How common are brain tumours in horses?

Have you ever encountered a horse with a brain tumour?

  • Total voters
    0
Wagtail

Wagtail

Horse servant
Joined
2 December 2010
Messages
14,815
Location
Lincs
Visit site
Countless times on threads, I have read posts which suggest brain tumours in horses. I had always thought they were extremely rare. I have never personally encountered one (knowingly). So are these threads giving an unrealistic impression of their prevalence? Or ar they more common than I thought?
 
The simple answer is - we don't know. Diagnostics are becoming more advanced so I suppose there is a reasonable expectation that this sort of thing might be diagnosed more often now than previously. Plus there is now the understanding that Cushings arises as a result of a brain tumor (in contrast to EMS which doesn't) so anyone with a cushings horse probably has one with a brain tumor of sorts. But the vast majority of leisure riders would not pay for a post mortem to determine the cause of sudden death so we will never know how prevalent smaller or benign brain tumours might be. Nor will we know how many horses with significant behavior problems have brain tumours rather than other pain or previous experiential concerns.
 
I lost my mare a year ago next week,she appeared to have meningitis and was treated for that,but a week later she had to be PTS. She appeared to have lost her sight and awareness of her surroundings.It was the most awful experience because she still knew me although she was obviously in a lot of pain and struggling with her balance.I didn't have a PM because there was really no point and I just wanted her to be left in peace.
 
Who knows?
Add to that there will be a variety of different types of tumours, each with their own characteristics (or not as the case may be).
 
Well a certain percentage of cushings are due to tumours and the diagnoses of that condition have certainly increased in numbers.

When we say tumour we often think cancer but cysts and non-malignant growths can be just as damaging dependent on the location.
 
I have known a mare who was known to be 'crazy' all her adult life, although she was ridden and handleable. I lost touch with her, so don't know the details of her last illness but heard afterwards that she had been pts and a brain tumour found afterwards.

My vet once told me that brain tumours hare very difficult to find in dogs, even in a pm because the brain is small and not especially well developed in comparison with humans, I can't imagine that it is any easier in horses.
 
It's odd that you should ask this question, not least because I am wondering whether my horse's current state of blind panic in the stable might be something to do with a developing tumor or endocrinal malfunction. He is quite literally petrified now, the fear having grown over the last few weeks.

We had a horse back in Africa that went crazy. PM revealed not a tumour but a red worm infection that had reached his brain.

I am so sorry for anyone who has experienced this.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
My vet once told me that brain tumours hare very difficult to find in dogs, even in a pm because the brain is small and not especially well developed in comparison with humans, I can't imagine that it is any easier in horses.
Click to expand...

I think some of the best awareness/ not true PM but you get the idea is the knackerman. From when we've taken stock there/ had them out, they are so on the ball at looking for CNS/ brain and spinal abnormalities now. Just as a thought.
 
I always thought that cancer was extremely rare in horses, but then when I was young anything over 12 was considered old and to have one being ridden into their 20s was very unusual.

Cancer is nearly always a disease of old(er) age so as generally the horse population is aging, then cancer is going to be found more often. Maybe there are environmental factors too - who knows.

We had a horse that had to be PTS after a throat tumour was blocking her windpipe, after an earlier operation to remove a small tumour in her eye, which was successful and she was able to have several more years hunting and competiting. So I guess that if a horse can get a tumour in its throat why not its brain as well?
 
Hijacking slightly, but does anyone know if it's possible for a pituitary gland tumour to cause giganticism in horses like it can in humans? We have a 20yr old retired horse on our yard, and I swear he is growing. He's pretty fat, but it's not just fat, he seems to be massive all over and getting bigger? I know it sounds implausible, but has any one heard of anything similar? Just curious really, because if he's not growing, I'm losing my mind!
 
There was a horse on a yard that I was once on who became more and more erratic in his behaviour. He was pts on behavioural grounds after putting two people in hospital. A brain tumour was found on pm
 
As others have said, its possibly a lot more common than previously thought now that current research points to pathological abnormalities of the pituitary gland being the cause of Cushings or PPID.
 
It doesn't have to be a brain tumour, could be a brain lesion - damage to the brain by whatever process. Personally I think tumours/lesions are rare, but I also think we are seeing more cases and will continue to do so, partly because horses live longer and so are more likely to develop cancer, and partly because of environmental factors. I grew up in a smallish village in Cornwall and two people there, local through and through and of similar age have been treated for a brain tumour.
 
fatpiggy said:
It doesn't have to be a brain tumour, could be a brain lesion - damage to the brain by whatever process. Personally I think tumours/lesions are rare, but I also think we are seeing more cases and will continue to do so, partly because horses live longer and so are more likely to develop cancer, and partly because of environmental factors. I grew up in a smallish village in Cornwall and two people there, local through and through and of similar age have been treated for a brain tumour.
Click to expand...

There's a case in North Wales at the moment, where 4 friends who grew up on the same street and went to school together all have the same rare type of brain tumour 50 years later. One has died and the other three who dispersed across N. Wales in their adult lives only found out when they turned up for treatment at the same hospital on the same day.
 
I know of two horses with brain tumours/cysts/lumps.

one it grew out the side of his head and the other he just started to get erratic behaviour changes. owner had had him from a youngster and he was 14/15 when pts. she donated his body to the local vet collage and they found a cyst had started growing and was pressing on parts of his brain responsible for his outbursts.
 
We didn't have a PM done but we had our 31yr old cob pts because of ataxia which was not resolving, Vet diagnosed a tumour of either brain or spine - obviously the outcome was the same either way, so we didn't bother finding out which.
 
I think brain tumours are exceptionally rare. If we think of the amount of horses we've had dealings with or known in our lifetimes (in my case 100s and 100s of horses) and I know of 1 horse who had a brain tumour. Diagnosed then destroyed.
 
I have known 2, both with very different behaviours, both diagnosed on PM. The first one was right as rain all morning and then in the afternoon started running round his box smashing his head off of things. He had so badly damaged his head and neck in the hour it took for the vet to arrive and sedate (which had no effect on the horse, it was still trying to smash it's head off of things) the horse was put down on the spot. What triggered it? Who knows - the theory was the tumour had been growing and the horse must have banged his head at just the wrong angle/part of the head and aggrevated it. The horse had shown no previous problems at all and was a nice, kind, happy animal who worked hard and gave you everything.

The 2nd horse, looking back on its behaviour over months, was just thought of as being a bit of a spesh horse. It would go days, weeks even without trying to bolt but when the mood took it that was it, off they went heedless of people, horses, vehicles or fences. So role on 4 months, 3 races and a lot of work and a few bolts later. The horse was colicky on the Friday afternoon, was treated for this. Returned to normal Saturday so went trotting. Sunday trotting in the morning fine, colicky again in the afternoon, treated, fine by 9pm. Monday same as Sunday. Tuesday horse is heaving, sweating, rolling and really looking like proper colic. Vet's out and when we got up to it the horse had kind of slumped down the wall and kept kicking and looking at it's stomach. So we get it up, give it a good slug of drugs and walk it. The more it walks the more ataxic it becomes. So we truck it off to the vet school as a colic for surgery. When the horse got there and went into the holding box it fell over, couldn't get back up so was pts on the spot. A pm revealed a rather large tumour growing just above the eye socket that was putting massive pressure on the brain itself.

I have heard of another who spent a week leaning it's head on anything cold as though he had a major headache, he was old so the owner assumed he had a tumour and pts. Didn't pm.

Each horse is different and I suppose it also depends upon which part of the brain it is pressing on and how quickly it grows as to how much the horse shows.
 
I've been unlucky enough to know three, two of which were diagnosed by PM. A third went to live out his life in a large herd - don't know what happened in the long term.

I think I may be guilty of saying brain tumour when it could possibly be some other kind of "head" event - such as a tumour in the skull or eye causing pressure on the brain or a lesion or whatever. The outcome is the same.
 
moleskinsmum said:
I've been unlucky enough to know three, two of which were diagnosed by PM. A third went to live out his life in a large herd - don't know what happened in the long term.

I think I may be guilty of saying brain tumour when it could possibly be some other kind of "head" event - such as a tumour in the skull or eye causing pressure on the brain or a lesion or whatever. The outcome is the same.
Click to expand...

Also wanted to just say we're talking about tumours (/associated) which have symptoms. So located specifically, or growing fast enough.
I am sure there are many others too small, asymptomatic, or the horse is PTS because of another cause ("broke his leg in the field" etc).
 
I have known personally as in horses I had seen and either ridden/handled/fussed, seven over the years that were diagnosed by PM. Four of those since I started riding again in 2007.

I think the reason that we are seeing and hearing of more nowadays is simply because a higher percentage of horse owners now have horses for emotional reasons, not necessity. Back as a child, the horse world I knew was one in which horses had jobs, they were mostly very much loved, but still a commodity to someone, somewhere along the line and so when their time was up, money would be spent replacing the horse than carrying out a PM. Nowadays, there are far more owners for whom their horses mean so much and they will pay for more diagnostics to be done and want PM's in order to know why they lost their beloved animal.

So, I don't think it is a growing problem, just that an increase in the number of horses having PMs and the freedom of information sharing over the internet make it seem more prevalent.
 
HeresHoping said:
It's odd that you should ask this question, not least because I am wondering whether my horse's current state of blind panic in the stable might be something to do with a developing tumor or endocrinal malfunction. He is quite literally petrified now, the fear having grown over the last few weeks.

We had a horse back in Africa that went crazy. PM revealed not a tumour but a red worm infection that had reached his brain.

I am so sorry for anyone who has experienced this.
Click to expand...

I have sent you a PM
 
annagain said:
Hijacking slightly, but does anyone know if it's possible for a pituitary gland tumour to cause giganticism in horses like it can in humans? We have a 20yr old retired horse on our yard, and I swear he is growing. He's pretty fat, but it's not just fat, he seems to be massive all over and getting bigger? I know it sounds implausible, but has any one heard of anything similar? Just curious really, because if he's not growing, I'm losing my mind!
Click to expand...

Part of the Pituitary Gland is responsible for growth so it could be that this part has developed a tumour. Cushings develops when the centre part of the Pituitary Gland develops a tumour.

EMS Causes large fat deposits so it could be that this is what the horse is suffering from.

Just an extra, a Post Mortem is performed on a dead human, for animals it's correctly called a Necropsy.
 
I do wonder about this with my mare, she was deemed too dangerous to ever be ridden and given to me as a companion aged 4, she is now 10 and although clever and very talented has done some things over the years that are totally irrational yet other days she can be handled by kids. Almost like a split personality sometimes. She's recently been diagnosed with cushings and it does make me wonder about brain issues generally. As long as she's happy and safe enough for me to handle (i know her quirks luckily!) she will have a home with me for life. But it wouldn't surprise me if it comes to something like this eventually. I would never rehome her, she would be dangerous in the wrong hands!

eta - i trust her with my life, but i can read the signs of when she's going to flip.
 
Last edited:
I`ve known of 2.

One had a Post Mortem at the insurance companies request and was found to have a tumour and 2 lesions.

The other was done by the local fallen stock guy at the time, and he found a small tumour and called to tell the owner to put her mind at rest as even right down to putting him down she wasn`t sure if she was doing the right thing or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top