Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

It seems to me that we have not gotten very far with the discussion of horse 
deaths.  While I think that all possible data should be collected and filed 
for future reference, at the moment I consider there to be too many variables 
to 
reach very solid conclusions. 

So maybe there is another approach.  Why not ask those who have gone through 
the sorrow of having a horse treated or die at a ride or post-ride what their 
thoughts are? 
Patti Stedman led the way with her ridecamp post today.  So I think I will 
pick up the ball from Patti and tell my stories.

I had a lovely mare I bought from Maryben Stover. Rushcreek Q-Ball carried me 
through the Tevis, did multi-day rides  and 50 milers.  She was an ideal 
endurance horse because she ate and drank and was smooth and willing and did 
everything just right.   However she lay dead 12 hours after completing a local 
50 
mile ride. 

Q-Ball  munched all night long tied to the trailer. She gobbled everything in 
sight at the 1 hour lunch stop.  She went back out on the trail happy and 
willingly. She finished the ride in 33rd position out of maybe 70 or 80 
entries, 
I cannot remember the exact number.  She passed the post ride vet check. I 
returned her to the trailer and she did not want to eat.  I walked her around 
to 
let her graze and she would not eat.  Home was 1/2 an hour away. I took her 
home and turned her loose in the pasture with her buddies. She followed them 
about but would not eat.  Her pulse remained low. She never pawed the ground, 
kicked at her belly or showed any colic symptoms. She seemed peaceful, but 
would 
not eat. 

I decided to do belly lifts. When I did she fell to the ground, got up, fell 
again, got up quickly. I was alarmed and called a vet who IV'd her.  Her pulse 
was still normal and she was defecating so he did not oil her.  When she did 
not seem to get better, (It is now about 10 o'clock at night) he said to get 
her to a vet hospital for possible surgery.  The hour and a half drive was 
non-eventful, she defecated in the trailer, pulse was somewhat elevated to 
about 
60.  At the vet clinic they did a belly tap and found debris and declared she 
had ruptured and was doomed.  She still showed no real pain symptoms, but she 
may have had painkillers administered. I do not seem to recall that.  No 
pawing, no anxiety--the vet thought she was perhaps a very stoic mare.  She was 
euthanized at about 3 a.m., approximately 12 hours post ride.   A necropsy 
showed 
she had a ruptured stomach, not intestine. This is comparatively rare. 

My non-professional  assessment is that I let her eat all night  before the 
ride, she gorged at lunch and then  I asked for continued physical exertion on 
an overloaded stomach. But it is also highly possible that there was a 
pre-exisiting condition that I was not aware of, perhaps genetic as her 
grandsire 
died of the same thing.

A 2nd death.  A horse I owned, but ridden by another very experienced rider,  
went down in a squirrel hole, did a somersault landing hard on her back. She 
developed colic symptoms approximately 10 to 20 minutes after the fall which 
were not relieved by the ride vet's administrations. She was hauled one hour to 
a vet hospital.  Surgery revealed a twisted upper intestine (usually it is 
lower intestine). She had not ruptured. She was euthanized about 18 hours post 
surgery.  I was told that upper intestine twists are far more difficult to 
repair than lower. 

I know personally of three horses that have dropped dead on the trail during 
trail rides. One rider went through our property and waved at me. Forty-five 
minutes later she walked up my driveway and said her horse was dead.  No 
necropsy was done. We assume a heart attack. She had gone approximately 4 
miles. 

I sold a 6 month old colt to a friend who put him in a pasture with another 
colt. When he was two years old, they found him dead in the pasture; the other 
colt in good health standing nearby.  A necropsy revealed nothing other than a 
"possible ulcer" which was ruled out as a cause of death. 

The deaths I have mentioned have no common denominator that I can determine.

I think any long time rider can tell you similar horror stories.  I was 
thrown into a panic at John Parke's ride recently when my mare, who finished 
51st 
with all A's except a C on guts, did not eat post ride. All I could think was 
that I had another Q-Ball disaster as this mare also gobbled everything in 
sight at the vet check. As with Q-Ball, she showed no colic symptoms. But a vet 
administered banamine shot and a dose of tranq and she was eating an hour 
later. 

I know first hand of two horses ridden to death as I was present at the 
rides. We know why they died. 

So in summary (I know this has been very long) I want it pointed out that 
what has happened with my experiences, can happen to anyone...no exclusions!  
It 
is a risk we assume when we own a horse.  He can die in the pasture, he can 
die on an easy trail ride, he can die during or after an endurance ride. 
Fortunately it is rare, But when it does happen to others, I hope they will 
throw it 
out here for all of us to mull over and maybe at some point we will come 
across a common denominator.  We are not on a witch hunt to place blame, we are 
searching for answers.  And there will be no single answer, but many due to 
different circumstances.  Just as with people, horses die for different reasons.

I hope others contribute to this forum with their experiences.  It is a 
morbid subject but perhaps necessary.  I thank Patti for telling her story in 
detail.
Julie Suhr

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