Common Causes of Sudden Death in Horses
When an apparently healthy horse suddenly dies for no obvious reason it can leave you feeling confused as well as bereaved. Although a rare occurrence this could happen to an otherwise healthy adult horse. Here are a few of the more common reasons why this could happen.
01of 05
Ruptured Aorta
The aorta is the large main artery that comes directly from the heart and distributes blood to the rest of the body. In some animals including humans a part of the wall of the aorta which is typically very muscular and rubbery is thin and weak. This weakened area in the blood vessel is called an aneurysm. A ruptured aorta occurs when this area of weakness bursts. Since the aorta is a major blood vessel once ruptured the horse quickly hemorrhages. There is no treatment for this and the horse dies almost immediately 1 Unfortunately there is no way to examine a horse and determine if he has an aortic aneurysm.
Toxins
A horse can die unexpectedly and quite rapidly after ingesting a toxin. Toxins in the environment can include various weeds in the pasture and tree leaves such as bracken fern red oak wilted cherry tree leaves and others. Botulism is caused by harmful bacteria that may be in fodder such as silage or water. Some feed meant for other livestock such as cattle and chicken may be deadly to horses because it contains drugs called ionophores. Ionophores are lethal in small doses to horses and cause rapid death 2
03of 05
Drug Reactions
Allergic
