Have you had an apparently healthy horse just collapse and die?

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=bryceBquick;7081631]
Unfortunately, I have reason to post in this thread now.

My sweet bay boy, Bryce Be Quick (24), passed away suddenly in his pasture on June 23rd. He was in excellent health with no issues whatsoever. He had been ridden and groomed the day before, and was happily grazing in the moonlight at 11pm that night. The barn owner found him at 7:30 Sunday morning. There were no signs of struggle and no visible signs of … anything. He was just gone.

I’m assuming it was a heart attack or aneurysm, but I did not have a necropsy done.[/QUOTE]

So sorry, that is such a shock.

That is how Grandma’s last horse passed.
He was 24 and that winter, one morning, he was laying there at feed time, dead.

At least those that go in seconds don’t have to suffer.

So sad.

[MumboJumbo]

I have had one. 10yo QH mare. I had ridden her the day before and all was completely normal and usual. That morning it was super cold and rainy so she was turned out in the indoor while her stall was being cleaned. Barn staff saw her all of a sudden whinny a few times, take a few canter steps and then just fall to the ground. Moved her legs for about 30-40 second, eyes rolling back in her head and then was still.

Autopsy was inconclusive due to amount of blood hemorraghed in her head and neck. Likely an aneurysm.

[Stushica]

This thread makes me so sad I had an admittedly ancient horse die on me last spring. Well, technically the vet put her down but she wasn’t making it much longer and it was shocking to us all. The last time I was home I took her on a ride and she was still full of crap and trying to look for opportunities to bolt. The day before my mom watched her run to the barn from the field, and that morning she said she ate all of her breakfast. But that night she didn’t come in and they found her laying in the mud, they got her up and she skipped going to her stall and went right down to the front pasture, laid down in the flowers and started eating grass and refused to get up so they called the vet thinking maybe some weird colic episode. As it turns out her whole colon was full of tumors and they euthanized her that evening rather than waiting too see how long it would “take her to die” She was in good weight and good spirits, and even eating. I’m crying thinking about the phone call, she’s the horse I would clone if ever given the opportunity and it was just really sudden for me. I guess it wasn’t really random and it was more like her time given she was getting close to 40 but there was no lead-up, she just laid down and decided to die I think. God I loved her so so much.

“Ebby” a few years before she died, it was the first pic I ran across

She was usually a grump lol, Occasionally she would love on her people, but she always detested other horses, or goats, dogs, and cats. We figured she was too cranky to ever actually die.

[stecia]

5 yo Irish Sporthorse mare…on the evening she died (2008), we were ground driving. She had seemed to be enjoying the work, very relaxed, attentive, responsive. We had halted. I clucked to go forward, she flexed at the poll to go on the bit, then suddenly reared and collapsed to the ground…necropsy demonstrated severe degenerative disease of several cervical vertebrae with bone spurring, extensive bleeding into the spinal canal and brain. The terminal event was likely the final manifestation of congenital bone disease, perhaps osteochondrosis. Five years later, this still seems surreal.

[StGermain]

My trak mare died in foal last summer a month before she was due to foal. Was checked by the vet the previous week, everything fine. I fed dinner that night before, all was well. She didn’t come up for breakfast. I went looking and she was dead in the pasture, no signs of struggle or injury. No necropsy done - the vet figured it was probably an aneurysm or maybe a melanoma in her brain that ruptured. She was grey, but with minimal melanoma.

StG

[spotted_draft_x_fill]

Last summer at a farm i worked at a 10 day old tb foal collasped, had seizures and died. They don’t know what caused his death.

[OTTBs]

I just found this thread while searching for something else. My 22 yo TB gelding, apparently in great health, dropped dead Aug 2. He was gray with some known melanomas. Later that night I wondered if vet schools would be interested in opening up gray horses to see how melanoma inside compares to outside? Wish I’d thought of that before arranging his cremation.

[GraysAcres]

I found this while googling what could have caused what I found in my paddock today. 9 month old grade colt… fine last night eating, drinking, pooping and peeing. Nothing out of the ordinary. Turned him out with his mini friend in the paddock that has a run in. Went out this morning to feed and he was gone. No marks, no blood, no signs of struggle… literally looks like he just laid down and died. We didn’t get a necropsy because of the costs associated with it and the fact that we needed to bury him before the kids got home from school. I’m still shell shocked. Did talk to the vet and he said that it sounded like something was wrong with his heart.

[HunterJumper_3]

I’m really sorry about Barney! But he couldn’t move anything but (barely) his head? A little different from Hickstead’s death though. From the videos I’ve watched, he kicked and struggled for awhile before he died…

[LauraKY]

[QUOTE=GraysAcres;7177020]
I found this while googling what could have caused what I found in my paddock today. 9 month old grade colt… fine last night eating, drinking, pooping and peeing. Nothing out of the ordinary. Turned him out with his mini friend in the paddock that has a run in. Went out this morning to feed and he was gone. No marks, no blood, no signs of struggle… literally looks like he just laid down and died. We didn’t get a necropsy because of the costs associated with it and the fact that we needed to bury him before the kids got home from school. I’m still shell shocked. Did talk to the vet and he said that it sounded like something was wrong with his heart.[/QUOTE]

I"m so very sorry for your loss.

[LookmaNohands]

I found my 22 yr old dead in the field in June. He had been just fine and was ridden regularly.

I am beyond devestated and miss him terribly.

[Plainandtall]

I’d just like to add this link to this thread just in case it could help someone. I see so many people say cost is a factor in not getting a necropsy done- and I’m sure there are varying levels of detail that would increase the cost- and of course moving a carcass is not without cost or effort either. I’m understanding if people don’t want to do it- but in situations where, for example you are a breeder and the cause of death may be inherited, or if you have other horses who may be at risk from whatever killed the other- research the cost before you assume it’s not affordable. Some of these prices stun me in how inexpensive they are. Of course many of these are probably geared toward the vet school where the animal is examined alive, and then euthed- so much of the expense of the effort is absorbed by the benefit of the learning of the students.

http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/veterinary-medical-schools.php

[BoomerButt]

A friend of mine had a 7 year old QH/TB cross. Beautiful Chestnut boy standing 16.2 hands. Built like a brick house. No health issues. Extremely healthy.

She went out on the deck for her morning coffee before feeding and he whinnied up to her. Not ten minutes later, friend walked out her front door to feed and saw him laying in the field. She called to him, he didnt move.

Vet said it was a brain aneurysm.

[SarEQ]

I’m sorry for everyone who had to post here. My 33 year old Arabian who was the picture of health (most people thought he was 12 until they saw his teeth) collapsed and died without warning.

He played with his girlfriends in the big field in the morning. They put more hay in at one and he was a bully and chased the other horses off the biggest pile (always a bit of a bully, that one) to share with his girlfriends.

They found him at four, flat out on his side, with no sign of a struggle and hay in his mouth. I didn’t opt for a necropsy.

[Cielo_Azure]

Yes -I have had a horse die in this fashion. Unfortunately, it is not how most of mine have died. I wish it were.

So, this thread doesn’t make me sad, it makes me grateful that so many horses went easy, without pain, without suffering.

Isn’t it how we all hope to go, when we go?

[Ajierene]

My trainer lost her best schoolhorse this summer. He seemed in perfect health, was being ridden by a student when the trainer noticed him stepping funny. She had student bring him back to see and he let out a very specific whinny. She told student to take tack off and student did just as he collapsed and died. There was kicking involved, but that was not struggling, that was the death throes.

She did have necropsy done and while he was young (11) and looked and acted very healthy (I competed him only about 2 weeks prior), it turned out he had more organ damage than every supposed. If I remember correctly, he died of a ruptured aorta, but the trouble with the organs was likely a contributing factor.

This was a horse that never had trouble keeping weight on, travelled well, was never in ill health, really just no signs.

She ended up putting down another horse (10yr old) who’s first sign of trouble was ‘weight loss’. He went from being something like 300 lbs overweight to 150lbs overweight. He was staying at another farm for the winter. The person that owned that farm had taken him as part of a board agreement to bring her horse to my trainer’s for the winter. Her horse lost of a lot of weight and looked ill when he first moved, but they thought it was the transition. When my trainer’s horse did not look well (something she would notice more than someone else due to his pasture puff figure), she had bloodwork done and he had picked up a bacteria at the other farm. By the time it was caught, it was to late to do anything about it.

The farm owner’s horse has likely picked up a bacteria as well, but came out of it better. A necropsy was done to determine what it was, but I never got around to asking the results. The farm owner felt very guilty and also very worried about her other horses.

Also, we had a horse die in a pasture of 4 other horses, several years ago, at another farm. A new pony was introduced. That pony and my pony never looked odd. My horse looked like she lost weight, but then picked it back up and perked up in about a week or so timeframe. The other horse, who was only 4, but had trouble keeping weight on anyway, died. We did not do a necropsy but thought back after the fact and surmised that the new pony brought a virus/bacteria into the field.

[McGurk]

Fourteen years ago I lost a lovely, otherwise healthy 21 year old TB gelding. My brother-in-law walked by him and patted him on the neck in the paddock at 7 in the evening, a little after 8, he went out to investigate what his dog was barking at and found him on the ground, dead, with little sign of struggle.

Necropsy indicated colic due to clostridium perfringens bacteria. The other horse he was turned out with was perfectly healthy. The necropsy didn’t really answer the why or the how, just the what.

I am still not really over it.

[Sandy_M]

A friend went out for a trail ride on her 13 year old 3rd Level SWB, her husband went along on my 20 year old Appy I had given them. They usually galloped up one hill, but the SWB broke back to a trot, then walk and didn’t want to gallop. The walked to the top, then rode back to the barn. They turned my old App and the SWB out in the turnout, and went to get their third horse, a semi-retired old TB. Before they could even walk into the barn, the SWB and App galloped to the end of the turnout, and the SWB flipped end-over-end and just lay there, blood coming out his nostrils, dead. The vet did not do a necropsy, but he said it was most likely an aneurysm. Very said. Youngish horse, she hadn’t even had it that long, and, well, uninsured.

[tntpasos]

Tico - RIP

My beloved Paso Fino of 17 years _ I raised him from 3 months on had just past quite suddenly on Friday 11/1/13. He was perfectly healthy and in the best shape he has ever been. I went out to feed him his dinner and found him on his side in his stall. I am devastated beyond but keep thinking that hopefully he went quickly and painlessly. It appears that he laid down to go to sleep. I could not afford to have a vet out to determine the cause of death so I don’t know what caused such a sudden death in a healthy horse. It may seem harsh but reading the forum made me feel a little better that this sort of thing does just happen sometimes. I have been going over everything in my head trying to figure out if I did something wrong or if I missed a sign and WHY? I truly feel for everyone that has lost a horse - suddenly or not - but if he was sick I would have been better prepared. At the moment I cant even look at another horse and I have a pony in the barn I must carryon and care for. Thanks for letting me share.

[Graymaresrule]

[QUOTE=tntpasos;7246759]
My beloved Paso Fino of 17 years _ I raised him from 3 months on had just past quite suddenly on Friday 11/1/13. He was perfectly healthy and in the best shape he has ever been. I went out to feed him his dinner and found him on his side in his stall. I am devastated beyond but keep thinking that hopefully he went quickly and painlessly. It appears that he laid down to go to sleep. I could not afford to have a vet out to determine the cause of death so I don’t know what caused such a sudden death in a healthy horse. It may seem harsh but reading the forum made me feel a little better that this sort of thing does just happen sometimes. I have been going over everything in my head trying to figure out if I did something wrong or if I missed a sign and WHY? I truly feel for everyone that has lost a horse - suddenly or not - but if he was sick I would have been better prepared. At the moment I cant even look at another horse and I have a pony in the barn I must carryon and care for. Thanks for letting me share.[/QUOTE]
I am very sorry for your loss. If it is any help to you at all, if his stall was not messed up beyond his usual he probably went quietly.

A colicky or convulsing horse can really make a mess