3OldPonies
Well-Known Member
I'm writing this at a time when my heart is broken. Not because I want sympathy or hugs, but because I don't want Mini P's death to be wasteful and if what happened to us can be a learning experience for me, his old owner and anyone else with or thinking of getting an American Miniature Horse then this post needs to be written. Please don't judge us for our ignorance, we simply did not know that there was this type of problem with the breed. And please forgive it for being a bit long, it's very hard to write it all down and make sense.
So, (deep breath) what happened was that at the end of last week, turned up for stables as normal in the morning to be met with 'P is dead' from my father at the gate. He was only 2 years and almost 1 month old poor little guy. He'd died in the field overnight, most likely not long before we got there as he was still warm. So I did all the things you need to do and in due course he was collected and off he went. We decided against a PM, as tbh the shock alone of what had happened was just awful enough without the little fella having that happen to him. However; his old owner being of a medical frame of mind went digging around the internet to see what she could find out about sudden death in young American Miniature Horses and this is what she found (scuse me if I ramble a bit here). From what we now know, it is most likely that he died from a tracheal collapse a result of a hereditary complaint which causes weakening of the cartilage in the trachea. Neither of us had heard of this before, though it would appear to be pretty well known in America and particularly in this breed of miniature horse. He'd always been wheezy and made noises like snoring when at rest, which is a classic symptom of this degenerative disease as the cartilage is pushed out of shape when they lie down or are relaxed, hence the wheezy snoring noises. I'd been going to get the vets to check this out when he went to be gelded in the autumn, events overtook us. Having said that, I had mentioned his breathing to the vets when they'd been out to him for vaccinations and they'd not said anything about the possibility of this either. He'd also seen vets with the previous owner and they'd not picked up on this possibility even though she had also discussed his breathing with them. There is treatment available, but from what we've read it's not always terribly successful, and in most cases the end result is the same. I just wish we'd known so that we could have at least tried to help him have a little more time at beind a lovely, gorgeous, playful little boy, enjoying the sunshine and the company of his bigger friends (not to mention the adoration of his 'fan club').
The point of this post therefore is to hopefully make more people aware of this problem, as the advice from America is not to breed from such individuals owing to the probably hereditary nature of it. If you've got this far with the thread then, thank you for taking the time to read it. I'm not trying to spread doom and gloom or tar American Minis with some kind of horrid threat hanging over them, but I just felt that this needs to be out in the open, as the issues with a lot of pedigree dogs etc are now so that perhaps it can be stamped out in the next generations. So like I said right back at the beginning, please don't judge me - I'm only trying to help others.
So, (deep breath) what happened was that at the end of last week, turned up for stables as normal in the morning to be met with 'P is dead' from my father at the gate. He was only 2 years and almost 1 month old poor little guy. He'd died in the field overnight, most likely not long before we got there as he was still warm. So I did all the things you need to do and in due course he was collected and off he went. We decided against a PM, as tbh the shock alone of what had happened was just awful enough without the little fella having that happen to him. However; his old owner being of a medical frame of mind went digging around the internet to see what she could find out about sudden death in young American Miniature Horses and this is what she found (scuse me if I ramble a bit here). From what we now know, it is most likely that he died from a tracheal collapse a result of a hereditary complaint which causes weakening of the cartilage in the trachea. Neither of us had heard of this before, though it would appear to be pretty well known in America and particularly in this breed of miniature horse. He'd always been wheezy and made noises like snoring when at rest, which is a classic symptom of this degenerative disease as the cartilage is pushed out of shape when they lie down or are relaxed, hence the wheezy snoring noises. I'd been going to get the vets to check this out when he went to be gelded in the autumn, events overtook us. Having said that, I had mentioned his breathing to the vets when they'd been out to him for vaccinations and they'd not said anything about the possibility of this either. He'd also seen vets with the previous owner and they'd not picked up on this possibility even though she had also discussed his breathing with them. There is treatment available, but from what we've read it's not always terribly successful, and in most cases the end result is the same. I just wish we'd known so that we could have at least tried to help him have a little more time at beind a lovely, gorgeous, playful little boy, enjoying the sunshine and the company of his bigger friends (not to mention the adoration of his 'fan club').
The point of this post therefore is to hopefully make more people aware of this problem, as the advice from America is not to breed from such individuals owing to the probably hereditary nature of it. If you've got this far with the thread then, thank you for taking the time to read it. I'm not trying to spread doom and gloom or tar American Minis with some kind of horrid threat hanging over them, but I just felt that this needs to be out in the open, as the issues with a lot of pedigree dogs etc are now so that perhaps it can be stamped out in the next generations. So like I said right back at the beginning, please don't judge me - I'm only trying to help others.
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