Grass Sickness rears its ugly head :-)

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lilacjackie

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Feel so so bereft for my niece, yesterday she lost her young section A gelding to grass sickness, today after doing her other two horses she was called back to farm as her young Arab mare was down in field and showing signs of colic, she immediately rang vet and they arrived at the same time, sadly the mare was also suffering grass sickness and was pts an hour ago, there was nothing could be done. She and her OH are absolutely devastated.
 
I totally feel her pain. I lost my 4 yr old mare 2 weeks ago to grass sickness after a 5 day long fight treating what the vet thought was impaction colic.
heartbreaking. : (
x
 
Dizzydancer said:
Oh no such a shame. Thoughts to your niece.
Also warn others to get there's off the field.
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Thank you, after yesterday all horses were moved off the field but maybe her Arab had already contracted it, I just cannot believe its happened. An isolated case is hard enough to bear but two in two days??? Her Vet was stunned.
 
Pony&cow, am so sorry to hear about yours, same with her section A, had been ill and being treated for colic since thursday, but lost his battle yesterday, her Arab had been apparently fine until today!!! My heart goes out to everyone who has affected by this horrible disease.
 
I'm so sorry, that's terrible to hear :-(((((((((((

I'm sure they have already but make sure they report the incidences on the EGS website as this is enormously helpful and now there is the trial of a vaccine there is hope that in the future high risk horses/areas may be able to reduce the incidence, although too late for these two precious equines :-((
 
I lost a gorgeous mare to GS some years ago. fortunately no other equine on the land has suffered so far. I hope I never see it again.
 
I lost my gorgeous horse of a lifetime to grass sickness 18 months ago, I have another youngster and I am absolutely terrified of him getting the dreaded disease too. My vet was fantastic and educated me well.
My biggest condolences for your niece, losing 1 is hard enough, but 2 is just awful.
 
Ah that's just awful, my heart goes out to her. I was lucky with mine and managed to pull him through. I can remember how devastated I was when he had contracted it. Lots of hugs.
 
It's a horrible horrible thing but let's all hope there's light at the end of the tunnel and the vaccine trials going on at the moment result in a commercially usable product.
 
working at a vets i see the worst possible cases, and some pretty horific things e.g. dead foals.....but the only 2 illness'es that have ever made me well up with tears were grass sickness and tetanus.
ive had many cases where nothing can be done - this weekend brain damaged foal!
but these...im not sure what it was, but i NEVER want to see another case of either again, very very sad.....the tetanus was even preventable!
 
So sad, and to lose two so close together is heartbreaking. Thinking of your niece and your family.

Our yard lost a 4 year old last week to grass sickness. Such an awful illness, hopefully some kind of cure/vaccine can be developed to give horses a chance at surviving it.
 
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I am so sorry for your niece, it is a horrible, scary disease.

My mare lost her lovely young field companion to this many years ago - my mare was fine. It just seems to strike some at random and you are powerless.
 
I am so sorry, its a terrible disease.

I am gobsmacked by these vets thinking its impaction colic though, please everyone, if your horses show any signs of colic, atypical or otherwise or any other odd signs, GS should be suspected particularly at this time of year. If your vets don't suggest it, make sure you do and get them to ring Edinburgh Vet School if they don't know alot about it-it doesn't necessarily make a difference to the outcome sadly, but will affect how you manage it which can help chronic cases.
 
im so sorry :(


Arabelle - i read somewhere horses between 2-7 are the most "prone"....

grass sickness is horrible - i know 2 people now who have lost theirs to it.
 
noodle_ said:
im so sorry :(


Arabelle - i read somewhere horses between 2-7 are the most "prone"....

grass sickness is horrible - i know 2 people now who have lost theirs to it.
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I had heard youngsters were most at risk. The mare that died was 4, but my girl was only 2 at the time (this was before I owned her). So it is a mystery why one got it and the other didn't. Scary, scary, especially as my mare now has a baby, who is 2.
 
Arabelle said:
I had heard youngsters were most at risk. The mare that died was 4, but my girl was only 2 at the time (this was before I owned her). So it is a mystery why one got it and the other didn't. Scary, scary, especially as my mare now has a baby, who is 2.
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yes mine is two as well - i wont lie it is something thats at the back of my mind constantly... i think one of the "risk factors" was disturbed land....theres a yard by us who have dug/piled and turned it into a hill grazing bit... which to me is like << :o and have youngsters grazing around there

My knowledge is limited on the subject, i deal with colic better (!) but i know its a horrible disease and not something id ever want to deal with :(
 
Thank you so much everyone for your thoughts and condolences. We have done a lot of reading and research into this horrid disease and yes it seems May is the worst time, a very wet spell following a dry spell is a common factor, land that is mechanically cleared rather than hand poo picking is suspect it seems, all factors that need to be considered. It appears that a vaccine is imminent according to our Vet, hopefully some time in the next 12 months or so. Take care everyone and hopefully you can all keep your horses/ponies safe.
 
lilacjackie said:
Thank you so much everyone for your thoughts and condolences. We have done a lot of reading and research into this horrid disease and yes it seems May is the worst time, a very wet spell following a dry spell is a common factor, land that is mechanically cleared rather than hand poo picking is suspect it seems, all factors that need to be considered. It appears that a vaccine is imminent according to our Vet, hopefully some time in the next 12 months or so. Take care everyone and hopefully you can all keep your horses/ponies safe.
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yes I was just reading what they think may have factors in it, and the website did state there would hopefully be a vaccination trial next year. fingers crossed.
 
My friend lost her two horses in a week , a few weeks back.

Absolutely gutted, one a older SJ who only last year was offered £25k for and her new youngster

And to make it worse they were insured for peanuts so she getting nothing back hardly for them, most horrible thing ever

Thoughts about your one too :-(
 
mine were age 22 months and 22 years that i lost. I poo pick by hand, they were on heavy clay land, still had adlib haylage, werent wormed with ivemectin, the land isnt badly poached or disturbed, all supposed to be contributing factors and they were both pts within 2 hours of me going to yard and finding them "off colour". That is the really scary thing that there was no warning signs at all. The first one to die was the old pony and the vet put it down to colic but when the youngster had the same symptoms ten days later i had a pm done and it was grass sickness.
 
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