Heart Fibrillation

I have a horse with Atrial Fib, unfortunately for me he also has Tachycardia.
We sent him down to Mark Patterson for treatment with Quinidine. It's not a nice procedure for the horse & the drug was un-licenced but Mark is an Expert. Quinidine reverts the heart back to a sinus rythm however Quinidine treatment has loads of risks colic being the main one.
If AF is caught early quinidine has more chance of reverting.

The treatment failed so my horse is still in AF & because of the Tachycardia he was retired immediatly, he's happy lawn mower now.
Mark told me that AF long term will lead to Heart disease.

AF can also be caused by a virus & can in some cases revert back to normal.
 
I had looked up quinidine on the net, and have read about the side effects. Also, I think my horse may have had this for a while (see my post in NL2). My horse is 17, so unfortunatly, any treatment for this will not be covered by insurance.

How much did the treatment cost, and is it worth putting my horse through it if its not likely to work? Is it possible that it can revert back to normal without treatment?

 
I havent seen your post yet in NL2 sorry
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My horse was 12yo when i had him treated with Quinidine. I think it cost around 1k in total it was 5 years ago now so i can't remember exactly.
I didnt think the bill was to bad as they did have the horse for a full week & did loads of tests hence why we found the Tachycardia.
I do know that some vets will perform this treatment at your yard but i think it's to risky & preffered my horse to be at the vets.

I can't say if you should put your horse through this treatment or how likely it would be to work im not a cardiologist. Also i do not know if the AF would revert on it's own, it's unlikely if it's not Virus related but never say never.

What i would say is talk to your vet at length. I see that your based in Gloucester & thats where i took my horse to Mark Patterson at Bushy Equine.
It would be worth your while getting his opinion on your horse, he's one of our leading equine Cardiologist.

Has your horse had an ECG done by your vet??
 
I've seen hoses with AF spontaneously convert - e.g. 4 year old racehorse went into AF, converted a week later, then now running in races
look at how old he is and what you do with him...look at his history and everything like that,
don't panic - it can be ok...
 
Yes, my vet did an ECG and said he knew a heart specialist vet and will have a chat with him, its probably the same chap you are refering to, if he is in Glos. He said he would get back to me within a week.

I don't know if it is virus related.
 
My horse has heart issues and he sees Leslie Young - she's one of the world's leading equine cardiologists so see if your vet can put you in touch as she is the best and also an incredibly nice lady!
 
My old horse failed the vet on AF, i panicked bigtime, was advised to give him a month off as it could be virus related and he was fine, totally normal and i sold him later on. He has never had any problems since and is eventing/hunting happily! Good luck
 
There is a much more modern approach than quinidine for the treatment of atrial fibrillation in horses. Transvenous electrical cardioversion is routinely performed at the Ontario Veterinary College in Canada. I would consider inquiring if a referral hospital near you or the Royal Veterinary College could perform TVEC.
 
I have an endurance horse that was competing in a race ride and was found to have AF after 20 miles. The vet told us to take it easy and he would see him at the next vet gate. This we did and he was slightly better so were allowed to continue.

At the end of the ride (He came 3rd) the rhythm had changed slightly.

He was referred to Liphook Equine Hospital were he had an ECG along with blood and urine tests.

The ECG was inconclusive as he had reverted to a normal rhythm.

When the blood tests came back they indicated that his magnesium and sodium (Although still within the normal range) was on the low side. I added a teaspoon of salt and a scoop of Magic calmer (Magnesium based) every night and we have never had a problem since.
 
I had a horse who had been on field rest for 6 months and then came back into work. He had always been a very spooky horse and his loanee said that he "went funny" when he spooked after his time off. Had him checked out by her vet and apparently he had picked up a virus during his time off, which had left him with AF. The vets advised us not to ride him as when he spooked, it put his heart under stress, and he was not getting enough oxygen to his brain ("went funny") they said that if we put him under more stress eg competition work - he might faint while being ridden as a result, so we retired him straight away. (he was 9 years old)

Every horse is different though - I hope you have a more positive outcome.
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I had a horse with atrial fibrilation. He went into the vets and was there for about 5 days for the quinidine treatment. He converted at the last attempt and has stayed converted. He has unfortunately had to retire for other reasons but the treatment was successful. It cost about 1k and he was not insured :-(

I'm not sure if I would have put him through it if he had already been retired because it is not a nice treatment. The vets advised that he would be fine generally mooching about but that one day he may just collapse and die and obviously this would be dangerous if I was on him. As has been said before though all cases are different and you just need to be sure you have assessed your own personal situation before you make the decision whether to go ahead with treatment or not.

Fingers crossed for you and your horse though. Let us know :-)
 
Many thanks to all who have replied.

After doing much research on the net and speaking with my vet at length, I have decided not to go ahead with the quinidine treatment. If it was low risk, I would find the money and go for it. My vet says it is not worth it, taking into account his age and that we don't know how long he has had it (I think at least six months).

My horse has not had any funny turns and has never been spooky. Some days he is very lively and keen, others he is quiet and chilled, but has never been unwilling to do anything I have asked of him and he has never been pushed. Although very keen to have a good gallop, he was unable to maintain this for very long, which previously I had put down to lack of fittness. He has been ridden regularly for the past ten weeks, so I expected his stamina to improve, it did not and thats what prompted me to have him checked out by the vet.

I have been in contact with someone on here whoes horse also has AF and she has been very helpful. Her horse has not been treated, is older than my horse and still ridden regularly.

My vet said it is ok for me to carry on riding my horse providing he has regular check ups, but did say that it is highly likely that he will end up with heart disease. This morning I ordered a polar heart monitor and have stethoscope so I will be able to keep checks on his heart myself, but will have to have a chat with the vet re. what I should be looking /listening for when using them.
 
dressagecrazy said:
I have a horse with Atrial Fib, unfortunately for me he also has Tachycardia.
We sent him down to Mark Patterson for treatment with Quinidine. It's not a nice procedure for the horse & the drug was un-licenced but Mark is an Expert. Quinidine reverts the heart back to a sinus rythm however Quinidine treatment has loads of risks colic being the main one.
If AF is caught early quinidine has more chance of reverting.

The treatment failed so my horse is still in AF & because of the Tachycardia he was retired immediatly, he's happy lawn mower now.
Mark told me that AF long term will lead to Heart disease.

AF can also be caused by a virus & can in some cases revert back to normal.
Click to expand...

I know this is a very old thread, but just wanted to ask dressagecrazy what sort of Tachycardia did your horse have? Was it Atrial Tachycardia?
 
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