Atypical Myopathy - What is it? What are the signs? How can you prevent it?

There has been a lot in the news at the moment about Atypical Myopathy and I thought i'd do a post on what it actually is and what you and I can do to help stop or reduce the likelihood of your horse getting it.

Well first off it's caused by Sycamore tree's, namely the seeds and subsequent seedlings once they've gotten into the soil.

Atypical myopathy is often mistake for colic, as previously before studies were done, the symptoms were similar. Taken from the Newmarket Equine Hospital article here symptoms are described as -

 "destruction of skeletal muscle and often the muscle of the heart and diaphragm.  Clinical signs include weakness, muscle tremors, and dark urine with horses frequently laying down and reluctant to stand.  The disease progresses rapidly with many cases developing difficulties eating, breathing and heart problems."

Also Horse & Hound did a good article on what it is and what the signs out. It can be found here , they mention - 

"Signs include muscular weakness and stiffness, dark urine, fatigue, colic-like signs, shivering, sweating and trembling."

Basically it weakens and paralyses the muscles, which is obviously really not good when it comes to the lungs and heart. As mentioned above, it can easily be mistaken for colic as it also paralyses the gut so the horses kick their bellies and want to roll a lot.

Studies have been conducted by the University of Liege and also the University of Minnesota and both of those studies have shown that the toxin is found in both the Box Elder tree (Acer negundo), which is found in the United States and European Sycamore tree (Acer pseudoplatanus) in the EU and UK. The toxin seems to be hypoglycin A.

Cases of atypical myopathy usually happen in Autumn when the leaves and seed buds have fallen from the tree, and also in Spring as the seedlings are now budding and setting into the soil. Horses usually get the disease due to lack of grazing so I will encourage you to make sure your horse has lot's of grazing, and if they don't, then supplement it with extra hay or haylage. It stops the horses and ponies foraging and eating the seeds and seedlings which cause the disease.

Horses have sadly been found dead in the field as the onset of symptoms is very quick. So always regularly check your horse when turned out in the field and if you think your horses have the disease or colic, call the vet out immediately! 

I went out to our field yesterday and literally picked out 6 or 7 handfuls of the new shoots which had blown into the field. They look like this -

I'd bet now you've seen them, you won't be able to stop spotting them in fields, gardens, all over! This is due to the fact the seed pods are very well carried on the wind. I refer to them as helicopter leaves cause they spin in the air and get carried by the wind.

Please pull them up in your field if you see them. Not only will it reduce the risk of your horse getting the disease but it will also stop a new tree spouting in your field and increasing the likelihood of your horse getting sick.

More information can be found in this article by the British Horse Society  and if in doubt about anything to do with your horses health, or they're acting abnormally or strange, call your vets

Horses Temperature, Pulse & Breathing Rate from NEH

So this popped up on my facebook feed last night and I had to share!

Newmarket Equine Hospital are always posting interesting articles and bits information. You really should follow them on facebook if you're not already 

But this I had no idea! Plus it may come in handy for when you're in a situation where your horse is ill and you want to check these things while the vet is on the way or if you want to call the vet and tell them something is wrong, you can follow up with this information once you've assessed your horse.

Or even if you're not sure if your horse has recovered after hard work on not, you can check their breathing rate.

I keep little diagrams on my phone like this for emergencies. I have one for which leads to put on my battery and the other car if I need a jump start! 

So if something like this can be referred to when you need it in a pinch, it could be extremely helpful! 

We always have our phones in us wherever we go now, so why not save this?

Save this photo -

I'm attending a vet talk in March at NEH so will do a write up of that afterwards

Safe horsing everyone! 

ROR hosted vet talk to NEH in March

Looking forward to this talk with the fantastic vets at Newmarket Equine Hospital, hosted by the ROR.
Not the nicest subject but at the Christmas winter meet up we discussed talks and this was on that was bought up and asked about. Obviously loosing a horse is a very very sad occasion but when we lost Marcus NEH were so quick in getting him on pain meds and into theatre. Sadly we lost him but they were so quick to act. I'd really like to learn on what to do when a horse is colicing and what to do in the lead up in those vital minutes when either a vet is on the way or you're getting it into the hospital.
It's a free talk, although donations would be good on the door.
See you there!