Heart Murmers in Horses.

[Bri]

Anyone know anything about this? Would it put you off buying?

 

[Enfys]

I don't know a great deal about them, but have several horses with murmurs. My arab hunted hard for 4 seasons before I discovered about his and it never affected him at all. As to buying a horse knowingly, with a murmur, it would depend greatly on what I wanted to do with him. General hacking/PC/RC etc, I can't see that it would be a problem. Finn has a heart murmur, but it makes no difference to his performance, if I'd had him vetted and discovered it then it would have made no difference, I would still have bought him.

I was told by the vet that...... "all horses are born with a hole in their heart, something to do with the supply of blood in the womb, these holes close up naturally very shortly after birth. However, many horses do have slight murmurs due to this. If the hole is less than 2cm

then it is no great cause for alarm

"

Chat to your Vets, I am sure they would be happy to tell you all you need to know about it and put your mind at rest, or not.

 

[Kat1e]

My vet once told me that my horse had one, and explained that it wasn't a problem at all in her case- said similar things to Enfys. However, I had had the horse for 5 years previously and no vet had noticed it before! The next time he came out, I asked him about it again, he had a listen, and said that he coudln't hear anything of the sort- nor could he remember telling me she had one in the first place! The next time I had the vet out- a different one- I asked him. He said the same horse had no murmur, but did have a 2nd degree heart block!! (Something you usually see on extremely fit horses- hah! no such luck with this one at the moment!). So yeah, probably not much help to you, but the whole thing had me very confused!

 

[Laafet]

depends on murmur - some horses have them as youngsters and then grow out of it, and also whether it is serious depends on whether it happens in diastole or systole - think thats the right sp been a while since i did heart mechanics. My vet diagnosed one of mine with a heart murmur that would not be failable vetting wise, my other horse skips a beat and he passed and one of my liveries has a two year old squeak that we are assured he will grow out of. confusing as my old instructor used to say she'd love to find a horse with a heart murmur or catarach in the eye so she could get it cheap. maybe science has moved on since then...

 

[mrdarcy]

My arab has one... he was British National Endurance Champion, has done numerous 100 mile races, represented GB and flown on jumbo jets and is now 18 and still going strong.

My new horse (ISH) has a slight 'squeak' that the vet noted on vetting him. It's not a failing issue, apparently lots of young TBs have squeaks and murmurs and most grow out of them.

If the vet says its okay then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

Rock has one, we got it checked out and would never effect him. The vet described it as a 'squeek' rather than a murmur and said that a lot of young irish horses get it and that he'll prob grow out of it but it wont effect him negatively at all.
I once knew of a very very good rider who said she always watched out for horses with murmurs, because you could get some VERY good horses for lower prices.

 

[siennamiller]

my boy had got a low level murmer, apparently they are very common. His is nothing to worry about ( although if I ever gallop him I worry

)
Vet said not to even think about it

 

[allijudd]

before reading these posts i would have said no way....but obviosly if controlled they seem fine......

 

[Bri]

Thanks everyone. Mum has found a horse she really likes, but it has a heart murmur. She only wants it for gentle hacking and plodding about so sounds like it should be alright!
Does it affect insurance though?

 

[1588]

My friend had a horse with one who was used fro the same purpose as you wish to.

He was absolutely fine then in his tenth year - heart attack.

Sorry to be brutal but I wouldn't go near him.

 

[Bri]

It's not being brutal. Would prefer to have honest opinions from everyone, if it means we avoid any potnetial heartache like what your friend must have gone through.

 

[Puppy]

My uncle bought my cousin a pony and when they went to sell it they discovered that it had a heart murmer! Didn't really affect the pony, but knocked a grand off the selling price

(Uncle was NOT happy)

I guess it depends what the vets say. My boy Billy died of a heart attack following an operation on his leg. The post morten (insurance company insisted) discovered that he'd got a heart condition which would have continued to deteriorated until he'd had a heart attack - just the operation brought the inevitable forward. What struck me is it could have happened with Billy when I was cantering round the field!

The vets said that it was a problem with a valve in his heart which was very common in TBs. He was only rising 8!

What breed of horse is it that you are considering?

 

[Bri]

Irish draught X type!
He's being advertised as not suitable for hunting or competing due to heart murmur, but still up for a lot of fun. Were going to ring and find out more but didn't want to 'timewaste' if we then decided we weren't willing to take the risk!

 

[Puppy]

Not only would I have concerns about the horse having a heart attack; which at best would be distressing to witness, but at worst very dangerous should someone be on top of him at the time. But, also, I would worry about insurance - you'd be pretty screwed about getting cover for a horse with such a condition.

The vets told me that Billy's condition could probably not even have been picked up in a vetting and yet it was the death of him at a very young age - I would walk away and spare yourself the heartache to be honest. xxx

 

[Bri]

Thanks Puppy. Think it's probably the best idea!

 

[Happy Bird]

When I bought my horses, she was found to have a slight heart murmour during vetting. My vet explained that it could be a virus or due to stress of travelling from Ireland etc etc. I had her on a two week trial and also on the condition that my vet returned at the end of this two weeks to check her once again. On second check, the murmour had gone. HB

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

The reason i got rocky is because i got the murmur checked out by a cardiologist at liphook before i bought him (yes thats how much i loved him!!) and he told me it would never effect him and would disappear, but his is a tiny squeek not a full on murmur, whats yours like? Rocks murmur hasnt affected his insurance at all as we got the cardiologist to write to the insurance company to say it wont cause him any problems. Murmurs also disappear as quickly as they appear a lot of the time. As HB said, a lot are due to infection or stress of travelling (we think rocks is due to an infection and has gone now i think) Like i said, get it checked out if you're worried (we got the seller to pay half for the check up)

 

[_jetset_]

Heart murmours in humans are not that big of a deal, but I am not sure abouy horses. A friend of mine has a heart murmour and she doesn't have to have medication etc. is very very fit and does everything she wants to do.

Why don't you ring your vet to ask for more information in horses?