Skcup wrote:
TequilaMockingbird wrote:
That does sound weird. Did they sound sad or down about it when they mentioned any of the horses passing? Not saying that is a sure way to tell as some people are good at hiding their feelings, but just curious.

I think that's the thing that bothers me - they don't seem too surprised.  But this is all over facebook, so who the eff knows.  I could be misreading their emotions.  I was appalled when I heard about the aortal haemmorage and my friend's response was "yeah, it was nasty.  He was fine one day and the next was dying.  I had to buy a pressure washer to clean up the mess, looked like a murder scene."  I could read that either way.  I just don't know.  Will wait until I talk to them over Xmas and re-evaluate.  

funnyfarm: I know they live in Belleville. I have no more specific details.  I'm sort of hoping that if we go see New Love's parents next year, we will make a detour.  
  
I've known 4 horses that died from a ruptured aorta, 4 very separate cases, different owners and years apart. A 3yo pony mare, a 12yo Gelderland gelding, an 8yo Friesian stallion (it happens more in Friesians than in any other breed) and the last one was a 17yo Dutch harness horse mare.
Apart from the pony mare who was found dead in the pasture, all died while working. The Gelderland gelding collapsed during a gallop (which put his owner in the hospital too), the Friesian collapsed while lunging and the DHH started swaying and panting while being driven, she lasted the longest, she made it home (they were only 2/3 of a mile from home) before she collapsed and died. With the pony mare I was the one who found her and the DHH mare collapsed 2 yards in front of me.
All were confirmed by autopsy, the pony and the Friesian both had a dialated aortic root (hereditary and they are born with it), the Gelderland horse had an aneurism, only with the DHH mare no cause was found. All horses were perfectly healthy looking before, no signs at all.

But what I've seen is not at all what is described here, there was NO mess to clean up in any of those cases. The horses bleed out internally, for it to look like a murder scene the horses throat must be slit or something like that. It also does not take them a day to die, it takes seconds in most cases. That mare walking home after the aorta had started to rupture was a freaking miracle.