Grass Sickness in 6 Year Old, Please Read

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paddy2012

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Hi all,

I am 16, and recently we bought a new 6 y/o gelding called Paddy- about 2 months ago. I never thought i would find such a sweet yet such a talented horse.

Unfortunatly, yesterday morning we noticed a lack of droppings in his bed, and he had drunk very little. His belly was a little swollen so we called the vet out just to check. She found that his heart rate was 65 )where it should be 35), and he had a temperature. She felt inside his rectum and found a very large impaction and when she drew her hand out the glove was covered in a mucus substance.
He was also dehydrated, so we tubed him and fed him some electrolytes.
The vet told us that the high heart rate was different to a normal impaction, where it is not usually as high. The mucus also made her suspicious of an underlying problem.
He was then given intro-venus fluids and tubed once again in the evening.

This morning we took him to Liverpool as he had still not passed any muck. Here, they diagnosed him with acute grass sickness. Today they have operated on him and done a biopsy and taken a sample from his intestine to test for grass sickness.
He has deteriorated rapidly and it is likely that the diagnosis will come back positive, in which case he will be put down.
His whole large intestine is solid with muck that he cannot pass.

Throughout this whole thing he has remained the sweet and lovely boy i adore, and this sickness has taken him from me. It is so cruel for a horse this young and with this much sweetness and potential.

I truly wish there was a way back for him.

Does anyone have any experiences of grass sickness of any type that they could share with me? For some reason hearing of other peoples experiences is helping me.

Thank you, and please, anyone who reads this please send a prayer up for paddy tonight that the biopsy results come up negative!!
 
Thank you both. It's even worse that there is no way to prevent it, or to treat it. What about the rest of the horses on the livery yard i'm at?!:(
 
I have no experience of grass sickness but wanted to post my sympathies. I have everything crossed that the test will be negative. Xxx
 
Georgia, there is little you can do but keep your fingers crossed and know you are doing all you can. Best wishes.
 
I've also replied to your post in the Vet section.

Grass Sickness isn't thought to be contagious(sp?) between horses I've been on a yard which has had 3 cases over the last few years and none were in the same year, there is lots of very good information on this website.

http://www.grasssickness.org.uk/

From memory of attending a GS talk from the RDVS they recommend resting the grazing the horse had been on for a while as they are looking at something in the soil being a possible cause. However my previous yard didn't do this and the other horses affected grazed in different fields.
 
Have no experience of Grass Sickness, but want to send my thoughts and support to you. Such a horrible thing. I do remember, though, a racehorse called Mr. Baileys, who had it, but eventually recovered. Lots of hugs to you and your horse xxx
 
I lost my beautiful 3 year old gelding last September from acute grass sickness. He was rushed to the vet and also put on fluids. They had a lot of hope for him and I stayed with him trying to get him to eat and take on water. He was brilliant all the way through, but unfortunately his bloods came back and all his organs had failed.
He was laid down and had no strength at all, but he sat up one last time, looked me in the eye and I knew I had to make the hardest decision of my life for my best friend. I find it so hard to believe he is gone and will never understand why he got it.
I am sorry I can't give you a happy ending but I have everything crossed for you and your boy xx
 
No advice sorry. Just wanted to say that my thoughts are with you and Paddy. You sound like you have a good vet who spotted the signs early and he is in the best place he can be at the moment. Fingers crossed for you.
 
So sad. :( Such a horrible horrible disease. The RDSVS is a specialist in grass sichness so we saw a lot of them.

They don't know what causes it but it's thought to be a botulism in the soil. It's almost exclusively young horses who get it, and is usually caused by distured soil (so any digging work, excessive harrowing). Some areas are rife (northern scotland especially) and loose many young horses to it. Feeding small amounts of hard feed daily or some hay is thought to help.

If he survives a couple of days it will become chronic grass sickness. Quite a few chronic grass sickness horses recover but the nursing is unfeasibily intensive. There seems to be no reason why some horses progress to chronic and others don't make it, but if they will eat (anything! Chocolate, ham sandwiches, it doesn't matter), that is the most important factor.

My friends little cob came down with Grass sickness a good few years ago. He managed to survive the first couple of days and went on to make a full recovery.

All fingers and toes crossed for him. If it does come back positive, but he will eat, there may be hope yet for him.

Contact the Equine Grass Sickness fund for more advice.
 
My thoughts have been with you and Paddy all day - I was at Liverpool taking a horse for a lameness work up when your Mum parked next to us. He looks like a lovely boy - sending all our positive vibes and prayers your way xxx
 
How horrible. I really hope he pulls through - they can! I can't remember though which is the more serious, chronic grass sickness or acute. I have a feeling it's chronic but maybe someone else will know more.

I really hope he does pull through. A neighbour of ours had a horse diagnosed with GS and hers pulled through and is still going strong.
 
I've no positive experiences, I'm sorry :( we've lost 3 off our yard over the past 2 years and the 3rd was put to sleep only last week when EGS came about again due to the weather and/or building work going on near the fields we think.
We've been told to keep routine the same and to not make any big changes such as moving fields or taking them off grass altogether as stress has a huge impact - we've also been told that probiotics can help (such as live yoghurt) and to bring them in and give them a haynet each day - ours are only out for an hour per day anyway (and always have been) and one wears a muzzle so gets even less grass, but its still a huge worry. ladyt25, acute is the most severe, most cases are said to be PTS within 48 hours whereas chronic some cases can pull through.

It's such an awful disease and not much seems to be known about it :( thinking of you and hoping tests are negative xx
 
I am so so sorry for you. Your post has just brought back all the memories from loosing my beautiful mare Twiggy to acute GS 5 years ago, also 6 years old. The year she died was a bad one in Kent for GS as my vets had a few cases - they say when the weather is warm and wet GS is more rife. Twiggy was the only one to get it in the yard she was at. In just 12 hours from noticing she couldnt swallow properly she was PTS as acute GS was diagnosed while she was being operated on for colic - I knew it wasnt colic but until they get the samples back the vets were going to treat it as such as it is so rare. I am sorry there are no words of comfort I can offer other than you are doing the right thing and your horse is in the best hands.

All my thoughts are with you. Big hugs x
 
No experience of GS but having just lost our boy suddenly I know what you're going through. You sound incredibly brave and strong for a young girl, I have my fingers and toes crossed for your lovely boy Paddy. Be strong xxx
 
Thank you all so much for your support.
I do think the likelihood of him somehow getting better is so so small, but your comments mean a lot.
Thank you again
 
jellyshark said:
My thoughts have been with you and Paddy all day - I was at Liverpool taking a horse for a lameness work up when your Mum parked next to us. He looks like a lovely boy - sending all our positive vibes and prayers your way xxx
Click to expand...
Thank you:) Small world..!
My mum was amazing today.

Hope your lameness sorts itself out aswell x
 
Really sorry to hear this. Fingers crossed it's a chronic case and he can be nursed to health again. We've had too many acute cases up this way this year, too many good ponies lost :(
Hugs for your boy x
 
A close friends horse had chronic grass sickness two years ago and is back eventing . So it is possible. However it was very hard and I would hate to have to choose whether to try if I was faced with it again.
The staff at Liphook were fantastic. But despite the best of care they fall so far that it becomes touch and go whether they survive when their systems have to come back into action as medical support is reduced.With this particular horse I know the exact moment he hit rock bottom. I was taking him for his nightly walk around the "Orchard" just to get him out of his box and let him feel like a horse again. He stopped and wouldnt move and I was sure he had given up. What he didnt know however was that he was actualy going for his first free 10 minutes in the paddock. We had to almost bully him to get him to move ,but once he realised that he was going out he regained his strength of will.After that he slowly picked up. Getting him to drink was the hardest part. We tried so many different tricks ,and flavours in his water. Oddly enough the colour of the waterbucket seemed to matter . A wide shallow bright red bucket seemed to take his fancy. I got that suggestion from the internet and it seemed to help. My heart goes out to you and what you may face and I wish you and your horse good luck.
 
I knew a horse who recovered from chronic grass sickness. She went to the vet for colic and came back a few weeks later because the vets had done all they could. Horse stayed in the stable, ate a little hay and the owners came before and after work and in their lunch breaks to hand feed her whatever she would eat. They had to change the food a lot and the horse wouldn't eat from a bucket. She sweated a bit all the time and was very thin, but recovered after a month or two and went back on the same field with all the others that were still there. None of the rest if them got grass sickness so maybe this mare was unlucky.
 
My gorgeous Dartmoor died of grass sickness aged 5 :( I was only 10 and down the yard on my own but knew something was wrong. Mum got the vet out the next day (Monday) he was diagnosed and put down on the Wednesday. I was on a school trip for all of this and bounced off the bus in the school carpark desperate to see him to find my mum in tears! He was such a little stunner and we were about to start competing properly but it wasn't to be :( it is a heart breaking illness as there really isn't much you can do, but just be there for him and I hope it's not the worst news xx
 
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