Two Thoroughbred mares - one several years ago; one this past August. One was dead in her stall; the other dead in the field. Neither one had shown signs of illness,; both were eating & drinking fine. I didn’t have necropsies done since none of my other horses were even remotely showing any signs of illness. And both mares were in their late teens/early 20’s.
Sometimes sh*t just happens.
At my old barn a very healthy TB gelding, about 10 years old, passed away suddenly in his pasture. They found him in the morning, close to the gate, no signs of struggle, injury, etc. I believe they did not get a necropsy. He was only in very light work and mostly a pasture puff.
I know of a couple more, but not horses I knew personally.
My first horse, when I was a teenager, died suddenly. She was an 8 year old, presumably healthy thoroughbred mare. I wasn’t there when it happened; the barn owner went out the barn and found her there, dead. There wasn’t a necropsy performed, so I’m still not sure what happened, but it was very sudden–there were no prior signs.
[QUOTE=bambam;5944814]
Happened to a lesson pony when I was a kid. Cute little pony, not aged, - 15 tops - was trotting around in the first 15 minutes of a lesson and just dropped. Had maybe a minute of what looked like little seizures and then was gone. Pony was in good health and light work and had ribboned the day before at a local show.
In the last year, I believe one of Prince Harry’s polo ponies suddenly died in the middle of a match on the sidelines. I am sure you get good care when you are owned by the third in line to the British throne. I bet if you google it you can get more specifics.[/QUOTE]
I had forgotten about Prince Harry’s polo pony. You are right, and just like Hickstead, there was very little outcry from the Animal Rights Activists over his death, but let a carriage horse die and they go crazy.
My gelding died suddenly at age 19. My husband had just fed him hay and an apple and I came home from work an hour later to find him dead, with my other horse standing over him licking his face. No sweat or signs up struggle. Just dead.
Pony at the barn where my kid rides, dropped and struggled briefly before dieing. Approx age was 12, healthy, grade pony. Happened almost a year ago.
I know of a 30+ pony who went to sleep and never got up. (That is how I want to go!) Happened almost a year ago.
And I know of a TB mare, young, 6-7ish, found in her stall that morning with major issues… through out the day vet attended her and owner was there. That night, she went down again and had a seizure and was gone. Necropsy done to rule out disease (vets were thinking neuro rhino) and discovered she had had strokes and an aneurysm. Happened 3-4 years ago. (That was the worst 2 days for me… as barn manager.)
I also know of a horse that should have died, but didn’t! Fine that morning, early that afternoon was covered in welts, blind in both eyes, jaundice, and shocky. Blood work said liver and organ failure. By the end of day 3 his eye sight was back and the jaundice was going away, welts were gone, and new blood work showed heavy infection. (That was a turbulent 6 months saving him!) But I have this feeling, that if it had happened during the night, I would have found a dead horse that morning.
Didn’t Laine Ashker’s horse (some number) St James Place just drop dead? And then there was another horse (a low level horse) around the same time that was either tied to the trailer or on a wash rack and dropped dead after its cross country round.
Wasn’t there at least one horse that died at the same event that Darren Chiaccha had his fall? And maybe another one at Rolex that year?
Years ago one of my previous trainers was watching a client’s horse running along the pasture fence. He suddenly collapsed and was dead before she could get to him. Necropsy revealed massive bleeding from a ruptured aneurysm. This was a healthy, fit warmblood show horse.
Yes. My first horse died out from under me in the hunt field. He was sound and fit. We’d just come off of a gallop and had been walking for about two minutes and he dropped dead. Aortic rupture. I was told he was dead before he hit the ground, but two of the huntsmen tried their best to get him up with obviously not so good results. The vet who did the necropsy explained to me that his heart was a ticking time bomb and it could have happened in his stall.
Nearly the same situation early this spring happened to a former horse of mine - we sold him 5 years prior. Trainer was warming him up, just walking and easy trotting before the kid rode (he was going to go in a Walk & Trot class at a small show) and she said poor Captain just felt “odd”, she brought him back to a walk, dismounted, he took a few more steps and dropped dead. Captain was a Saddlebred and had turned 18 the week before. He had always been healthy and the only thing he may have been taking at the time would have been a low dose of Thyro-L.
I have never experienced anything like this, however I know that the images of Hickstead dying will forever be burnt into my brain. I hope and pray that I never have to experience something like that.
7-8 year old Fresian gelding in his stall from a cardiac aneurysm. I walked by his stall on my way into the barn and he looked fine. A couple of minutes later I heard a horse thrashing around and water buckets splashing and ran down the aisle to find him sliding down the wall of his stall.
Many years ago trainer of mine was schooling a horse in his field when it died over the top of the jump. Hit the ground and never moved. The trainer was caught from the waist up under the horse’s belly. He said he was suffocating but could not get out due to the weight of the horse and the fact that his arms were pinned. Luckily, a farmer plowing in a nearby pasture happened to see it and came and pulled him out.
Mr Nickerson in the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. 4 year old TB.
My first pony :no: Tough thing for a 12yr old to process :sadsmile: He was a 9yr old buckskin Appaloosa pony. He’d never been sick a day in his life as long as we or his previous owners (the BOs) had him. He was out in the pasture and BO said they’d laid eyes on him as he was grazing just before they left for lunch. BO’s son calls them a couple of hours later saying that he thought they should check on Cody because he was laying down in the pasture and hadn’t moved in a while. BO’s went out to check and sure enough, he was gone. Nothing was out of place, no signs of a struggle. He was just laid out on his side as if he’d been sleeping. We didn’t do a necropsy but the vet suspected a heart failure or aneurysm.
Ditto this…
My old trainer lost a Hanoverian mare to a brain aneurysm. Horse was in her teens, in perfect health (otherwise, I guess I should say), very fun dressage/jumping/trail/putz-around-on mare - just suddenly gone.
Thankfully the mare was in a stall when it happened, no one was riding her.
[QUOTE=Skyedragon;5945141]
I have never experienced anything like this, however I know that the images of Hickstead dying will forever be burnt into my brain. I hope and pray that I never have to experience something like that.[/QUOTE]
It looked rather like that video that went around a few years ago showing a QH broodmare (with foal at side) going through a HYPP seizure.
Makes you wonder how many QHs that apparently drop dead at a young age are actually victims of HYPP?
I’ve never seen or personally know of any horse that just suddenly dropped dead. I do know of a couple that went down and could not get up. They were all euthanized by their vets.
yes.my mare did. good health(never sick a day in her life) and was very sick one morning,called vet immediately thinking colic i was walking her and as i was walking her,she collapsed right in front of me dead without warning…
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