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Re: [RC] Old Selam - Three Colic Horses - heidiDiane--thanks so much for the detailed clinical description. In your 5th paragraph, you state that the diagnosis on all three horses was "A small intestine inflamation." That is precisely what "anterior enteritis" means, so yes, indeed, these horses had anterior enteritis.
("Enteritis" literally means "inflamation of the enteric system--ie the
intestinal tract, and "anterior" refers to the condition being in the
beginning of the intestinal tract--ie the small intestine.) I think
there was some confusion on this diagnosis in earlier posts, when Steph
was stating that this was not anterior enteritis because the white cell
counts were normal. Inflamation need not be of an infectious origin,
and indeed, in cases I've seen at rides, has not been. And given your
clinical report, the vets are right on with this diagnosis--in cases of
anterior enteritis, the fluid flow literally reverses through the
inflamed small intestine. Not only is there a physiological blockage
preventing anything from passing on down the tract (which is called
ileus, and is what occurs when the gut simply stops contracting), but
the inflamed small intestine literally pulls fluid out of the other body
tissues and into its own lumen. There is nowhere for this to go except
the stomach, since there is stasis of the gut (ileus). And since the
horse has difficulty vomiting, either the fluid has to be refluxed out
of the stomach via tube (as you describe) or the stomach eventually
ruptures.
That's the mechanics of it--but understanding the physiological process
still doesn't give us answers as to what causes the problem. This is not
a very common condition, so one WOULD certainly be suspicious that three
horses at the same ride experiencing the problem might have a common
causitive link.
If there WAS something common eaten by these horses, it could have even
been a local irritant, I suppose, but nonetheless it would be interesting
to see results of liver function tests, as they might be indicative of
whether any sort of toxin was being processed by the liver.
I do wish we had a better understanding of possible causes of anterior
enteritis than we do. In any event, at least we have become much more
aware of the mechanics of the problem, and are much quicker to pass
stomach tubes on horses with suspicious symptoms than we used to be.
(BTW, it is experience with a couple of horses with anterior enteritis at
rides that has also made me leery to rely upon stomach tubes for delivery
of fluids to compromised horses--although many times this is a perfectly
suitable means of doing so, I'd sure hate to be the one to try to do so
with a horse that is in the beginning stages of anterior enteritis, and
complicate the situation by adding additional volume to a potentially
over-filling stomach!)
In answer to the folks who are worried about letting their horses eat or
drink TOO much--rest assured that it is NOT overeating or overdrinking
that causes this! Whatever DOES cause it is causing a physiological
shutdown at the cellular level in the small intestine. The
gastrointestinal tract is not like a metal tub that just gets "full."
Worry when they DON'T want to eat or drink!
Heidi
Please Reply to: Diane Dann tdannirg@xxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================I understand there has been a lot of discussion about the three horses at Old Selam that had to be treated for colic after the race. As the owner of one of the horses I have been asked to post my account of what happened so those of you who are interested will have more information. The interesting thing about what happened is that all three horses had exactly the same thing wrong. All three had raced all day with good vet scores and CRI's. My horse in particular never had a score less than A- all day and CRI's all day in the low 50's as well as at the completion exam which was done without even taking the 10-15 minute rest. I understand Steph's mare had a finishing CRI in the low 40's. I don't have any specific numbers on the Montana gelding, but I believe Kay indicated he had had good scores as well. Nevertheless, very shortly after each horse finished the race, maybe within 20 -30 minutes, they were being presented to the vets with "mild" colic symptoms. I am not sure exactly what the other two horses presented but my horse started to eat and then stopped eating, which is extremely unusual as he is usually a huge eater at the conclusion of a race, and he did some pawing. I took him to see Dr. Washingtion and he checked him over, could not find anything terribly unusual, at this point he still had gut sounds, was well hydrated, heart rate acceptable, etc. But obviously he was not comfortable and Dr. Washington recommended a small dose of Banamine and a little rompum (spelling?). This obviously quieted him down and he rested for a good half hour or so and then I walked him around a bit. He was eating the fresh grass in very small bites, but still wouldn't touch his hay. Dr. Washington and Dr. Metcalf were encouraged because he was trying to eat the grass, but recommended that we take a trailer ride home and see if that settled him and if not highly suggested that we take him to Idaho Equine. Shortly before this I was aware the Steph was leaving with her mare taking her directly to IE. Well, needless to say, upon arriving home there was no poop in the trailer, he still wouldn't eat and was lethargic. So we left our other horse at home and took Strike directly to IE where Steph's mare was already being treated. The mare had refluxed and they were tubing her. Steph approached us and said her horse was facing possible surgery or! Steph assured us that she had approved the surgery. They were going to finish up examing her and would be taking a look at Strike. They started with a rectal exam on Strike and did remove moist feces but as a result of the pressure from the rear he refluxed. That was not good. At that point they tubed him and continued to tube him and prepped him for an iv and fluids. The same thing they had done with Steph's mare, and they both were put in stalls until Dr. Parsons arrived to evaluate them further and the need for surgery. Oh yes, we were also asked if Strike was a candidate for surgery or! In the meantime, the horse from Montana arrived with the exact same symptoms and they began treating him in the same manner. One thing of note, to my knowledge neither the mare and for sure Strike, did not roll, all Strike did is lightly paw the ground. Not sure about the gelding. After Dr. Parson arrived she started with Steph's mare and did an ultra-sound and after completing her did one on Strike. She indicated that Strike and the mare had exactly the same thing. That their small intestine was distended and therefore blocked the flow from the stomach. As it turns out the same thing was wrong with the gelding. A small intestine inflamation. Dr. Parson assured me that this condition could not have occurred from over riding the horses. In fact, Dr. Washington, in discussions on Monday, who in fact saw all three horses during and after the race and thought they all showed to be in great condition, has an opinion that they all were suffering from a toxic poisoning probably from something they ate on the trail. Dr. David Ashmar (spelling?) the emergency vet, didn't rule it out and was talking about trying to do some studies on their blood samples to see if he could find anything to support that theory. To my knowledge he has not done that. By the time all three horses had been diagnosed with the use of ultra sound and they were all hooked up on iv's it was about 1:30 A.M. Sunday morning. They were being refluxed every two hours to minimize any pressure on the stomach and to relieve the small intestine to allow it to recover. We didn't return to IE until about 2:00 that afternoon and found that they had been able to stop the refluxing of all three horses, that no more fluids were building up in the stomach, therefore the small intestine had been somewhat relieved and all three horses had "turned the corner". They were going to start offering water at 6:00 P.M. Sunday night and make sure it moved through. Fortunately, for all three, the process worked. By the way, they were all still on iv's, actually each of the horses stayed on them until various times on Tuesday. On Monday they were taking each of the horses for walks around the grounds and allowing them a couple of mouth fulls of grass at each of 4 outings. By this time they were all getting pretty hungry and were trying to eat the shavings so they all had to wear muzzles, but they were still able to drink water at will. They also received bran mash that evening and the next morning. On Tuesday they started them on hay and were doing well. I believe Steph picked her mare up later Tuesday evening, and I picked up Strike Wednesday morning. The gelding was still there, not sure he was quite out of the woods yet, but he has to have more recovery time as he has to be prepared for a 12 hour trailer ride home. The instructions have been to slowly bring the volume of food back to normal over the past couple of days, but after that he should be fine and able to start resuming moderate exercise and easy racing later next month. I can't tell you how scary this whole thing was and I certainly hope no one else has to go through it, ever. One thing I can honestly say is the emergency medical treatment they received at Idaho Equine was the best they could have had anywhere. The professionalism of the staff, the compasion and caring was incredible. They made a very difficult situation more bearable. Thanks to all of you who have called and emailed to find out how Strike had faired. I really appreciate your concern, your thoughts and your prayers. Diane & Tony Dann and Strike too! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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