'roaring'

[redfoxylady]

Hi, a friend of mine is going to look at a horse on Sat who apparantly is a 'roarer' she will obviously get him 5 stage vetted and obtain more information of what is actually causing it. I have looked on the net and it sounds like a condition called laryngeal hemiplegia. He is a 5yr old thoroughbred that is extremely well schooled and has evented etc but the owner has decided that due to this condition it is too much to ask him to continue with 3 day eventing.
It sounds like there are different grades to the condition and my friend is looking at just doing local shows, schooling and hacking so he hopefully will be fine with this. Apparantly you should not push the horse past 80% of his max in gallop but have not yet seen what happens if that happens? does he collapse from lack of oxygen? or just pulls up?
has anyone had experiance of this condition in thier horses, had surgery for it? did the condition worsen? Thanks

 

[posie]

i've known of roarers who have gone out hunting and lead pretty normal lives - i think it depends on the severity though....
what kind of things does she plan to do at local shows? i know nothing about showing i'm afraid - but would be interesting to see what other peep's say about showing a horse that roars.... if just sj i can't see a problem though...
i think s/he's doing the right thing getting a 5* vet report though - they will be able to advise the best. x

 

[pinkypug1]

I bought a horse who had been operated on because if it. He was a race horse so needed to be able to gallop flat out, the op involved removing his voice box so he couldnt "neigh"

I bought a horse who had the lowest grade of wind problem to do showjumping on and he passed a 5 stage vetting for showjumping, hacking, schooling etc but not for eventing, i didnt keep him long as he was a psycho! im glad i didnt as i think the problem would have played on my mind.

A friend of mine was interested in a horse and he really "roared" the vet said the most he could do was hack, and if you tried to trot him up a steep hill he would prob die due to lack of oxygen, so all he could do was walk around and do a bit of trotting in the school!

The only thing i would be concerned about is resale as some people just wont look at a horse with a wind problem. it can deteriorate as the horse gets older so could be lowest grade now but could be very severe in 5 years. the only way to really see the severity is to have a camera put into the horses windpipe to see how much of it is closed over when the horse is on a treadmill! Cant remember the cost of this tho.

I would seriously think hard about buying a horse with a problem that can deteriorate!

 

[redfoxylady]

roaring

thanks for your replies, been looking more into it and cannot confirm if the condition actually worsens??? most of the sites that I have read are veterinary ones so obviously they talk about the surgery required but not if the horse can live a normal life but not eventing etc?. Pinkypug, you say that the conditon does definately worsen?. if so, he would be a definate no no as obviously would not get insurance cover and eventually surgery would be the only option. It also sounds like he would be extra sensitive to pollen, dust etc and picking up respiratory infections, so the insurance would no doubt exclude and respiratory conditions as would assume related. Poor horsey, I hope it is not as bad as sounds and hope for a more positive vet inspection if she decided to go for him.
She would not be showing but would like to compete at local level SJ, dressage etc.

 

[Tatooed Lady]

a friend of mine's got a mare that roars....she (friend) said it's like asthma in people. she keeps her horse turned out 24/7, because she feels it's healthier anyhow, and pretty much is a trail tramp when it comes to riding. she isn't a speed or distance freak, so the problem isn't something that causes issues when she wants to saddle up and go. I've never heard her say that it'll get worse, I believe all she said was it probably won't get any better...she tries to keep her horses relatively fit, as in a couple hours on the trail walking, trotting and a bit of canter thrown in, nothing too strenuous.

definitely talk to your vet about the problem getting worse in the future...it's something you need to know before you take the plunge.

Good luck!!

 

[Camyds]

Does it get worse? well, it all depends on the serverity of the diagnosis and what you intend on doing with the hoss. If you are told that it is mild and you excersie accordingly then it wont get worse, most can compete at a certain level with certain procautions and with desirable stable living, such as shavings, not straw bedding, hayladge or soaked hay.....etc etc, but, if you want a horse to race that has it, ie, sudden exaggerated heavy inhilation/breathing requied to do the job, then you must operate or retire, otherwise, it will get worse, ie, could collapse and die

 

[Em 1]

He is a 5yr old thoroughbred that is extremely well schooled and has evented etc but the owner has decided that due to this condition it is too much to ask him to continue with 3 day eventing.
It sounds like there are different grades to the condition and my friend is looking at just doing local shows, schooling and hacking so he hopefully will be fine with this....

...has anyone had experiance of this condition in thier horses, had surgery for it? did the condition worsen? Thanks

I can't help with the post-op side of things but I bought my horse knowing he had had a tie back op to cure roaring when he was about four. We've never had any problems although I don't exactly work him hard - still, we can have a lovely gallop without ill effect. He does occasionally cough but only if we are in a very irritable environment e.g. right next to a smokey bonfire. I feed haylage and turn him out as much as possible (24/7 at the moment). He was sold because he couldn't cope with eventing although he managed loads of Novice one days without any problem.

I do exactly the same sort of things your friend is looking at doing and my horse has no difficulty. If he is perfect in every other way I wouldn't let the 'roaring' put me off (although it should be reflected in the price of course).

Good luck to you and your friend

 

[redfoxylady]

hi Em1, you say that your horse could cope with one day events but is that not after he had the surgery to correct his roaring? and also that you still need to be careful with stable management etc and he still coughs occasionally after the op? so even if she does eventually have to have surgery done he can still have probs? She is hoping that surgery would not be necessary if she does not push him (expecially as he will obviously be excluded for respiratory problems on insurance) thats not to say that in the future it may be the only option and she may have to go down that route anyway as we all know we cannot predict the health of our horses.
She has seen him today and really likes him, the noise cannot be heard until he canters. He is priced for his condition not sure yet if fairly? the next step would be to pay out up to £300 for his five stage vetting
Or would he be failed automatically because of his condition? or do you think they would take into account his workload?
Do you think it would be unreasonable to ask the seller to pay for the vetting considering his condition and also the seller then has that information herself about her horse if he is not suitable for my friend? equally, if my friend does decide to buy him maybe reimburse them?, thanks for all your help.

 

[Iron Maiden]

I loaned a roarer for a while, I worked very hard getting her fit & she virtually never roared when fittened up, however when unfit she sounded awful and would have to stop to catch her breath if you cantered her for long at all. I did a couple of hunter trials with her when she was fit & she coped fine. I've known a few roarers in my time & if you keep them fit, try to keep them in a dust-free environment as much as possible and don't go mad galloping around they seem fine. In fact there was one I knew at the RS I worked at who really did sound like a lion roaring, but he loved to gallop, was kept very fit & lived a long and happy life without collapsing & dying of oxygen deprivation!

If I was your friend I don't think the roaring would necessarily put me off completely, although I'd want to understand what the cause of it was & what the prognosis was.

 

[Em 1]

Hi redfoxylady,

hi Em1, you say that your horse could cope with one day events but is that not after he had the surgery to correct his roaring? and also that you still need to be careful with stable management etc and he still coughs occasionally after the op? so even if she does eventually have to have surgery done he can still have probs?

Sorry, you're quite right, he was competing after the op. I can't really help as I didn't own him before the surgery so I don't know what it is like to cope with a roarer. He does cough sometimes but this disappears when he is fit. TBH the stable management issues are very minor - in 3 years he's never been off work due to his breathing.

He is priced for his condition not sure yet if fairly? the next step would be to pay out up to £300 for his five stage vetting
Or would he be failed automatically because of his condition? or do you think they would take into account his workload?

I'm not entirely sure but I think he would fail a 5* but a vetting is only a professional opinion at the end of the day. The vet will probably fail the horse simply so you cannot come back and say they didn't spot the roaring at the time. The vet will say what they failed on so if it was just the roaring your friend could 'ignore' this and go ahead anyway

Do you think it would be unreasonable to ask the seller to pay for the vetting considering his condition and also the seller then has that information herself about her horse if he is not suitable for my friend?

I'm not sure you'd have much luck with this. The seller has been upfront about the roaring so really your friend is vetting for any other conditions. Also, a lot of people wouldn't accept a vetting from the owner so if your friend didn't go ahead the seller probably wouldn't have benefitted from the vetting. Still it's worth a try

Keep us updated as to what happens

 

[eml]

A vetting is a discussion not a black and white thing. You tell the vet what you want to do with the horse, what you know and accept about its condition and then discuss whether or not in the vets opinion that horse on that day would appear suitable to do the job you defined and what other problems may exist.