Typical Myopathy

[frostie1]

Has anyone had any experience of a condition called Typical Myopathy, on sunday I had the misfortune to witness two much loved ponies lose their lives to this condition, one was a healthy 10yr old the other 35yrs old, apparantly they pick it up in the soil particualy in November its a kind of bacterial infection and my god they go down hill fast, the 10yr old lay down at 9 oclock in the morning and just could not get up as it seems to attack their muscles, by 3 oclock she was sadly put to sleep as the vet felt nothing could be done then to our horror half an hour later the old girl went as well. Another pony showing all the same syptoms seems to be pulling through. The vet said its a quite rare condition and is not contagious from horse to horse.

 

[TheresaW]

My instructor lost 2 horses to it last year. Not sure what time of year it was though. Like yours, hers went down hill really fast, one actually died in the field. From what I can remember, I believe she was told that the bacteria can thrive when the weather chops and changes from really cold and freezing to really wet.

 

[StephanieKoczy]

fraid so..2 friends of mine (sisters) had their horses in the same field and they both died from it within a very short space of time. A really horrid thing, as time from diagnosing to vet treatment was a real battle and considering theiy both LIVED at a veterinary center livery yard it was unbelieveable. they were only young horses too. It attacked their muscles too, ones heart failed as the vet tried to move him

I have also heard it is important that the suspect field should be rotated to grazing for a different season to stop it happening again.

x x x

 

[ihatework]

A friend of mine lost a horse to this last winter, very horrid. Its actually called atypical myopathy and is also known as atypical myoglobinuria.
Very few horses live to tell the tale and it's believed to come about from rapid temperature change causing toxic bacterial or fungal growth in the grazing. Apparently supplementing you horse with hay in these periods is one good way to reduce the risk apparently

 

[star]

as per ben and jerry's - it's called atypical myopathy or more commonly atypical myoglobinuria. a friend lost a young welsh cob to it last year - it's really horrible.