick by hand, try not to disturb the soil too much, harrow early as possible, especially in the peak months May and September ensure there is hay or haylage in the field, limit stress to your horses.
Don't think there is anything else I can advise.
 
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