Help! How can I find out about grass sickness.

[Jane&Ziggy]

My friend Catherine, whose ponies share with Ziggy, just called me in a tizz. She has heard through the grapevine that there was a case of grass sickness in our field 20 years ago.

Well, what to do? This could be error, misremembering, or even sour grapes (fields being hard to come by in our parts). But grass sickness is so serious that we want to take it seriously.

Can anyone tell me if there is any way of finding out where grass sickness cases have been reported? Google hasn't helped me much but perhaps i have been using the wrong search terms.

Thanks peeps

 

[tubby]

It rears it's ugly head now & again all over most of GB.I believe your horse/pony is at less risk if they are fed hay etc as well as grass.Though it can affect all ages young animals are most at risk ie 3 or 4 yr olds. Oh & apparently it can be a risk if the ground has recently been disturbed,think doing foundations doing manage etc.Had one with grass sickness over 40yrs ago,took 2 days all told & in that time she went from a normal weight to skeletal then died.try not to worry too much & please don't panic especially as you've already said there might be a case of sour grapes:smile:. There was one recently at a friends yard,his lovely young filly died of it, his other horses & ponies were fine & still are 6yrs down the line.

 

[Flipo's Mum]

It's a minefield Jane, we've got a history in our field in the last two years. Difficult because it you move them the stress can bring it on as well. Some horses have an immunity, but that immunity can be short lived. Hence why one horse in a herd might be affected but others are not bothered. Age as tubby says seems to be of influence but there have been cases in older horses. Domesticated birds living nearby can be a risk factor as well.
They don't know the cause other than its similarity to Clostridium botulinum.
Have a look on the grass sickness website, there are affiliated websites that collect samples from affected fields for research and they might be able to offer some guidance on the history of your field. But consider what you would do it there is a history. Would you move your horse? I haven't. It plagues me, but I focus on good gut health, poo picking manually and we have had sheep sharing the field last year as grazing with ruminants apparently helps.
It's horrible, but there are many other illnesses and issues that we are at risk of with horses. I think your experience with Ziggy last year makes that clear.

 

[Wiz201]

20 years ago and she's worrying about it now? Strange she didn't worry about it when she first moved onto the yard.

 

[eventerbabe]

Ok, first calm! Just because land has a history of grass sickness does not mean it will affect your horse. Google equine grass sickness fund and you will come across the official site.

There are certain things you can do to minimise risks. Do not ever harrow the land and remove muck by hand and not mechanical means. Keep the horses off the grass during the day. And avoid any sudden dietary changes.

We lost my mare to EGS. She wasn't in the risk category and it wasn't at peak risk time. She had been on land previously where three horses had died from EGS and been just fine. If you spent your life worrying about how to prevent EGS you'd never ever sleep. Believe me i've been there. And i still graze my two on the land my mare grazed on. But we stable during the day over the summer, make sure they get hay/token feed. I remember my old RI saying that you should always give a handful of hard feed to ward off EGS (supposedly kept gut moving) but i'm not sure she had any scientific basis for her advice!

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

20 years ago and she's worrying about it now? Strange she didn't worry about it when she first moved onto the yard.

If we had known about it we would not have rented the field. We just heard. I believe the toxin can live in the soil for a long time.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Ok, first calm! Just because land has a history of grass sickness does not mean it will affect your horse. Google equine grass sickness fund and you will come across the official site.

There are certain things you can do to minimise risks. Do not ever harrow the land and remove muck by hand and not mechanical means. Keep the horses off the grass during the day. And avoid any sudden dietary changes.

We lost my mare to EGS. She wasn't in the risk category and it wasn't at peak risk time. She had been on land previously where three horses had died from EGS and been just fine. If you spent your life worrying about how to prevent EGS you'd never ever sleep. Believe me i've been there. And i still graze my two on the land my mare grazed on. But we stable during the day over the summer, make sure they get hay/token feed. I remember my old RI saying that you should always give a handful of hard feed to ward off EGS (supposedly kept gut moving) but i'm not sure she had any scientific basis for her advice!

Unfortunately in during the day is not an option for us, on all our available paddocks horses are out 24/7. But I don't think the land has been harrowed for at least 10 years, which must be good. All poo picking is done by hand. And the horses have had the same feed for many years (in the case of Catherine's ponies) and 2 years (in Ziggy's case).

:frown::unsure:

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Would you move your horse? I haven't. It plagues me, but I focus on good gut health, poo picking manually and we have had sheep sharing the field last year as grazing with ruminants apparently helps.

Good advice FM. Does anyone know where we can get some rescue sheep????

 

[Flipo's Mum]

I don't know what the laws are in England, but I believe there's things about registering herds of sheep. We loan a couple from a friendly farmer so that we are not responsible for them. Farmer takes them back in winter. Must get back onto him for replacements.

 

[happyhacker101]

You've already been given some good advice and you're already doing quite a few of the right things ie - no harrowing and you're poo picking by hand. I been told and CN may correct me if im wrong as we were both at a talk for EGS on Monday night, that it's best to leave the field without horses after a confirmed case of EGS for 5 years. Which again, in your case has been done, as already been said, try not to worry about it too much - you can only do so much and the rest is out of your hands

 

[eml]

We lost two horses over the last 25 years to suspected EGS, neither typical age profile,both went from being in good condition to seriously ill within days, neither was autopsied to check but we did stop using our grass sweeper and (touching lots of wood) have had no suspected cases again.

However one of our vets did say that if they did not really know what caused a sudden deterioration in horses EGS was often suggested..so not cut and dried. The other thing we discovered was that EGS happens everywhere, is as often found on studland in Newmarket or Leicestershire grazing as it is in Scotland. We were told that it wasn't the soil/field as such but root disturbance so management was more important than history.

 

[Thyme & Me]

If we had known about it we would not have rented the field. We just heard. I believe the toxin can live in the soil for a long time.

No-one knows what the toxin is, how it lives or is transmitted etc. It's in fact only an assumption that it even IS a toxin because that's what it looks like on autopsy. A very few horses who never even graze get it. It is all over the UK so a case 20 years ago does not increase the risk. It's one of those horrible things
that can occur anywhere, anytime and you'll drive yourself mad trying to prevent it. All you can do is follow the advice for reducing risk and then forget all about it. Reducing the risk to zero is impossible for any illness.

 

[clashnoir]

You've already been given some good advice and you're already doing quite a few of the right things ie - no harrowing and you're poo picking by hand. I been told and CN may correct me if im wrong as we were both at a talk for EGS on Monday night, that it's best to leave the field without horses after a confirmed case of EGS for 5 years. Which again, in your case has been done, as already been said, try not to worry about it too much - you can only do so much and the rest is out of your hands

Risk is for 5 years after a case on that piece of land.
Disturbance to the soil is the worst and more so by mechanical means.
Jane, like me you manage for lami risk and the care and attention is almost identical to managing it for EGS risk so try and not worry too much.
HH101 and I both left the talk thinking similar about the risks to our neds.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Thank you all for your help.

There have been no horses on the pasture for more than 10 years, and sheep for much of that time, so that is good.

The show-horse owner over the way, who has lived here 25 years, says she remembers a case of Lyme's disease at our estate but never grass sickness "this side of Kilnhanger Ridge", which is 2 miles away.

The only mechanical disturbance has been putting in a water line this year, which was a narrow trench for about 50m through the paddock. We poo pick by hand.

So all in all - time to relax I think....