[QUOTE=Vesper Sparrow;5944401]
Copying from my post on the H/J thread:
…While a horse’s resting heart rate is from 16 to 18 beats a minute, it can climb as high as 270 beats a minute during a race…[/QUOTE]
Did anyone read this? No way a normal horse’s heart rate is 16-18 beats/minute.
more like 40, I think.
24-48 bpm is usually considered normal, but I could see a very fit racehorse having a lower resting HR.
As to the OP- not personally, but saw one go down a bank on XC and buckle. And just over a year ago a friend lost her Wesphalian (in otherwise perfect health) just after she finished an XC round. So sad. :no:
Know of one and two halves. First was a lesson horse about 17 years old found dead in her stall at an IHSA away show. They had to perform a necropsy due to her location but I wasn’t privy to the result.
Second was Macrame, a very successful show horse in her day and a favorite lesson horse. She had an episode during a lesson, the instructor stopped the lesson, got the kid off, she collapsed, they were able to get her back up and on the trailer to the Equine Hospital where she died shortly after arrival, say within one hour from episode to admission. She was in her late teens.
Last was Diamond, another favorite lesson horse who collapsed in his stall but recovered from what was determined to be a stroke, he had turned 30 that year, still in light work, and was humanely euthanized within six months as he had been seriously affected by the stroke.
I keep thinking about Jim Fixx (sp?) an individual who pioneered running and jogging for the masses, who should have been very fit, and who died suddenly during a run. These things, they can just happen.
This happened to my friends stallion a few weeks ago. They just found him dead in pasture. Neocropsy showed ruptured aeorta…said it had ruptured 24 hours prior and said he most likely gradually lost oxygen and got very sleepy and went down and died.
I had a jump trainer years ago who said she had a horse die under her while competeing over a course - horse had a heart attack mid-air and collapsed on landing.
Yes. Twice, although neither horse was my own.
One. I was 17. A horse owned by the farm where I boarded was out in the pasture as I was walking by. She spooked, ran just a bit and then went down. I jumped the fence and held her head as she convulsed and died within a couple of minutes. All the while I was screaming for someone to bring me a gun. Unfortunately I don’t remember her age or breed.
Two. One of my best friends was out riding one day. Her mare spooked and ran, probaly about 500 yards from what I am told. Then she collapsed on top of my friend, convulsed and passed away. I was also told she had a stream of blood coming from her nose. The mare was an OTTB and about 22 years old. I’ll never forget that mare. Ever.
Neither horse had a necropsy, though. But both had routine vet care and appeared happy and healthy.
[QUOTE=ReSomething;5945373]
I keep thinking about Jim Fixx (sp?) an individual who pioneered running and jogging for the masses, who should have been very fit, and who died suddenly during a run. These things, they can just happen.[/QUOTE]
The healthiest member of my entire extended family abruptly died in 2005 right before Thanksgiving at age 50. Ate spectacularly right, exercised vigorously every day, chopped wood for fun on weekends. He didn’t even like dessert. It wasn’t willpower; he honestly did not like it. Perfectly trim, not an extra ounce on him, in fantastic condition. Never sick a day in his life. I’ve never met anybody in my circle of acquaintance yet who lived and ate as healthy as Mike.
And he’s dead. :sadsmile:
The police and the coroner wanted an autopsy, as there was no hint at all of any history on this. Even sent him off 90 miles for a better autopsy facility. He apparently went into arrhythmia and then V-fib.
By the way, I seem to remember reading that Easy Goer died of anaphylaxis, like maybe some kind of sting or something. He did have the hemangiosarcoma, but that wasn’t what killed him, although it eventually would have.
I was at a polo match and one of the ponies was galloping and suddenly went down hard. His body skidded to a stop just a few feet from where I was sitting. I was one of the first people to get to him. He did not move, was not breathing, and was brain dead within a few minutes.
We’ve had 3 over the years. One was dead one morning in the barn yard. One was fine at morning chores and dead at 2:00. The third one was bringing the cows home. She took off to jump a small ditch and was dead when she landed. All were between 5 and 10 years old when they died. No hints of prior trouble.
We were at Badminton when Lucinda Green won her second Badminton on Wide Awake when he died after the show-jumping. She went on to win a total of six Badmintons all on different horses.
Uni Griffon, Welsh Cob cross, Advanced eventer.
A Hunt horse in the middle of a run.
A pony of ours had a so-called stroke, but she did not die immediately.
Seems this condition is not as rare as we might have thought.
I lost my gelding 3 weeks ago. He was dead in the stall. My vet speculates that it was an arterial rupture. He did bleed out so it didn’t seem like he died from nothing. He was 38 so old age was to blame. 
He was a Standardbred, was ridden and driven before being retired. His appetite was good the night before and there was no indication of a problem. I found him when I went to do am feeding.
Sudden collapse and death don’t automatically mean an aortic rupture has occurred.
“There are other causes that are equally common,” Bright says. “Many of these other causes are arterial ruptures. The uterine artery can rupture in pregnant mares and cause sudden death. The carotid artery can rupture in horses of any age, secondary to guttural pouch infection. Some horses that have pelvic fractures can have the bone fragments lacerate the arteries in the pelvic region. And there are other causes including other vascular problems, lightning strikes, and acute toxicosis due to ingestion of poisons.”
So although there is little to be done to prevent or manage an aortic rupture, a horse owner can at least take heart that the risk of this happening is slight
I know of two I watched and had first hand contact with.
1.) When I was a younger person I watched a students horse being a little stupid so I hopped on. I was on him maybe 3 mins. Doing walk to trot and back to walk transitions. He got better I pet him and then Wham up over and dead. Was my first experience and I didn’t have a clue about the whole body moving as they die stuff. I felt awful for his teenage owner, but she pulled me out from under his side, where I was pinned, and between my concussion and messed up ankle the rest of the moment is a blur. But I remember the necropsy showed an aneuryism, and the parents of the girl, barn owners etc were all glad it was me on him and not her.
2.) 5 yr old healthy Tb gelding. Tied to the wall in his stall. Flipped out, over and died. No necropsy done. Vets figured heart or broken neck. More likely something neurological caused him to flip.
It happens and it just totally sucks.
~Emily
The Thoroughbred I rode and adored was found dead in his field one morning. He was 15 years old (maybe 16 but not older than that), in fantastic shape and well cared for. This was in 2007/08.
Not mine, and many years ago… but one of my instructor’s school horses collapsed and died while foxhunting. He was a late teens TB gelding used for approximately 10 lessons per week, also did trail riding and foxhunting. Other than occasionally being a little lame and needing some Bute after hard work, he had no health problems and was maintained on a hay-only diet for most of the year. A vet who was out with the hunt suspected an aneurysm. The horse was buried where he fell.
So who’s going to forward this thread to the pinheads in the NYC carriage controversy and to the pinhead at the NYT who cast aspersions on Hickstead’s connections by mentioning drugs in their write up?
Skippy
Appaloosa
28 I think?
Was running away from one of my other mares (not a gallop more like a fast turn and a few trot steps), lost control of her front end then went down - dead. Vet thought it was a stroke. VERY healthy still lightly ridden 1x/week (or so). Luckily husband was there and saw the whole thing (and handled it before I got home).
A few years ago, friend was riding her 12 yr. old saddlebred in the woods by herself, just walking the horse. Horse started to tremble and she jumped off, her horse went down and that was it. Dead instantly, very sad…
[QUOTE=rcloisonne;5945266]
Did anyone read this? No way a normal horse’s heart rate is 16-18 beats/minute.[/QUOTE]
Mine was. On more than one occasion. The day he went into colic surgery he was 48 beats 30 minutes prior to surgery. This is the same horse we found dead in his paddock without a mark on him at age 19.
The last show I went to in October had a horse die in the ring. Was going around just fine and dandy first direction. She reversed and was okay for a while, then started looking kind of slow and lazy… then just stopped all of a sudden, started swaying and went down. She had a heart attack and seized in the show ring. Of course I don’t know for a fact that nothing was ever wrong with her before, but she seemed healthy in the ring before this happened so who knows??
18 year old OTTB. Was in great health, maybe a little stiff, but nothing to indicate any issues.
He’d won quite a bit on the track and was retired. He spent the next 10 years doing the rounds of leases and as a lesson horse. I got him as a “free” lease from the owners. We mostly rode out on the trail, since he simply hated arena work. I would take him for a couple of laps around the arena to see how he felt before a ride and this is what we were doing when he reared up, fell sideways and died. He smacked his head when he hit the ground, but the vet thought the death was cause by some kind of stroke.
Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens. Hickstead’s death was just more public than most. RIP.
