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Location: Georgia | During a colic episode, while checking his heartbeat, my 7 yr old horse was diagonosed with multiple premature ventricular contractions. The cause of this heart arrhythmia is not known. His cardiologist suspects some form of cardiac insult possibly from a toxic weed or other cardiotoxin or viral infection. Prior to this, he was excercised every other day and competed on weekends. His level of performance was the same and no illness was observed until the day he showed symptoms of colic. (Colic resolved with fluids.) Throughout this, he still looks like an athlete and acts normal. Since this is such a rare thing in horses, I am looking for others who have knowledge they would share with me. He has had a full cardiology work up at Rood & Riddle. He is on 3 months rest and will be rechecked soon. Any info you can share would be most appreciated! Thank you! |
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Veteran
Posts: 289
Location: Where I need to be | I don't know about this in horses, but I have the same thing. Was told not to worry about it, as my heart was strong. The arrhythmias were very annoying, so I started reading up on them. Most people are magnesium defficient and this can cause PVC's. I don't know if it would be the same for horses, but since I start magnesium supplements I don't have them anymore. You could ask your vet about this. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 212
| I have a horse that had colic surgeries and became narcoleptic... Not kidding lol we think she was reluctant to lay down after the surgeries from some kind of mental or physical thing holding her back but she would go from standing to head dropping to grounf and knees buckling in about 3 seconds... hooked ehr up to an ekg and she showed the same arrythmias you are talking about. The vet said its not entirely abnormal, although it is something to worry about... But she also said that sometimes glucose levels can cause whatever mine had... but I am not one hundred percent sure if glucose levels cause the narcolepsy or the actual heart problem.. It would be worth doing bloodwork though. SHe said to check for hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. Unfortunately, my horses glucose was normal. :( |
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Location: Georgia | Athletic horses can have a few dropped heart beats and be normal. But when they have numerous ones over a period of time, it is dangerous to ride them because they can collapse. I have had him on Resvantage, a supplement containing resveratrol (the antioxidant found in red wine). I think I will look into adding magnesium. It's so frustrating because he looks great. He is scheduled for another 24 hour ECG Holter Monitor soon to see if there is any improvement.
To those of you who responded, THANK YOU! |
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Veteran
Posts: 183
| Sometimes horses that have been rattlesnake bit at some point in their lives have other issues develop internally unbeknownst to owners, as a result of the venom, even after what appears to be a complete "outside" physical recovery. Sad but true...and many times it's heart related. :-(
Edited by illlookup 2014-07-14 10:10 AM
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Anyone have a horse with heart arrhythmias? Premature ventricular contractions