Grass Sickness

I am glad yours got better. Sadly there is a 90 percent death rate. My poor Magners didnt make it. He was only 3 years old :( RIP Magners

Rachel x
 
:( its horrible isnt it. RIP Magners.
I had actually arranged to have my boy PTS & then bottled it & decided to give him a chance, even though everyone told me i was mad. He was 4 when he had it & is now 11 this year & as fit as a fiddle :) took along time to get his weight back to normal though, you wouldnt believe it though as hes a right fatty now.
 
Magners had Sub-acute GS and the vets said that he would not recover :( I stayed with him right untill the end. I miss Magners so much

Rachel x
 
I set my group up on facebook in Memory of Magners. I would like to spread awarness of Grass sickness. I didnt even really know what I was untill my horse got it.

Please add yourself and anyone you know that has a horse.
Thanks
Rachel X

If you have had a horse with grass sickness please fill out this questionnaire:

http://www.equinegrasssickness.co.uk/
 
Please read up on grass sickness if you have a horse. This time of year horses are most at risk. Rachel x
 
Thanks for this. I have added myself. Sorry to hear of your loss. A dear frind of mine has just had her 4yr old go down with it. Very sick horse .... vets have done all they can. Just advised its chronic so that she at least has a small chance. We live in East Anglia which is a Grass sickness hot spot and the current weather conditions/time of year make for high risk. Trouble is there is very little you can do ... all very sad. :(
 
I'm currently saving up some money to donate to grass sickness fund.
They also do research into EAM and I think if any equine diseases need more research done it's GS and EAM.
RIP to all those lost to these horrible conditions. :(
 
Horrible disease, seen a friends horse die from it. Looked fab at 4pm (I even had that conscious thought when I saw her in field with mine). Slightly wrong when girl taking care of her (owners on holiday) saw her at 5.30, vet called immediately, called owners back, horse progressively got worse, about to make the decision early in the morning when she slipped away. I got down yard at 6pm to find distraught owners sitting in yard. It can happen so fast.
 
My horse was fine one minute then bad the next. He was grazing and when I called him he came galloping over to me in the field. I brought him in to the stables. Got on him and noticed his muscles tremoring a little. But this stopped when walking on. I got off and let him out in field and he would not graze and kept lying down. I called the vet and he came out and thought it was colic at first. Mangers had to go to hospital at 4 am on easter sunday. Once at the hospital Magners had symptoms such as, muscle tremors, dribbling, very fast heart rate 60-80, constant sweating, colic, trouble swallowing, droopy eye lids, back legs tucked up, depression one minute then seeming better the next, diarrhea and constipation. Not a nice disease at all. On Tuesday Magners was put down as the vet said he had sub-acute grass sickness and would only get worse.

One of the main problems is that grass sickness cases are not being reported. Many horses are put down with colic when it may actually be grass sickness. Magners had an eye drop test and a post-mortem biopsy of his intestine to confirm it was grass sickness. Then I asked the vet to send her report to the grass sickness fund and I have filled out the grass sickness questionnaire online. I really want them to find something that can prevent grass sickness. They are currently looking into a vaccine???
 
its horrible. Its such a nice day and I would normally go and spend time with my horse! but now dont have a horse :( I miss my boy Magners so much. Does it a little better anyone??? Rachel x
 
I did some reading up on this when a friends horse was diagnosed and sadly died. I seem to remember there was a lot of money and effort going in from Saudi benefactors into research of exact causes.

I also saw from reading up on it that young horses were supposed at most risk as it is thought initially they have immunity from mum, which gradually should be taken over by the development of their own so those 2-6yrs have a higher risk. There was also discussion regarding older horses that have immune disorders. Still wide debate on exact cause with some researchers thinking it is a similar toxin to botulinum toxin. Also it does not always happen when out on grass as the horse affected had been brought in for the winter. I would assume whatever the cause, it can survive within the grass products for periods of time.

There is definitely room for more research into causes and hopefully effective treatment...

Really sorry to hear you lost your horse to GS x
 
Yeah. Lots of info to read. If you join facebook group I have put links up which will direct you to important info and research.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_190680500978828

Good research paper to read is:

Equine grass sickness is associated with low antibody levels
to Clostridium botulinum: a matched case-control study


cyberhorse said:
I did some reading up on this when a friends horse was diagnosed and sadly died. I seem to remember there was a lot of money and effort going in from Saudi benefactors into research of exact causes.

I also saw from reading up on it that young horses were supposed at most risk as it is thought initially they have immunity from mum, which gradually should be taken over by the development of their own so those 2-6yrs have a higher risk. There was also discussion regarding older horses that have immune disorders. Still wide debate on exact cause with some researchers thinking it is a similar toxin to botulinum toxin. Also it does not always happen when out on grass as the horse affected had been brought in for the winter. I would assume whatever the cause, it can survive within the grass products for periods of time.

There is definitely room for more research into causes and hopefully effective treatment...

Really sorry to hear you lost your horse to GS x
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Yeah it was horrible. They say 1 in 200 horses are affected by grass sickness. So sad that they haven't found something that can prevent or treat it. You can manage the risks though.

Rachel x

HashRouge said:
Hey hun I've just joined. I'm so sorry about Magners :(
I don't have any experience of grass sickness thank goodness, but it sounds horrific.
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i just wish there was somewhere that recored grass sickness on areas of land, so that horse owners could see if GS had happened before at a given yard. I didnt know that gs had killed 2 maybe more horses before mine at the yard my horse was kept.

If I had known this I wouldn't of kept my horse on the yard. Even worse horses are still out grazing on the land.

Help!
 
Really sorry for your loss of Magners Rachel (and all others) x

A horse just down from us contracted it a month ago and another one further along road (14yrs old) 2 weeks ago. RIP Sam.

We are in one of the hot spots for it though :( NE Scotland. All I can do is keep a close eye on them and hope they find something soon x
 
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