I never like seeing this thread bumped, because it means that someone has had heartbreak.
I’m so sorry this has happened. But thankful that you found a small amount of solace with this thread.
Welcome to the board, and please join in other places. We’re a huge hearted bunch. Sometimes argue, but always care. Just like most families. :winkgrin:
(((HHHUUUGGGSSS))) tntpasos. Our ponies are from the same rootstock as the Pasos.
[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]
My condolences from one Paso person to another. 
I’m also sorry to read so much heartbreak. Especially the recent ones.
My FIL had one. About ten years ago. He and MIL stepped out to go have Friday evening catfish, patted his 18yo BLM mare as she was at the fence near the carport. Came back an hour later to find her dropped in the same spot he left her. No struggle, no trauma, just a peaceful body.
She’s buried in his East field.
45 years ago. Healthy 14 year old paint. I went out to the barn and there he was. No signs of thrashing in the shavings. A trickle of blood from his nose. Vet said he probably had some kind of brain aneurism. Forgive my spelling.
[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]
Condolences from another Paso Fino person. And to everyone else. But I do believe it is better than having them suffer. Although a shock.
RIP Shak
Yesterday my family’s 26yr old appendix passed away.
I had him out in the arena with a friend who had our other horse out, and she did a barrel pattern on him. - When he was younger he was a professional rodeo horse (barrels, roping, poles etc.) and as she was walking him to the gate to go back and cool off, he went down and struggled to get up. He rocked back and forth a few times before just laying down. Blood was pouring from him mouth and lungs. His whole body stiffened up and he started seize and then he passed. The whole process was about a minute and a half.
It was so sudden. Like out of no where. He had been acting completely normal and then he just went down.
Sudden Death of my Mare
I found this thread as I was searching for an explanation for the sudden death of my perfectly healthy 15 yr. old. mare. I am so thankful to read these sad entries, because I now know it wasn’t my fault, in any way. We were walking up to the barn to be saddled, after a very short lunging session. She suddenly whinnied, staggered, fell and tried to rise. Fell again and again and was gone within less than 3 minutes. Totally perfectly healthy girl. No previous symptoms of any kind. We are devastated with the loss.
Nearly 4 years ago our 5 yr old 14hh QH broke her back…bucking in the field.
I watched it happen … and then had to tell my 7 yr old grandaughter her pony had died.
Now that was not a good day
[QUOTE=Jackie W.;8806619]
I found this thread as I was searching for an explanation for the sudden death of my perfectly healthy 15 yr. old. mare. I am so thankful to read these sad entries, because I now know it wasn’t my fault, in any way. We were walking up to the barn to be saddled, after a very short lunging session. She suddenly whinnied, staggered, fell and tried to rise. Fell again and again and was gone within less than 3 minutes. Totally perfectly healthy girl. No previous symptoms of any kind. We are devastated with the loss.[/QUOTE]
So sorry, that is such a shock.
Hugs.
So sorry for your loss. My OTTB collapsed in the field one day. The day before we had been galloping the trail. You are not alone and I can totally understand your grief. It’s so hard not to blame yourself in some way but know that sometimes it just happens and take solace in the knowledge that she went quickly.
Hugs to you, Jackie W. And Hugs to those who posted here and still are feeling the absence of your equine friends.
A friend’s 13 year old, 3rd level SWB was a little lazy on a trail ride. When she returned home, she turned him out to play with his buddies. They galloped down the arena, and he went head over heels, dead. Aneurysm, probably.
Wow - so many sad stories - you all surprise me.
A horse on our Hunt died suddenly.
Lucinda Green’s horse Wide-awake died after it completed Badminton (about 1976) - we were there.
I didn’t see it thankfully but a Hanoverian mare I rode as a kid died of a suspected aneurysm. The story I heard was she circled her stall a few times and died. She probably would have been late teens.
When I was barn manager at a summer camp many moons ago, we had a 20ish year old gelding die suddenly with a kid aboard. He was perfectly healthy up until that moment;his retirement job consisted on packing totally green children around a flat, wooded trail a couple times a day, and he was excellent at it.
We’d just started the first ride of the day, and all of a sudden he very carefully lowered himself to the ground, gave the camper aboard a second to step off, and began (apparently) seizing; by the time I could get to him, he was gone.
There was no necropsy, so I don’t know the actual cause, but it was the first time I’d ever experienced losing a horse, and I’ll remember it forever.
I’m so sorry to hear this, Jackie, and everyone else. Hugs to all of you.
I found a 9 year old TB gelding had died over night in his field. Looked like he was sleeping from a distance through morning feed time. Which was unusual for him.
Walked out to check on him. No sign of a struggle, laying peacefully.
We are near New Bolton vet school and they preform necropsy as part of their teaching program for very little money. Costs more to get the horse there.
He was a retired Novice Champion Steeplechase horse (hurdles) but didn’t train on to that level. I was looking forward to hunting him. Very cool horse in great shape for the upcoming season.
He died of a ruptured diaphragm. I was told he appeared to have been born with a weak diaphragm wall which showed signs of “old” bruising. It was only a matter of time that it would catch up to him. Better to have happened out in his field running around then with a rider on his back out hunting.
Have been around several show/sport horses that suddenly died. It’s never easy to deal with. Think about, question our care taking, training, expertise in general.
I will always have a necropsy done for hopefully some peace of mind and education.
The above horse showed absolutely no signs of anything going on. I did not train him over jumps. Wish he had been mine. I took him mainly to be a hunt horse. But he was a great jumper over “timber” fences. Not many hurdlers are. So I trained him to run a Point to Point over Timber in the fall also. He trained great but it did not seem like his heart was in it.
Having that “condition” was probably why he lost his form after being the top hurdle horses of that given year. He didn’t “train on” the following year. Talking with the vet after knowing what he was dealing with. There was a very good chance that he was protecting himself. It was my understanding that they experience certain level of discomfort after the diaphragm wall is bruised the first time.
It was my understanding there was a chance that it could have been discovered with certain types of diagnostics. But there are little to no “signs” to give one cause. Well, I know now the subtle signs and will be on the look out in the future. It is not common but it is not that uncommon either. Most go undetected without a necropsy. Most people don’t pay for a necropsy. Not saying there is anything wrong with that.
Those of us in the profession of working with horses should always have a necropsy IMO.
I was about 13 and we were on a trail ride.
There was this dirt road on a very small incline up a hill, maybe 500’ long, where we generally had a little gallop.
We were always told to be very careful with the horses, never to override them, give them rest stops, not stress them in hot weather, never gallop but in designated easy spots, etc.
We could see another group from our riding center ahead gallop up that road and then all stand still in a bunch at the top.
When we got to them, one horse was down and dead.
He was a 22 year old super sweet sorrel, former police horse, that our riding center had for 6 years and had always been a perfectly fine school horse, well loved and requested by many.
He had collapsed and died on the spot, the boy riding him barely got off as the horse stopped, started trembling and then fell over.
He was inconsolable, thinking that maybe he should have not galloped him, maybe noticed if something was wrong before that, but he didn’t, the horse seemed fine.
None of us will ever forget that, a dead horse laying there is a shock to everyone.
We were a very somber group walking back to the stables.
We were told later the horse had developed an aneurism close to his heart and it broke at that time, lucky not while galloping, or it may have injured the rider.
The horse never knew what hit him, he just dropped in place, probably dead before he hit the ground.
It is always hard to lose a horse, no matter how it happens, no matter who’s horse it is, we all grieve.
Yes. Aneurysm also took mine. A beautiful, healthy and much loved homebred. Watched it. It was ugly. I don’t think I’ll really get that image out of my mind.
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