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! 

Detecting Ulcers in your horse with pressure points (Video)

A friend of mine Ali shared this great video this morning by Mark DePaolo, DVM on how he teaches us, the horse owner, on how to check your horses for stomach and intestine ulcers.

As has come to light in the last few years, a lot of horses behavioural problems have often stemmed from preventable and fixable things like looking after your horses teeth and having them checked regularly, having it's back regularly checked and also looking for tell tale signs that your horse may have ulcers.

Horses have complex stomachs, therefore they can get ulcers from a number of things such as the wrong type of feed, stress, not having enough food in their stomach before work (which can help reduce acid splash in the stomach that causes ulcers) etc

I encourage you to go out and check your horses like Mark suggests.
Recently B has been a bit off when brushing his tummy and sides and not that pleased with having a girth done up so it looks like these could be signs. We had him gastroscoped at NEH and low and behold he had ulcers. 2.5 on the scale of  4. 1 Being mild, 4 being Severe. We've changed his foot and he no longer has ulcers and his behaviour as gone back to normal. No more trying to bite, no more ears laid back, no more tail swishing, and no more angry faces..

Go and check your horse! See if this happens! I read that between 50 - 90% of horses have stomaches ulcers of varying severity. That is a lot! And often they're untreated and there behaviour is seen as naughty or malicous when in fact they're responding to pain.
Has your horse become weird about having a bit put in it's mouth or salivating a lot more than usual - Have it's teeth checked! It could have a hooked tooth, or one could be broken. 
Has it not been schooling or riding normally recently e.g. bucking, not wanting to respond to aids? - Have a physio out! Have your saddle fitting checked. Does your saddle need more flocking in it?

All these are simple things that can help your horse be more comfortable. They don't really cost the Earth and you're making your horse more comfortable and happy.

You would want someone to listen to you if you were in pain wouldn't you? Your horse can't speak so look at what they're telling you with body language