Galop 6Knowledge
Contents
- 01WelcomeOverview
- 02Foot and shoeingKnowledge
- 03DiseasesKnowledge
- 04Requirements and conditionKnowledge
- 05BreedingKnowledge
- 06Identifying a horseKnowledge
- 07The rein-backKnowledge
- 08Qualities of the gaitsKnowledge
- 09Judging a testKnowledge
- 10On the bit and impulsionKnowledge
- 11Counter-canterKnowledge
- 12Training aidsKnowledge
- 13Work on the flatIn the saddle
- 14DressageIn the saddle
- 15Show jumpingIn the saddle
- 16Cross-countryIn the saddle
- 17Lunge and long reinsOn foot
- 18Turnout and careCaring for the horse
- 19RevisionRevision
The main diseases and their symptoms
You are not a vet, but you are the one who sees the horse every day. Spotting the signs of illness early, and knowing when to call, often makes all the difference.
In the exam programme
- List the horse’s main diseases and their symptoms.Common module B
A healthy horse has a bright eye, mobile ears, a steady appetite, well-formed droppings and pink mucous membranes. In Galop 4 you learnt its vital signs: at rest, a temperature of about 37.5 to 38 °C and a pulse of roughly 30 to 40 beats a minute. A sick horse keeps to itself or cannot settle, eats little, has a dull, staring coat; above 38.5 °C, it has a fever.
Diseases have many causes: infectious (viruses, bacteria), parasitic (worms, tick-borne protozoa, skin fungi), nutritional (feeding mistakes) or traumatic (knocks, wounds). Some are contagious: they pass from horse to horse, directly or through shared equipment.
| Disease | What happens | Signs to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Colic | Abdominal pain, most often digestive: a syndrome rather than one disease. It is the commonest emergency in horses. | Paws the ground, looks round at its flanks, lies down and gets up again, wants to roll, sweats, stops passing droppings, goes off its food. |
| Laminitis | Inflammation of the tissue that bonds the wall to the pedal bone, often after too much rich grass or cereal, or in an overweight horse. | Hot, painful feet, especially in front, a bounding pulse at the pastern; the horse rocks back onto its heels and will not move forward. |
| Azoturia (tying-up) | A sudden attack on the muscles during exercise (also called myositis), typical of a return to work after rest without the feed being cut. | Stiff hindquarters, hard and painful muscles, sweating, unwillingness to move, dark, coffee-coloured urine. |
| Strangles | A highly contagious bacterial infection, common in young horses. | Fever, thick yellowish nasal discharge, swollen glands between the jawbones that may burst as abscesses, difficulty swallowing. |
| Equine influenza | A highly contagious virus, spread by coughing and nasal discharge. Vaccination is compulsory to compete. | High fever, dry cough, clear nasal discharge, dullness, loss of appetite. |
| Equine herpesvirus (rhinopneumonitis) | A herpes virus that attacks the airways and can make pregnant mares abort. | Fever, cough, nasal discharge; abortion in the pregnant mare; more rarely, loss of coordination and paralysis. |
| Tetanus | A toxin from a soil bacterium that gets in through a wound, however tiny. Often fatal; vaccination prevents it. | Stiffness all over, clenched jaws, the third eyelid drawn across the eye, great sensitivity to noise. |
| Piroplasmosis | A blood parasite carried by ticks, mostly in spring and autumn. | High fever, dullness, yellow or pale mucous membranes, dark urine. |
| Ringworm | A fungal skin infection, contagious between horses and catching for people too. | Round, hairless, scurfy patches, often under the saddle, the girth or the headcollar. |
| Equine asthma | Formerly called COPD, emphysema or “broken wind”: a chronic inflammation of the airways, kept going by dust from hay and bedding. | A chronic cough, often at the start of work, breathlessness, a marked heave line along the flank. |
Safety
The three emergencies
Colic, laminitis or azoturia: call the vet straight away and note the time the first signs appeared. With colic, take away the food and keep watch on the horse. With azoturia, stop all work, rug the horse up and do not force it to walk. No medicine without the vet’s say-so.
Remember
A contagious disease — strangles, flu, ringworm — means isolating the horse, giving it its own tack and grooming kit, and washing your hands after handling it.
Lastly, a foot abscess — “pus in the foot” — causes sudden, very marked lameness: the foot is hot, the pulse strong at the pastern. The farrier or the vet opens and drains it. For the rest, prevention does most of the work: vaccinations and worming up to date, as you saw in Galop 4, plenty of forage, clean water, gradual changes of feed and a careful look over the horse every day.