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Topic:Mortality
Mortality in horses refers to the incidence and causes of death within equine populations. Understanding mortality is important for assessing health risks, improving management practices, and guiding veterinary care. Various factors contribute to mortality in horses, including age, breed, health status, and environmental conditions. Common causes of death in horses include colic, injury, infectious diseases, and age-related conditions. Mortality rates and patterns can vary significantly depending on the population and geographic location. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that investigate the epidemiology, causes, and trends of mortality in horses, providing insights into preventive measures and management strategies to reduce mortality rates.
Prognostic features and clinical presentation of acute idiopathic enterocolitis in horses. Clinical and hematological changes observed on presentation of 47 horses referred to the Ontario Veterinary College with acute idiopathic colitis were analyzed for their prognostic features. Cases of acute enterocolitis were characterized by fever, dehydration, abnormalities of serum electrolyte concentrations, azotemia, hypoalbuminemia, and increased serum concentrations of muscle enzymes. Severely dehydrated horses were seven times more likely to die or be euthanized than those that were not dehydrated. Other factors associated with failure to survive included the following: increased hemato...
Aerobic and anaerobic bacterial isolates from horses with pneumonia or pleuropneumonia and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of the aerobes. Frequency of aerobic and anaerobic isolates in 327 aspirates and in 123 pleural fluid samples from 327 horses with pneumonia or pleuropneumonia and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of the aerobes were reported. Of the 327 horses, 75% survived, 20% were euthanatized, and 5% died. Tracheobronchial aspirates or pleural fluid specimens from 25 of the horses did not yield growth. Of the remaining 302 horses, 221 had only aerobic organisms isolated, whereas only anaerobes were isolated from 6 of the 302 horses. The remaining 75 horses had mixed aerobic and anaerobic bacterial infections. The su...
[The injury pattern in horseback riding]. Injuries are relatively rare in horse riding compared to other sports, but when they occur they are rather severe and dangerous: about 40% of the injured suffer from fractures, for instance and only 15% from sprains. About 20% have to be admitted to the hospital. Roughly 30% of the injuries involve the arm and 7.5%-10% the spine. The head is injured in 20%, the brain in 8% and the lower extremity in only about 20%. That means that the majority of injuries involve the upper half of the body. One quarter of all lethal sport injuries are caused by horse riding.
General anesthesia for horses with specific problems. We have discussed anesthetic techniques, special considerations, and expected complications involved in anesthetizing horses for abdominal, orthopedic, and head and neck surgery, and myelography and have described expected physiologic dysfunction that may require changes in anesthetic technique or supportive measures. The objective is high-quality patient care and reduction in anesthesia-related morbidity and death.
Cecocolic intussusception in horses: 11 cases (1979-1989). Over a 10-year period, cecocolic intussusception was diagnosed in 11 of 842 horses undergoing surgical treatment for colic at the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine. Eight horses died or were euthanatized because of poor prognosis determined at surgery or because of postoperative complications. Three horses recovered without complication after manual reduction of the intussusception and partial typhlectomy, using an intestinal stapling device.
Peritonitis in adult horses: a review of 21 cases. The clinical signs in 21 adult horses affected by peritonitis (unassociated with gastrointestinal rupture or surgical interference of the abdomen) included colic (18 cases), pyrexia (15 cases), weight loss (six cases) and diarrhoea (five cases). The diagnosis was based on a nucleated cell count in peritoneal fluid greater than 10(10)/litre. Haematological abnormalities (either neutropenia or neutrophilia) were present in 17 animals, and hyperfibrinogenaemia was identified in 14. Twelve of the 21 horses survived after intensive antibiotic therapy; the other nine were destroyed either at explora...
[Meadow saffron (Colchicum autumnale) in hay and colic in horses]. Following feeding of a new delivery of hay (bought in Southern Germany) 3 horses out of a unit of 17 developed colic within a few days one horse died. Post-mortem there was an intensive accumulation of serous or serous-haemorrhagic fluid in the thorax and abdomen. The hay was heavily contaminated by autumn crocus (colchicum autumnale)--about 1.48% of total mass. Other feedstuffs were of good quality and following removal of the affected hay no further cases of colic occurred. The pathological findings also indicated a colchicine intoxication.
Secondary gastric impaction associated with ragwort poisoning in three ponies. Poisoning with Senecio jacobaea (ragwort) is a common cause of chronic liver disease in horses in Britain. The major clinical signs are the result of hepatic failure but gastric impaction has recently been associated with the disease. The present paper describes three cases of secondary gastric impaction associated with ragwort poisoning. In each case the impaction was the cause of death or necessitated euthanasia.
Diarrhoea in adult horses: a survey of clinical cases and an assessment of some prognostic indices. Samples of faeces and blood were obtained from 66 adult horses with diarrhoea. The results of routine bacteriological, parasitological, haematological and biochemical tests were correlated with the outcome of the cases. Twenty-two (33 per cent) of the horses died or were destroyed as a consequence of the diarrhoea. A diagnosis was reached in only 23 cases (35 per cent), and in nine of them only at post mortem examination. Salmonella typhimurium was isolated from five cases. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between the horses which survived and those which died in their pac...
Concurrent cryptosporidium and coronavirus infections in an Arabian foal with combined immunodeficiency syndrome. Combined immunodeficiency syndrome is an inherited disorder of the Arabian breed of horses. Affected foals usually die of infectious disease within the first few months of life, and the respiratory tract is the commonest site of infection. This report describes the clinical and pathological features of a case which showed signs of alimentary and respiratory infections. Intestinal infection by coronavirus (not previously recorded in cases of the syndrome) and cryptosporidia was identified. Histopathological evidence also suggested the presence of an adenovirus infection.
Detection of African horsesickness (AHS) in recently vaccinated horses with inactivated vaccine in Qatar. Two 7-year old Arabian racing horses were reported to show typical AHS symptoms in Qatar and died shortly after. The horses had been vaccinated with formol inactivated vaccine approximately 10 days before the onset of the disease. Blood samples from these horses were collected and AHS virus isolated from one sample after intracerebral (i.c.) inoculation into suckling mice. The virus identity was confirmed by complement fixation test (CFT) using the virus antigen and reference type 9 of AHS virus hyperimmune serum. The serotype of the isolated virus was identified by serum neutralization test (...
Pharmacokinetics of amikacin in critically ill neonatal foals treated for presumed or confirmed sepsis. Fourteen foals less than four days of age were treated with the aminoglycoside, amikacin sulphate, and either penicillin or ampicillin for septicaemia, pneumonia, and/or failure of passive immunoglobulin transfer. Serum amikacin concentrations were determined at three times during an 8 or 12 h dosing interval. A 7.0 mg/kg bodyweight dose of amikacin every 8 h was appropriate. Prematurity did not influence mortality. All seven premature foals survived, whereas four of the seven full term foals died. Uraemia in three foals was caused by urinary bladder rupture; amikacin-induced nephrotoxicity wa...
Common injuries in horseback riding. A review. The most common location of horse-related injuries is the upper extremity (24% to 61%) with injuries to the lower extremity second in frequency (36% to 40%). The head and face sustain 20% of horse-related injuries. The most common type of injury is a soft tissue injury (92% to 1%), followed by a fracture (57% to 3%). Concussion is the third most common type of injury (63% to 2%). The most frequent cause of hospitalisation is concussion (38% to 4%) with fracture second. The most common injury which leaves residual impairment is injury to the central nervous system. The age at which most injury ...
Retrospective evaluation of repeat celiotomy in 53 horses with acute gastrointestinal disease. Fifty-three of 648 horses (8.2%) treated surgically for acute gastrointestinal obstruction were subjected to repeat celiotomy. Forty horses (75%) recovered from anesthesia after repeat celiotomy, and 26 horses (49%) were discharged from the clinic. Excluding two horses lost to follow-up, 10 of 51 horses (20%) survived long term. Horses subjected to repeat celiotomy had a significantly lower long-term survival rate than horses subjected to a single celiotomy. Twenty-eight horses had mechanical obstructions, and 22 had functional obstructions at the second surgery. Significantly more horses with...
Survival after small intestine resection and anastomosis in horses. The authors examined factors influencing survival in 140 horses that recovered from anesthesia after small intestinal resection between 1968 and 1986, using Kaplan-Meier estimated survival curves and the Cox proportional hazards regression model. Seventy-two horses (51%) died during the initial postoperative period, 19 horses (14%) died after discharge from the hospital, 33 horses (24%) were alive, and 16 horses (11%) were classified as censored. Mean age at surgery was 8 years. Horses 15 years of age or older, Arabians and Stallions, were overrepresented in the hospital population. The most c...
Strangulating volvulus of the ascending colon in horses. Of 57 horses with strangulating volvulus of the ascending colon, 42 were mares (including 21 postparturient mares), 8 were stallions, and 7 were geldings. Volvulus occurred most frequently in the summer (n = 24) and spring (n = 17). Pain was evaluated as severe in 41 horses, moderate in 9, and mild in 4. The abdominal fluid from 30 horses varied from clear yellow in 19 horses, to cloudy yellow in 3 horses, and serosanguineous in 8 horses. Protein content and nucleated cell count in the abdominal fluid were 2.5 +/- 1 g/dl and 1,000 +/- 900 microliters, respectively. Fifty horses had greater tha...
Caecal intussusception in two ponies. One case of caecocaecal intussusception (case 1) and one case of caecocolic intussusception (case 2) in ponies are described. Case 1 showed mild abdominal discomfort for seven days followed by sudden death whereas case 2 showed continuous moderate pain for three weeks. At post mortem examination, case 1 showed intussusception of the base of the caecum into the body whereas in case 2, the entire caecum had invaginated into the right ventral colon. Histopathological examination showed that the lesions in both animals had been present for a long time.
Fatalities caused by nonvenomous animals: a ten-year summary from Sweden. All 58 deaths caused by nonvenomous animals in Sweden 1975-1984 were scrutinized. In 38 cases horses were involved, in 16 cattle and in one case each a moose, a lion, a dog and a ram. In the horse-related fatalities, the most common cause of accident was that the horse bolted or reared, causing the rider to fall off the horse or the cart or sulky. Falls were thus associated with 22 horse-related deaths. In cattle-related accidents, all fatalities where the cause of accident was known occurred due to aggressive behaviour of the animal. In horse-related accidents, head injuries dominated, while ...
Protection against clinical endotoxemia in horses by using plasma containing antibody to an Rc mutant E. coli (J5). Thirty-two horses with clinicopathologic evidence of endotoxic shock were randomly selected for a double-blind trial of hyperimmune lipopolysaccharide (LPS) core antigen plasma. Horses were suffering from acute toxic enteritis (n = 15), 360 degrees volvulus of the large colon (n = 9), proximal jejunitis/duodenitis (n = 6), or strangulating obstruction of the small intestine (n = 2). Plasma was harvested from suitable equine plasma donors (preimmune plasma) and horses were immunized with a whole-cell bacterin of an Rc mutant E. coli (J5). Plasma was again harvested from these horses when IgG EL...
A retrospective survey of anaesthesia in horses with colic. The purpose of this survey was to identify complications occurring in horses with colic during anaesthesia and recovery from anaesthesia; and to determine any relationships between these complications and drugs used for induction or maintenance of anaesthesia. Two hundred and thirty nine horses were anaesthetised on a total of 250 occasions for colic surgery between January 1985 and May 1987. Of these, 189 recovered from 200 anaesthetic episodes. Most horses received xylazine and guaifenesin with either thiobarbiturate (68 per cent) or ketamine (24 per cent) and anaesthesia was maintained with...
Surgical treatment of sand colic. Results in 40 horses. A retrospective study of 40 horses that underwent surgical treatment for sand colic was performed. Three horses were euthanatized and one died during surgery. Of the 36 horses that recovered from anesthesia, five died before discharge from the hospital and seven died after discharge. Twenty-four horses survived at least 12 months. Sand impaction of the right dorsal colon was present in 26 horses. In addition to sand impaction, 10 horses also had colonic displacement or volvulus.
Lethal horse-riding injuries. Riding accidents can be of a serious nature. Knowledge of risk factors is of essential value in the prevention of injuries. From the years 1969 through 1982 a series of 53 lethal riding injuries is analysed with reference to the rider, the horse, and the environment. Craniocerebral injuries dominate in this series, indicating the importance of adequately protecting helmets. Among the victims the female sex is dominating before the age of 25 and the males above this age. Older horses are less frequently involved in these accidents than younger ones. A long training period for riders under surve...
Long-term follow-up of partial limb amputation in 13 horses. Thirteen cases of partial limb amputation in horses were reviewed. Nine horses (69%) survived 18 to 111 months (mean, 41 months). Four unsuccessfully treated horses were euthanatized within 21 days of surgery. The horses' ages at amputation were 4 to 13 years (mean, 7.3 years). There was no predilection for the left or right limb nor for fore or hind limb involvement. Osteomyelitis in six horses (46%) was the most common cause for amputation. Severe, open, comminuted fractures of the third metacarpal bone that were impossible to stabilize by any currently available technique in four horses (31...
Prognosis in equine colic patients using multivariable analysis. Multiple logistic regression was used to investigate prognosis in 308 horses referred to the University of Minnesota veterinary teaching hospital with colic. Bivariate results identified the following significant individual parameters: absent or hypomotile abdominal sounds, medical or surgical classification, peritoneal fluid total protein, anion gap, serum glucose, capillary refill time, blood pH, heart rate, packed cell volume, base excess, serum chloride, plasma bicarbonate, serum urinary nitrogen and age. Two multivariable prognostic models were developed using logistic regression. Model I...
Immunoglobulin concentration in the blood serum of foals suffering from pneumonia associated with mycoplasma infection. Clinical, microbiological, haematological, and immunological investigations were carried out in mares and their foals of 2 studs. A considerable number of foals fell ill with pneumonia, the mortality rate was high. Mycoplasmas were mostly isolated from nasal swabs and from the lungs. The isolation rate of bacteria was lower. Serum IgG concentration was reduced in the diseased or dead foals compared to that of healthy animals, the data stress in importance of IgG in the development of respiratory diseases also in foals.
Ileal impaction in the horse: 75 cases. Records of 75 horses with ileal impactions were examined retrospectively. There was a sex predilection towards mares. Arabians were over-represented compared to the hospital population. The average age was 8.3 years. Abdominal pain was observed in 96% of horses. Nasogastric reflux was present in 56% of horses, small intestinal distention was found on rectal palpation in 96% and an ileal impaction in 25%. Exploratory celiotomy was performed in 69 horses, the mass was reduced by extramural massage in 67 horses, and ingesta was removed via enterotomy in 2. Jejunocecostomies were performed in 47 h...
Sequelae of myelography in the horse. The records of 131 horses undergoing general anaesthesia and positive contrast cervical myelography with metrizamide were examined to determine the effect of the procedure on the 'patient'. Three per cent of minimally ataxic and moderately ataxic horses had serious complications after myelography. Thirty-two per cent of severely ataxic horses died or were destroyed after general anaesthesia and myelography. Although general anaesthesia and myelography are essential components of a complete neurological evaluation of a horse, they impose a significant risk.
