I found my 7 year old Anglo Arab laying down in his box the other day. He appeared to be in pain and I thought it was colic. Got the Vet out who made the same diagnosis - Colic - and treated him for it. Vet mentioned though that it might also be Nephrosplenic Entrapment (NE) for which the only remedy is surgery. Two days later the horse was really sick in spite of the treatment and had had no bowl movement... I got seriously concerned that it might be NE as - for surgery (really expensive) we'd have to move him to the big city and I wasn't sure if he'd survive the 4 hour ride in a horsebox - nevermind the surgery itself...

Then the second horse got sick and then another... I thought it was unlikely that 3 horses would suddenly develop NE and visited the Vet to dicuss this. Paged through a book about poisonous plants and saw a picture of a horse with "Krimpsiekte" (Shrinking Disease) caused by eating cotyledon and tylecodon spp. plants. I immediately recognised the body posture of the horse in the picture to be the same as that of my Anglo Arab and a new diagnosis was made - poisoning.

By the time I got back home it was looking like a battlefield... Two horses were laying in the garden and the young one in the bush... Treated them with Activated Carbon (what a mission!) and pain killers and the following day they were better. Also walked through the field where they graze during the day and came across a plant (what we believe is) the culprit...

It is impossible to try and remove all the poisonous plants as the area is huge. The Vet says the horses will learn not to eat the plants. What I don't understand is that this is supposedly caused by cumulative, neurotoxic bufadienolides - which as I understand it means that they'd been eating the poisonous plants over a period of time (probably during the dry season when the poisonous plants was the only thing green in the field). If this is the case; how the heck will the horses "learn" from their past mistakes? Any ideas?

Two of the horses are much better now and are showing no more symptoms. The third was also looking better at first but since yesterday (about 4 days after the treatment) he is laying down again - showing signs of discomfort and pain so I suspect he's been eating more of the plants... Either that or he is just taking longer to recover.

Has anybody had any similar experiences?

Thanks

Here's a similar event taking place.



October 26, 2011 at 7:41pm I have had 2 horses die of unknown causes in the last 24 hrs both mounted shooting horses.The only ones I had,my 2 brood mares are going down too.Have had blood drawn and sent in but wont have results till morning.If your horses start acting colicky,feverish,have reddish brown urin,jaundice,labored breathing,wont eat,drink and look gaunt,get the vet there immediatly!! I should have had a necropsy done on Prince yesterday,I may not be losing the rest if I had.Was hoping to be at the ZOC shoot in a few weeks guess this year I will doing unmounted cowboy shooting.After this is done,I wont even have a live horse left to own..Keep a close eye on them folks,this was a very quick and painful death for my horses and we do not know what has caused it yet.

my horses have been piosoned,not sure with what yet,should know come monday,I have lost 3 out of 4 now,and not looking good for my last mare.My freind has lost 5 and soon to lose another,there where 11 horses in the same pasture,all of them have been effected,please keep me in your prayers that my last girl can pull thru this.

I've not had that problem. Wish you well with the recovery

There are several poisonous plants are actually addictive. The locoweeds of the US (plant genus Astragalus & Oxytropis) are extremely addictive to horses. I believe you need to look out for the ones that accumulate selenium. A lot of woody plants produce cyanide as a secondary compound. I'm not sure if the Cotyledon & Tylecodon plants are addictive but I'm willing to wager they are.

You may want to incorporate a bit more grass hay into a daily ration for filler. It sounds like you have an addicted horse so only turn him out full and that should help a bit. In my experience, horses will eat what is familiar regardless of what is safe.

MThunter, I suspect you're right about the Cotyledon & Tylecodon plants being addictive... The Anglo-Arab is showing symptoms again. Thanks for the advice about the hay - will give that a try. Everything is so green outside right now though I'm not sure it will make a difference...