Tragic horse deaths from contaminated food

[Polos Mum]

How tragic for all involved. This is my local area and Hird's shared the same message yesterday to let the local horsey community know they didn't think it was disease related.

I do think it would be useful to share a little more detail on likely food issue - so we can all triple check we don't inadvertently make the same mistake. I'm guessing it can't be a hard feed specific to one yard only, or even hay / haylage so maybe the way it was stored that has made it toxic?


https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/new...at-livery-yard-linked-to-unknown-toxin-728124

 

[ester]

I wonder if the toxin is unidentified as they haven't got round to doing the full testing yet as opposed to they have tested and don't know.

Food source, I'd query haylage made on site with the limited info given?

 

[Tiddlypom]

How awful.

I was thinking haylage/potential botulism poisoning too.

People understandably would like to know ASAP what the food source was so that they can avoid any possibility of using some of the same batch if it’s knocking about.

Maybe made on site for own use? Speculating, I know .

 

[Roxylola]

Its terrible. So very sad, I thought I'd read botulism, but its possible I'm mixing it up with something else

 

[cauda equina]

How awful for everyone involved, I hope they get to the bottom of it quickly and get some firm proof of the source instead of it is 'believed to be'

 

[milliepops]

Its terrible. So very sad, I thought I'd read botulism, but its possible I'm mixing it up with something else

yeah there was something on FB a few days ago, that someone had posted about a whole yard of horses dying and i think that was attributed to botulism.
So sad

 

[ester]

Given their reassurance that no other animals/people are at risk to me that = something made on site that never went elsewhere.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

Googled and found this.


https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/cou...les-which-could-have-killed-16-horses-3010231

How absolutely heartbreaking for all involved

 

[Ranyhyn]

How upsetting for all.

 

[paddy555]

if it's not hard feed then that only leaves grass, hay or haylage. Having had one horse survive botulism when the others died that is where my money is ATM.

16 horses, how totally devastating for the owners. If this is botulism from haylage then I wonder what the legal position is for the yard owners? Possibly that is why they are keeping the source quiet until they are sure.
Poor poor horses and poor owners. That is going to take some getting over for them.

 

[MissTyc]

yeah there was something on FB a few days ago, that someone had posted about a whole yard of horses dying and i think that was attributed to botulism.
So sad

On #twittereventing, someone posted that they had just lost all their horses (17) to botulism. This must be the same case as this sort of thing doesn't happen very frequently. I don't even want to imagine., I feel sick just thinking about it.,

 

[Ownedby4horses]

Absolutely heartbreaking for everyone involved, im so sad that so many people have lost their beloved four legged friends. Whatever the cause I hope there is sufficient insurance in place to allow the owners to claim against.

 

[Polos Mum]

Just done a bit of reading on botulism in haylage - it's pretty rare (thankfully)
Given the vets have been involved for more than a week you'd have thought they'd be able to test for that pretty quickly.

Imagine one dead rabbit in a bale causing so much pain.

 

[ester]

It's not the easiest test to do, it's not very quick to grow so it depends if you have enough toxin in the sample without growth to test which one and if so I am not sure if they have moved on from the mouse bioassay yet (it's been a while since I did any clostridia stuff). They might have an indication but waiting for the longer tests to confirm.

 

[paddy555]

It's not the easiest test to do, it's not very quick to grow so it depends if you have enough toxin in the sample without growth to test which one and if so I am not sure if they have moved on from the mouse bioassay yet (it's been a while since I did any clostridia stuff). They might have an indication but waiting for the longer tests to confirm.

this seems to be the most up to date info.
Botulism is diagnosed by eliminating other causes of central nervous disease and associating a point source such as the feeding of haylage. Rarely is it possible to detect botulinum toxin in the serum of affected animals or in suspect feed. The Mouse Toxin Assay is the gold standard for toxin detection and typing. However, it may take up to four days to complete the test. Although a positive test confirms the presence of the toxin, a negative test does not mean that an animal is not affected by the disease.

I think it is more difficult to detect in single horses. When you have a group, they have a common factor and all get the same symptoms then I think the indication is easier.

Looking at the FB page of this livery it looks to be a really well run yard with sadly several kids. There are pics of rows of big round bales wrapped in black plastic.

 

[Tiddlypom]

As a complete Luddite who still uses small square hay bales, I have always had a grave suspicion of haylage because of the risk of botulism contamination.

I know it is very rare, but... .

So very sad.

 

[Pedantic]

FFS

 

[racebuddy]

Heartbreaking for everyone involved xxxx

 

[SO1]

Terrible how awful for the owners of the horses and the yard.

I presume it is not sycamore it is the right time of year for it, however I expect like others have said if they have not said what it was yet, they either don't know or the YO have asked for privacy or not to mention it.

If a large number of horses were affected it must be something generic as it would unlikely that they would all be on the same hard feed. Hay or haylage made on site perhaps.

 

[shortstuff99]

How horrible! I'm not sure how I would be able to ever get over something like that. I found an article that explains the basics of botulism which people might find useful https://www.msdvetmanual.com/horse-...ple-body-systems-of-horses/botulism-in-horses

 

[COldNag]

I remember a stables I rode at as a teen lost a whole group of horses to botulism (I thought it was in hay but maybe it was haylage).
It was an awful tragedy.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

That is so sad poor horses and people envoled, a friend of mine lost a horse to botulism some years ago it's not nice.

 

[Chappie]

Absolutely tragic, my heart goes out to those involved.

 

[Dave's Mam]

How absolutely awful. My condolences to all involved.

 

[Munchkin]

Yes, it’s botulism but the vets can’t put that in a statement until they have hard evidence.

Yes, it came from the haylage cut on site in SEPTEMBER.

18 horses are dead and one remains critically ill.

 

[Squeak]

Absolutely terrible, thoughts are with everyone involved and as mentioned above, I really hope there's been a way of insurance paying out to cover the vets bills.

 

[Ownedby4horses]

Yes, it’s botulism but the vets can’t put that in a statement until they have hard evidence.

Yes, it came from the haylage cut on site in SEPTEMBER.

18 horses are dead and one remains critically ill.

God munchin this really is so sad. I can't imagine how everyone involved is feeling.

Separate question to anyone, is it normal to feed Haylage cut such a short time ago (i don't feed Haylage, so I'm interested as we've just moved onto wrapped hay since moving here - its incredibly dry, so very different from what ive seen haylage can be like.

 

[Munchkin]

No, it is not.

 

[Ownedby4horses]

God, that is really bad.

 

[Tiddlypom]

FGI re feeding haylage.

Haylage needs to ferment, so it should not be fed straight after being baled and wrapped. The amount of time it takes to 'cure' is variable depending on the moisture and WSC content of the grass when it was wrapped, but a good guide is 6 weeks.

https://haygain.co.uk/blogs/news-an...nding-the-differences-between-hay-and-haylage