Comments on: Your Horse’s Heart

By: Gabrielle

Gabrielle — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 07:57:59 +0000

Good information here. Thank you for providing it.
When my QH was about 13 years old, he began having some health problems which we soon discovered to be metabolic. During the 7 or 8 months my vet reported that he had an irregular heartbeat.
We discovered that my horse’s selenium levels were quite low – but not quite deficient. As his food was supplemented and his SE levels increased, his heart rhythm returned to “regular”.
I always wondered if this is because the heart is a huge muscle and low Se and Vit E affect the large muscles. What do you think? Do you think there may be correlation there? Oh, he is 28 years old this year (2015) and he still takes me trail riding (with energy) and camping.

By: Anna O'Brien, DVM

Anna O'Brien, DVM — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 06:56:09 +0000

Thanks for your question, Galadriel. Sudden deaths are seen occasionally in horses that are performing at maximum exertion, such as during races. This is due not to heart attacks, but to a rupture of one of the main arteries coming from the heart: the aorta. Horses can sometimes have weak spots in the walls of this artery and during an episode of intense exercise with a rapid increase in blood pressure and heart rate, the wall of the artery will tear. This causes instant catastrophic internal bleeding and almost instant death.

By: k

Wed, 02 Jul 2014 23:59:36 +0000

amazing

By: wild heart

wild heart — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 21:28:48 +0000

that’s so cool! I knew secretariat’s heart was big but 22 POUNDS! OMG!

By: l

Wed, 02 Jul 2014 17:07:22 +0000

cool

By: Galadriel

Galadriel — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 23:54:14 +0000

One of the best articles on here. I have a question though, if horses can’t get heart attacks why do they sometimes suddenly drop dead while performing extreme sports?

By: l

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 18:54:00 +0000

cool

By: PKL

PKL — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 07:54:12 +0000

Sorry, that should be Horse Channels.

By: PKL

PKL — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 07:47:28 +0000

Thank You Horce Channels, for such a great article. I sure like to learn more, and you are very helpful.