Winters Classic Horse Abortions

[HGFarm]

Wow, this is awful and very sad!!!! I am so sorry you lost the mare too!!

This sounds just horrible for everyone. I have been hauling horses since the early 70's and have never encountered things like this! We always take our own water and water buckets, which we do NOT share with ANYONE, nor do we share feed buckets, etc.. either. Our horses have never been allowed to drink at some of the community water troughs provided at some places. Just another safety tip.

However, I dont think, in this situation, it would help much!! This sounds like MUCH more than just plain old germs...

Please keep us posted Bob and other folks here, on what is found!!!

 

[shelia]

I am so sorry for what everyone is going through! This is terrible! The vets have told me before that it is just too expensive to test for every single thing and there are some things they can't test for, but I was thinking if all of you with sick horses could let each other know what has been tested for and then have the vets test for other things they may have a chance to pin this down without costing everyone so much money. If they find that one horse comes up positive for something then everyone else could test for that.

I wonder if anybody bought any horses at the sale that didn't get sick. Has it been just pregnant mares and weanlings under 7 months old? Could it be Rhodococcus? (misspelled). This sounds to me as though it could be considered an epidemic.

Now I am scared to show my horses this year!

Shelia B.

 

[Sarah's Little Blessings]

Just wanted to update everyone on our horses. Elvis, and all of ours are making HUGE strides to improvement!! After lots of antibiotics and electorlites they seem to be getting MUCH better. Most are clear nosed, and some are turning clear! So Thank God, it is possible to survive this!! Keep it up everyone. We are continuing antibotics, but just wanted to give people some hope, as ours are getting much better. I will keep sending prayers out for everyone else!

TTYS-Sarah

Edited to add: Ours did drop tons of weight, but finnally have their hunger/thrist back. Some of mine would drink grape gatoraid before they would anything. I know that may not be the best thing for them, but just a thought....

 

[wildoak]

Bob, so sorry to hear you all lost your mare, this thing just keeps getting worse. I hope that's the end of it for you and for everyone. Mine are going on immune booster this season as soon as I can get it here.

Jan

 

[Marty]

I feel so bad for all of you involved and especially your very innocent horses.

I must wonder if the State Vet should get involved. This seems like epidemic proportions.

Has he been called in? There is always the chance that if the state gets involved, they can

help assist in blood testing etc. at no charge.

My best wishes to all for a very safe and speedy recovery.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

I'm so sorry you lost your mare

I hope that it ends here and ALL of you have your horses recover. It's just terrible.

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

Bob, I am so sorry for the loss of your mare and your foals.

Sarah, I am glad that Elvis is doing better!

I hope and pray for improvements for all.

I wonder... were any horses bought by other countries? There were many on the chat. Luckily, there is quarentine for them, otherwise this could be worldwide!

These things can happen big shows, small shows, buying horses on the internet and shipping them home across country with God knows how many different horses in the trailer along the way. Its scarey and especially because of this I worry about bringing horses in, or taking my horses out.

Healing white light to all,

Robin

 

[KAYO]

As I sit here reading this morning my heart is hurting for all of you that have ill horses. I've been watching this post from the beginning and have kept this problem in my thoughts. I have friends from the Napanee area that purchased two horses from that particular sale. When we went to visit on Saturday they showed us the new mares and told us the yearling had been very ill and treated for pneumonia but she was doing much better while we were there. My biggest concern after reading this is that this illness could go through their herd. I called them and printed the posts to send them in the mail. Over the phone I just told them that there seemed to be a highly contagious bug coming from that venue and that I was sending them the information that was available on Lil Beginnings so that they are able to read it and go from there. They have a bunch of pregnant mares and I'm really concerned for them. I'm so sorry for the loss of the little mare, and I hope this gets under control very quickly. Makes me kind of aprehensive about show season.

 

[BLACKWATER FARMS]

My deepest sympathies to all with sick horses.

I am interested to see what the tests come back. Rhino can cause a more severe neurologic form and the prognosis is very grave if those horses go down. And it really sounds like Rhino or Rhino and Influenza (both like to hang out together and can spread like wild fire thru groups of stressed horses such as a show or auction situation.

Maybe the better auctions should require VETERINARY PROOF of vaccination.

Isolation techniques need to be better, often people's "isolation" is putting them 100 ft away from the rest of the herd. That doesn't work for airborne viruses.

When bringing horses to shows or auctions or buying horses--don't forget that the horses at home need to be up to date on their vaccines---don't vaccinate your horse 1 week earlier and think that they are protected --vaccines need a couple of weeks to work and mount an immune response. In fact if you vaccinate just before you ship /transport a horse, you may actually increase their risk of getting sick and they are not protected.

Different vaccines last different amounts of time, that is due to the nature of the disease and how vaccines are actually made, some by nature or short acting and Rhino (which is equine herpes virus 1 and 4) is one of those. That's why you see commercials for human herpes drugs(VALTREX) and it tells you that you can still spread it without being in an outbreak and that it is NOT 100% effective, but does decrease the risk of transmission.

for those with very sicks please check with your vets on EQUISTIM--it is an Intravenous Immune system stimulent that really helps some of these immuno suppressed horses mount an immune response to certain types of viruses--herpes being one of them. In small animal practice we routinely use immune system stimulants with animals that are herpes positive (ie herpes positive cats) and it helps them recover well tho they are ALWAYS still a carrier of the disease.

Linda

Dr. Linda K. Fung

Blackwater Farms, USA & Prairie de la Sommerau, FRANCE

 

[WeeOkie]

Oh, my, this just seems to be getting worse for some of you - Charlotte and Frank, Bob and Sherry, and all the others battling this problem, my heart goes out to you.

Rita

 

[MRF Shannon]

Just an update that tomorrow is our last day on antibiotics and the bronchial dilator. Everyone has responded well, and time will tell if the unborn foals were affected. I am glad we made it through and send my prayers to those that are still struggling with this.

Hugs....

 

[Dorrie & Frank]

We have been at shows with air born virals and after that began using triple antibiotic ointment in the horses' nostrils twice a day while at shows and it made a big difference for us. Most airborns have to settle in the nasal passage (not the only way to get it but a common way) and the ointment doesn't let it go very far. I have used it myself because I have been flying so much and rather than getting my post-trip cold I am fine. It is just one added precaution. We also were careful not to let our horses get nose ot nose with others. It is cute sometimes but that's how things get passed along too. We clean with Novalsan - stalls, buckets, horse noses and faces - diluted as recommended of course. The trich illness had to come from contaminated buckets or water at the show. Sloppy management of those horses. Too hard to prove though.

 

[Charlotte]

Disease update here. Mooney foaled. She was our first to come down with this and one of two sickest...high fever for 3-4 days, bad cough, snotty nose. We kept her on Banamine to protect the fetus and put Mooney on SMZ hoping that most of her symptoms were bacterial. She seems well except for a residual cough. She foaled last night. A healthy strong filly.

Please keep this baby in your prayers. We don't know if there was sufficient time for Mooney to get antibodies in her colostrum to protect baby from the disease. We can only wait and watch. Does anyone know....how long do we have to live in fear before assuming she has immunity to this? How many days?

Charlotte

 

[littleones]

Congratulations on your filly - I hope that she will be fine - hopefully a vet will see you posting and comment on your question.

 

[MountainMeadows]

Charolette

It takes a couple of weeks for antibodies to hit the colustrom - however, the mare's natural immunity should be lot of help - I would definately check this baby's IGG level just to make sure that there was a good transfer and other than that keep a close eye and if she shows the least little sign of being "off" get her started on something.

Good luck - at least she made it here alive & bouncing arounds.

Stacy

 

[Mona]

Congratulations on your new filly. I hope and pray she will be OK! Is there nothing you can give to her now, as some sort of an immune booster??? Good Luck with your new little sweetie and the rest of your herd, and continued prayers for everyone else as well.

 

[valshingle]

Hi everyone! We finally got test results in from our sick horses. We had one horse get sick that hadn't been vaccinated in over a year, so he was our test horse. The results came in this morning with very high levels (titers) of rhino aka herpes virus. The virus was not typed, so we don't know if it was EHV-1 (which causes respiratory problems and abortions) or EHV-4 (which is more common and causes respiratory problems with no abortions). The horse we tested was the one with the high fever, pneumonia, and ataxia. The ataxia is virtually gone, fever is gone, and he just has one small lung abcess left. He tested negative for EPM and WNV. Our premature miniature colt was about 7 lbs at birth and is now 9 days old and weighs 15 lbs and is doing great. We still have 4 horses that are sick, but the storm seems to be over (I hope!!). When anyone else gets test results in, please post them! Thanks to all of you that sent notes of encouragement. I was supposed to attend the AMHA convention, but had to cancel due to this virus. By the way, my vet said that Prodigy is better than Pneumabort K in preventing rhino abortions in pregnant mares. Just FYI.

 

[wildoak]

Glad to see updates, and I'm sure you are relieved to at least be able to put a name to the illness. 7 pounds, that's sure tiny!

I use the Prodigy - when I can find it - prefer it to Ft Dodge.

jan

 

[WeeOkie]

Charlotte, so glad to hear that Mooney had a strong healthy foal. Congratulations! I sure hope things are turning around for you at the farm.

Val, glad yours are doing well too!

Rita

 

[Mulligans Run]

We had a filly yesterday morning from a mare that was sick with this stuff. Filly is great, mom is great (so far) and everyone seems to be over it.

Glad the storm is passing....