Poorly horses... what is wrong with them??

[Rudey]

There have been several horses coming down with an illness in our area at three yards (that I know of)! Two yards are very reputable and I know worm regularly and poo pick daily, the other yard I hear to be equally as good.

Vets have been needed and they have done tests, and havn't come to any formal conclusions. But it does seem a coincidence several horses at three yards are having similar symptoms. I wondered if it could be an airbourne infection??

Initially the horses have been a bit off it for a few days, and then they get really poorly, acting as if it is colic. Plus, their poo's are sloppy. The vets come out, do the usual tests and can't find anything definetly wrong with them. They have done worm counts, with results being fine. Blood tests, fine. Put them on a course of anti-biotics and a few days later, the horses are ill again. One vet gave one horse a load of steroids with a side effect of causing laminitus!! The vet didn't give a reason for why the steroids were needed, as she didn't know what was exactly wrong with the horse.... WTF!!

why risk it if there isn't a definite diagnosis!!

Any ideas?? Have you experienced this?? It may be a coincidence with all these horses with an unexplained illness, but do you think they are linked??

Please help xx

 

[Fox07]

Sounds horrible! Could it be a contaminated hay/ haylage supply thats causing them to be poorly. If the yards are fairly close together perhaps they source their hay/ haylage from the same area and thats why they are all coming down with it and it keeps on reoccuring because the horses are being fed the same contaminated supply? Just a thought as I am generally clueless most of the time! Really hope horses get better soon and they find out whats causing it.

 

[Chestnutmare]

vets will prob put it down to a virus....merlin went like this before he was admitted...they thought virus?

 

[Sci]

Ive no idea Im afraid.
Im local to you I think and just wondered what yards they were that were affected. (pm me if you want)

 

[PeterNatt]

I would suggest a virus or a total kill agricultural weedkiller has been used which has blown over the area from where it has been used.

 

[Roody2]

Anyone considered chronic grass sickness? At certain times of year (normally late autumn) it seems to rear its ugly head. Seems to be quite random what horses are affected, what yards are affected. I did read an article about it being more prevalent in scotland apparently. But I know it does occur all over the UK.
It is believed to be caused by a bacteria affecting the functions of the gut.

 

[Roody2]

not sure if you will be able to access this but if you can it is an interesting article on EGS

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118887911/HTMLSTART

 

[treena]

agree with roody. sounds like grass sickness to me too. it has been very dry for ages,followed by lots of rain all at once. and been cold. prime conditions for E.G.S

 

[Cuffey]

Wonder if all yards have same forage supplier?
Contaminated feed?
Contaminated water supply--ie ground water after heavy rain--nitrates?
Mycotoxins?
Sorry just guessing--no real help
Yards need to get heads together to compare notes

 

[Echo Bravo]

Since we've all had rain after several weeks dry, sudden grass spurt, and no doubt lush, hence sloppy dropping and umpteen belly aches

 

[teddyt]

I wouldnt rule out grass sickness either. Agree with cuffey, yards need to get together and compare asap

 

[hollyandivy123]

if it is egs, then by giving the horse antibiotics you will change the normal gut microflora and the condition might get worse

as in horse ill starts to get better as the normal microflora in the gut compete with the C.Botulinum, the addition of antibiotics then kills of the microflora and the c.Botulinum (which is a stuborn resistant thing) can then grow as it does not compete for food and not kept in check with the other microbes. a definative way is to test for antibodies in the blood to c.bot or you can test the poo for presence of the bacteria

 

[Donkeymad]

Although I wouldn't rule out GS, I really don't think it is.

 

[Echo Bravo]

If it's grass sickness, surely the symtems would have come on a lot sooner than this.

 

[CalllyH]

ringworm??

 

[Roody2]

[ QUOTE ]
If it's grass sickness, surely the symtems would have come on a lot sooner than this.

[/ QUOTE ]

hence why I said chronic - the super quick EGS is acute GS. Chronic comes on a little slower and is less intense although horses can die from both they have a better chance of surviving chronic.

 

[Rudey]

Thank you very much for everybody's feedback! I've relayed your opinions to my friends so they can speak to the vets for advice.

It's definitiely not the same bad batch of hay, as they both 'do' their own hay using different farmers to bale it.

One of my friends had suggested grass sickness to the vet, and she said she didn't think it was, said that rain 'does something to the grass' after such dry spells.

but, unless you do the tests for that particular something, you don't always find it I guess!!

Both of my friends have a huge of amount of experience with horses. They are both in their 40's and had horses from very young ages. It's something they have never came across before

Once again, thanks for your responses, I will keep you informed of any progress made (hopefully) xx

 

[MrWoof]

[ QUOTE ]
There have been several horses coming down with an illness in our area at three yards (that I know of)! Two yards are very reputable and I know worm regularly and poo pick daily, the other yard I hear to be equally as good.

Vets have been needed and they have done tests, and havn't come to any formal conclusions. But it does seem a coincidence several horses at three yards are having similar symptoms. I wondered if it could be an airbourne infection??

Initially the horses have been a bit off it for a few days, and then they get really poorly, acting as if it is colic. Plus, their poo's are sloppy. The vets come out, do the usual tests and can't find anything definetly wrong with them. They have done worm counts, with results being fine. Blood tests, fine. Put them on a course of anti-biotics and a few days later, the horses are ill again. One vet gave one horse a load of steroids with a side effect of causing laminitus!! The vet didn't give a reason for why the steroids were needed, as she didn't know what was exactly wrong with the horse.... WTF!!

why risk it if there isn't a definite diagnosis!!

Any ideas?? Have you experienced this?? It may be a coincidence with all these horses with an unexplained illness, but do you think they are linked??

Please help xx

[/ QUOTE ]

Are they eating Big Bale Hay? If so, that could well be the answer.

 

[Rudey]

[ QUOTE ]


Are they eating Big Bale Hay? If so, that could well be the answer.

[/ QUOTE ]

No news/updates yet guys

Mandy uses big round bales, Jackie uses small bales and hayledge. What relevance does it have feeding off big bales?? I assume for mould/dust/hay sweating reasons?