Do Horses Have Heart Attacks?

I read about horses dying of “heart attacks,” but I’ve had veterinarians tell me there’s no such thing as a horse having a heart attack. What are people talking about when they say a horse died of a heart attack?
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Q.I read about horses that have died of apparent “heart attacks” during competitions, breeding, and even out in the field. But I have had veterinarians tell me there is no such thing as a horse having a heart attack. What are people talking about when they report a horse has died of a heart attack?

—Molly, via e-mail

A.In general, most horses that collapse and die suddenly are the victims of an aortic aneurysm, which is a weakening in the wall of the aortathe major vessel leading from the heart. This area of weakened wall can rupture and the horse then bleeds out internally. In other words, there are no external signs of bleeding, except that the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, eyes, rectum, and genitalia become very pale.

People can develop a similar weakening of the wall of major vessels, and surgical intervention to strengthen the area is usually indicated if the aneurysm is diagnosed prior to its rupture. So far, we have been unsuccessful in developing successful ways to either diagnose or treat these aneurysms in the horse

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Written by:

Midge Leitch, VMD, Dipl. ACVS, was a performance horse veterinarian, a member of the Section of Sports Medicine and Imaging at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet), and served as the Clinician in Radiology at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square. She died in 2014 after battling cancer.

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