What killed my daughter's horse?

[AUSkyguy 0]

It Does sound like colic to me... And yes horses do die from colic.
some of the common symptoms are listed below, see if any if them match your horses behavior:
1. The horse is reluctant (anorexia) or refuses to eat;
2. The horse may look at their sides, or turn and nip at their sides;
3. The horse may kick at their abdomen with their back legs, paw with their forelegs, or stomp their feet;
4. The horse appears to be stretching out abnormally when defecating or is straining to pass a bowel movement;
5. The horse lies down and begins rolling and thrashing violently and does not shake after;
6. The horse is excessively sweaty after light exercise;
7. The horse shows excessive lip curling (Flehmen response);
8. The horse has cool extremities (e.g lips might feel cool to the touch on inside of the mouth);
9. Lack of bowel movements, as evidenced by the small number of manure piles (however, bowel movement is evident in some more severe cases);
10. Along with these other symptoms the horse's pulse (greater than 52 beats per minute) and respiratory rate may increase

Founder is also a very possible cause of death
If your horse was foundering you would have had to of seen her hoof separating from her leg or the insensitive lamina separating from the sensitive lamina. Founder causes the sensitive lamina to break down and in the end the coffin bone (Distal Phalanx) could pentrate through the sole of the foot.

If she was foundering (Chronic Laminitis) you would have been able to notice her walking gingerly.


Although she showed signs of damage to her Distal Phalanx my call with the information i have is that she possible suffered from colic due to bad feed or eating feed off of the ground or possibly worms.
Just my 2.5 cents

I'm sorry for your loss, It's never easy losing a horse and especially to a disease.

-Chris Martin

[steve1 5]

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edited to add:
FWIW, many 'skeleton horses' come around and do ok when the source is discovered and put on a proper feeding plan. My gut feeling since you described her hanging her head...especially when her grain was increased and even more so if the grain was pelleted, was she suffered from an episode of choke - scarfing the food to quick and it expands in the esophagus and blocks it. Usually you see slime from the nostrils as soon as it happens, but if you saw her a while afterwards it may not have been there. .

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I won't argue with you on much of this. My real purpose for posting all this is to learn what to do next time. I can see now that I should have made sure this mare was okay before breeding her. There is so much to learn in raising horses. I'll admit I don't know it all.

I think you are also on to something with your symptoms listed. She did have a green discharge coming from her nostrils and mouth. She died soon after I found her like that. She was doing fine the night before. She also was spending a lot of time laying down.

I guess some of my defensiveness on this is that I am having problems accepting my own fault in this horses death. I appreciate your input....Steve1

[mnealtx 0]

Green discharge...sounds like some sort of infection.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[NtheSeaOrSky 0]

Yeah, losing them is painful.

None of us are perfect You can't go back and change anything now, all you can do is learn from it and try to not make the same mistake in the future.

And just to make life interesting....even when you do all the right things (not much unlike skydiving) crazy shit happens

Good luck in the future!

Life is not fair and there are no guarantees...

[steve1 5]

I was wondering if I can get another bit of advice from you horse people out there. We paid a stud fee and pasture fee to the owner of the stud. Most breeding fees are for a live colt. If a horse doesn't take, you can bring it back the next year. But what if the mare dies. I imagine we are just out the money. Thanks again for your help on this.....Steve1

[mnealtx 0]

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I was wondering if I can get another bit of advice from you horse people out there. We paid a stud fee and pasture fee to the owner of the stud. Most breeding fees are for a live colt. If a horse doesn't take, you can bring it back the next year. But what if the mare dies. I imagine we are just out the money. Thanks again for your help on this.....Steve1

Since there was no live foal, I would *think* that the owner of the stallion would either give you a refund or give you a rain check for a different mare to be covered. This, of course, assumes there was a "live foal guarantee" in the breeding contract - it should also spell out the other options, for that matter.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[NtheSeaOrSky 0]

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Green discharge...sounds like some sort of infection.

Yup I agree, green slime is likely infection. Choke slime is the color of the food they were eating...so unless there was alfalfa cubes or any other green stuffs in the feed I would be more concerned with infectious etiologies.

Life is not fair and there are no guarantees...

[mnealtx 0]

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Green discharge...sounds like some sort of infection.

Yup I agree, green slime is likely infection. Choke slime is the color of the food they were eating...so unless there was alfalfa cubes or any other green stuffs in the feed I would be more concerned with infectious etiologies.

Maybe equine flu or strangles... neither one good! Steve1 - did the mare have any sort of lump at the back of the jaw, between the jawbones?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[NtheSeaOrSky 0]

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Green discharge...sounds like some sort of infection.

Yup I agree, green slime is likely infection. Choke slime is the color of the food they were eating...so unless there was alfalfa cubes or any other green stuffs in the feed I would be more concerned with infectious etiologies.

Maybe equine flu or strangles... neither one good! Steve1 - did the mare have any sort of lump at the back of the jaw, between the jawbones?

and can you remove any other horses from where she was and bleach the hell out of all the water buckets, feed buckets and anything else she remotely could have breathed on

Life is not fair and there are no guarantees...

[mnealtx 0]

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Green discharge...sounds like some sort of infection.

Yup I agree, green slime is likely infection. Choke slime is the color of the food they were eating...so unless there was alfalfa cubes or any other green stuffs in the feed I would be more concerned with infectious etiologies.

Maybe equine flu or strangles... neither one good! Steve1 - did the mare have any sort of lump at the back of the jaw, between the jawbones?

and can you remove any other horses from where she was and bleach the hell out of all the water buckets, feed buckets and anything else she remotely could have breathed on

+1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Lastchance 0]

Hey Steve, I don't know the first thing about horses but just want you to know that I'm sorry for your loss. It has to be hard. I do know that any pet becomes part of the family. Well I hope to see you before this season ends. Going to Hamilton on Sun. for the boogie. Any chance you'll be there? Talk to you soon.

I may be getting old but I got to see all the cool bands.

[steve1 5]

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Green discharge...sounds like some sort of infection.

Yup I agree, green slime is likely infection. Choke slime is the color of the food they were eating...so unless there was alfalfa cubes or any other green stuffs in the feed I would be more concerned with infectious etiologies.

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I sure appreciate all this information! There was no lump that I noticed. The only thing green in it's grain was a handful of wormer. The only feed I gave her was oats.

I've got my other three horses in another field. I gave them some grain yesterday out of this mare's feed bucket though, so I am concerned about that. Thanks all for your help on this....Steve1

[masterrig 1]

Steve, I don't know what to tell you and I don't know what to say about the loss of your horse. Just that, i know how you feel. I lost the best horse I ever owned last October, to colic/impaction. He was 15, like yours. A damned good cow-horse. There are many causes for severe weight loss in a horse. I wouldn't know where to begin. If, she was 'wormy', you might have given too harsh of a de-wormer and too much. There's no telling. I just know, it's real hard losing a good horse. I feel bad for your loss.


Chuck

[mnealtx 0]

Keep the others isolated and a close eye on them. Get that bucket scrubbed out, as well.... good luck!!

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[steve1 5]

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Steve, I don't know what to tell you and I don't know what to say about the loss of your horse. Just that, i know how you feel. I lost the best horse I ever owned last October, to colic/impaction. He was 15, like yours. A damned good cow-horse. There are many causes for severe weight loss in a horse. I wouldn't know where to begin. If, she was 'wormy', you might have given too harsh of a de-wormer and too much. There's no telling. I just know, it's real hard losing a good horse. I feel bad for your loss.


Chuck

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Thanks for the kind words Chuck. I am wondering about that wormer also. It was heavy duty stuff. It said it was for Swine on the bucket it came in. The Vet assured me it was also for horses and would kill even the tougher parasites that other wormers wouldn't affect. Maybe it could have been too harsh for a horse in that weakened of a state. I also told this Vet that I planned to breed this mare, last Spring. I wish he would have said that wasn't a good idea. I've learned a lot from this, and I'll know better next time. I guess only another horse owner would understand the bond you can have with your favorite horse and understand that loss when they die. Thanks everyone for your input on this....Steve1

[masterrig 1]

Horses, are just plain 'sensitive' animals. they have survived for millions of years from when they were about a foot tall. Their digestive systems are really delicate. A sudden change of feed or water or too much nice green grass, can cause them to colic. Too harsh of a wormer will kill them. I think, i'd maybe, find a different vet.
I remember being up all night with my last horse, walking him and holding his head when he laid down, when he was coliced. The vet tried everything, even an enema... didn't work. His dying was a result of s audden change in surroundings, due to our moving. Yup! I know just where you are coming from, in regard to the bond you can form with a horse. I have a new horse now and this one, seems to be an 'easy keeper. Not to mention, sweet disposition and damned good with cattle. We're forming that 'bond' but, I'll never be able to forget Buster. I wish you all the best and like you, I learned a hard lesson, too.


Chuck