 |
RE: [RC] Heart Murmur - Linda CowlesSorry to hear of your friend's horse - how was the heart attack confirmed? I believe Stacy had a field autopsy done, but at this point I forget. I'm told that horses that have heart attacks or brain embolisms drop hard and die fast; that they don't thrash once they're down. In the one heart attach death I got to check out, the horse dropped hard enough that he hit his teeth broke open his lips with almost no blood loss. A vet could give better input on this. Porter passed the final check, but Stacy took him back to the vets later because he didn't seem right. They noticed an irregular heart beat, but it wasn't alarming, so she took him home. This was either at Las Trampas or Oakland hills 5 or 6 years ago. Maybe someone else remembers. Do murmurs lead to heart attacks or just reduced performance? I'm really not sure. Porter was prone to them and was a very good endurance horse. He was hot, though, so Stacy always held him back. There are several other extremely good endurance athletes who continue to compete well with a heart murmur. Gabby was going like a son-of-a-gun when we got into the check and the vet noticed his murmur and suggested I pull him because of the combination of the murmur and B's on cap refill and A- on gut sounds... He'd had a restless night. Do you mean you personally check it consistently or have a vet out? If you do do you just use a stethescope? What does a horse heart murmur sound like if any of us wanted to check for it I guess is what I'm really asking. You can hear them with a stethoscope, and yes, when I'm training hard or competing, I pack a stethoscope. I don't need to get off my horse to check, but it helps. I got in the habit of asking ride vets to check for a heart murmur. They need information relevant to your horses tendencies and recent performance, and if they know your horse has had a heart murmur in the past, they'll listen with that in mind. I don't expect ride vets to catch everything unassisted! I've had a horse pass the second vet check with all A's, walk 5 feet and pee blood! These vets have many horses to look at and are constantly being distracted by the chaotic environment. If we care about our horses, we need to help them out however we can. With Gabby, my only triggers seem to be electrolyte imbalances... I need to be careful to give enough, and not too much. If you know your horse has had heart murmurs, ask vets to check for it, and if the vet finds a murmur, ask to listen to it! You are the one constant in your horses life, the one person who can learn to recognize if a murmur is "the same old thing" or if it's worse than usual - an indication that your horse is under unusual stress. Lots of horses compete very successfully with these things. Educating yourself on how to recognize them will help your horse be one of the successful ones. Linda Cowles Certified Hoof Care Provider 707-869-8270 - Home 707-548-9960 - Mobile HealthyHoof@xxxxxxxxxxx WWW.HealthyHoof.com .... when you're holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|