Postmortem

[Gay]

For those of you that are interested here is a copy of Mason's postmortem and vets report (I did point out there was no 32nd July!). His symptoms were similar to a horse suffering from ragwort or acorn poisoning however there is none in his field. They only additional feed he had over winter was the liveries own hay or equilage so there should have been no ragwort in either of these. If anyone has any ideas of what else could of caused his symptoms I would be happy to hear your opinions.

[Roofio]

i had no idea he was that young :( poor lad.

i hope you get some answers soon, its all gone over my head i'm afraid but just wanted to say how very, very sorry i am.

[rtk]

It certainly sounds like poisoning but I'm no expert on it, very sorry for your loss.

The only suggestion I have is that perhaps someone put something into his field, like garden rubbish.

It happened to someone I know, someone put garden rubbish into her field with the horses, she lost 3 to Yew poisoning, they died within hours, however Yew doesn't cause liver failure it acts on the heart.

[sheryl]

Hi Gay,
As you probably know, Indi had the hind end paralysis, with acorn poisoning.
He staggered in from the field, and couldn't even walk in a straight line.
When I put him in his stable, he leant against the wall for support.
Indi's attack was 16 Aug, so the same time of year too.

It definately sounds very similar. Its just so strange that Masons wasn't caused by anything obvious. Could leaves from the oak trees have blown into his field? Had there been high winds, so maybe more oak leaves had blown down?

Its just such a shame :(

Hope you're feeling a bit better now x

[sheryl]

Just thought I'd add this, for anyone who wants to learn more about acorn poisoning

http://www.provet.co.uk/lorgue/5a5a0e1.htm

Note the neurological effects Gay

Its a shame that there isn't much spoken, or written, about it. A lot of people don't appreciate how dangerous it can be, and their horses are happily munching acorns and oak leaves every day :(

Last year, was a bumper year for acorns, and many ponies died, in the New Forest :(

[Mehitabel]

i think that both ragwort (definitely) and acorn (possibly - not sure) poisoning is cumulative - so if you'd not had him all his life, he could have dome the dmaage earlier and managed ot find sometihng - blown into the field, fed by a passer by - that was the last straw.

[shandy84]

An old friend bought a mare that was perfect for her in every way but unfortunatly as found out later, the mare had been kept in a ragwort covered field and had gained liver damage from that, the mare ended up having enormous vet bills and being in a lot of pain and was sent back to the person who sold her to my friend, I think it was just a matter of time before it presented itself but because of being sold the stress on the mare triggered it.

[KateWooten]

I'm really sorry Gay. Poor boy.

Mason had some existing problems before this - wasn't it a breathing problem somewhere ? I'm wondering if anything could have happened to him previously that had damaged several organs, with the breathing being an immediate symptom, and the final attack being the 'final straw' as it were ?

Although that's unlikely, as you'd had him from a foal, hadn't you ?