This one hit very close to home for me. They were stabled across from us at the Ocala FEI event last spring and were the most lovely people. You could tell how much they loved that horse and that he was treated like a king. I believe Adriana was in the ICU after the fall, but I haven’t seen anything reported. She is just 18, and I hope that nothing too serious happened.
9 Likes
Strange, I saw this blasted all over my news feed. I was surprised that it wasn’t updated right away on COTH. Apparently some very callous comments were made on the EN post that were later removed, but I didn’t see them. I wonder if that had anything to do with the post getting buried.
FWIW, I agree with you. I’m also of the opinion there is no way to prevent these things if the horse has the predisposition for them, their time will come when it comes - either in a stall eating their hay, or galloping out on a Prelim course.
I had one drop dead in his stall. His father was the same age when he died of an aortic rupture. I did not find this out until I started looking for possible causes for mine. Then I started doing some digging, and apparently, it was not an unknown predisposition for this family line.
I wish that studbooks and the JC documented cardiac events more seriously. Maybe I am not in the know and they do, but for instance, there is at least one stud line I can think of in TBs (and one unrelated branch in WB world) that has a reputation for cardiac events later on in life. And both have not to my knowledge been extremely forthcoming about that tendency.
My heart goes out to his connections and I hope Adriana is ok. This was all over my FB feed as well. Seems Adriana has lots of friends in my circle because the outpouring of emotional support has been huge.
3 Likes
Strong condolences and get well wishes to Adriana. How devastating for a young rider to have to deal with, especially the criticism when there is nothing she could have done.
we don’t yet know what brings these things on and if cardiac events in sport have a root cause that is exacerbated by XC competition. That is why they are doing the cardiac study, right? Does that have any answers yet? I don’t recall seeing anything though I have donated some and I know many others who have as well.
I agree that we should not blame the riders who could do nothing given our present knowledge to prevent this, and at the same time we should seek additional scientific knowledge to see if there are root causes we can reduce the incidences. I think we should maybe at this point categorize them as jump-related and not-jump-related and within that more specifically as we know more about the causes. Lumping it all together does feel a bit unfair on some level. I felt that way about the way people went after Boyd re: Crackerjack and his bad step too…it doesn’t feel the “same” somehow as I’ve known several horses to have similar accidents in the paddock doing nothing at all strenuous and it wasn’t like a riding error or anything. I do understand that maybe they could have done different things with the footing but that seems like hindsight’s 20/20. I have galloped across tons of areas from packed footing to grass and back again and never considered it unsafe. Frankly I’ve never seen a XC course without some of that.
2 Likes
The horse died running prelim XC. That is hardly the kind of extreme exertion that would give grounds for one to reasonably attribute any blame to the sport. If the death of a horse from natural causes in a preliminary/1* XC is considered a horse welfare issue, the sport should just pack up its bags and depart permanently.
1 Like
Does anyone know if he had a necropsy performed and are the owners sharing the info?
1 Like
I agree with you. Fortunately, the first post of this thread has begun noting beside each name a quick synopsis of the cause (cardiac event, fracture, etc.) and where it happened (galloping between fences, change of footing, at a fence, etc.).
I think it is equally important to track all major incidents on course, so severity and trends in data can be observed, as it is to ensure that these “categories” exist. For example, if 10 years from now we conclude that a factor in jump design is responsible for some of these fatalities, the sad loss of Consensus should not pad those statistics. However, if the USEA is considering whether or not they should continue the Equine Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research Study, his death (and Jaeda’s, and All Aboard’s, and several others recently) may support the ongoing need for that kind of research. Hopefully this categorization will help ensure that no loss is in vain.
On the note of ensuring that this thread remains as complete and accurate as possible, @Jealoushe I believe this needs to be added as well. A leg fracture that occurred when galloping between fences at Taupo 
https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2018/02/09/loss-eventing-horse-hat-trick-nz-event/
7 Likes
Thank you @Marigold, I did not see that one. Updated to include them.
Nothing has been said regarding the horses cause of death yet. It could have been a million things. But I am sorry, a horse dropping dead on course will never be just another horses death to me. It is important to log these things to find patterns and possible causes. If it is just a case of old age or bead health, then so be it. Not enough information to claim this yet.
Links are also always included so readers can see for themselves what the situation was etc.
4 horses have died in the last 4 months. Two from leg fractures. These details are important to further the safety of our sport.
Curious if dressage, and HJ have as many deaths of this type as eventing does.
5 Likes
Hard to say but it happens. Hickstead, for example. Then Laura Linback’s bad head injury – last year? – was caused when her horse walked out of the ring after a jumper round and fell down dead (on her). My trainer had a showjumper die in midair over a fence, never unfolded the landing gear but that was decades ago in Europe. on a lower level I showed steadily for more than a decade and heard about it once or twice. It is good USEF is requiring mandatory necropsies now because we can get more accurate data to compare. I doubt it is as high but also the animals are exerting less hard for less long. Your average jumper round is 80 seconds more or less.
1 Like
The winner of the Iroquois Steeplechase dropped dead after the race a couple of years ago. I just read about another TB stallion who dropped dead after covering a mare. It happens.
I can’t say that I have read much about horses dropping dead while foxhunting, but I’m sure it happens, although there is a lot of stop, wait and start in foxhunting.
1 Like
Well we have all heard of that high school or college athlete that suddenly drops dead of a heart attack…Heart problems so often go undetected.
2 Likes
And they can appear in a previously healthy horse - even a “warhorse” type. We are so lucky Arthur is not listed on the first page as well. His condition was new, and only observable during exercise. How many event horses are fortunate enough to be subject to an ultrasound and an exercising electrocardiogram before each competition? How many event horse owners have the resources to find a veterinarian with this equipment and pay for it each time?
http://eventingnation.com/allison-springers-top-mount-arthur-retires-due-to-heart-condition/
I imagine if I were Allison I’d now have nightmares every time I saw him playing too hard in the field. Horses are difficult creatures to love, no matter how we try to protect them.
7 Likes
Just looking at USEF rule book GR843 MANDATORY NECROPSY…effective 12/1/17
2 Likes
Most excellent, thank you for the info. Even if the results are not shared at least more info can be gathered.
I know a lot of people don’t agree with logging each death, but the race industry started tracking everything from stall to track. It’s the only way to get the best answers.
7 Likes
I agree - because what IF there is something similar in all the horses, their lifestyle, training, etc. Or perhaps we find a way to find these things earlier, and can protect the horse best way we can.
4 Likes
For what it’s worth on my second drag hunt in England, an ex TB racer died of a heart attack a few minutes after a big gallop across a field. We were standing waiting for the rest of the hunt field to catch up. All of a sudden he neighed and fell over. Unfortunately his rider got pinned with her body on his belly side and her leg stuck in the stirrup. The horse was still kicking for a few minutes. It was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever witnessed. Fortunately they got her out and she ended up being OK–at least physically.
The horse was somewhere in his upper teens–not old old but not young either. Definitely can happen.
Here’s a 7 year old AQHA champion gelding that competed in trail that died of heart failure: http://www.equinechronicle.com/aqha-…or-roll-title/ It can happen to any horse.
Without any details this doesn’t add anything to the conversation.
5 Likes
Seriously?!?! This thread isn’t about random horses dying, it’s about event horses. What caused it? What can we do better? Are there commonalities?
6 Likes
Back in the 90s on the west coast we have 4 or 5 do this over a fairly short period of time, probably two years. I know at least one of them was standing eating hay in turnout when it happened because I was walking towards her and looking at her at the time. She just flipped her head up and dropped. Aortic rupture, and one had a rupture in the neck/ head. All vaguely related, mostly big, mostly chestnut TBs or TB crosses, mostly born in the 70s and 80s. Which was probably the second most common description for horses at the time, after bay TB!
It was common enough that I remember my trainers vet knew the bloodlines it happened to. I wan to say some Secretariat descendant line although I really don’t recall. One thing I do recall that they recommended was really staying on top of worming those horses as they believed it had an effect. Whether or not that’s true I do not know. It was around the time some new types of wormers came out - Quest maybe? and I think it’s become less common (or those bloodlines died out) as I don’t know anyone who’s lost a horse that way personally in LA since probably 2002.
Sudden catastrophic internal bleeding is also a really common way for very old ponies to go in my experience, I think that is often related to tumors, or so I’ve read.
