I emailed him, telling him who I was and asked about the horses. As of 6:30 this evening he has lost all of his riding horses, 6, and there may be more by now. I do not know how many horses he has.
I have looked on the internet and found several cases of this happening, in 2008, 100 horses died from botulism hay.This can happen in round bales or squares. It can be caused by baling an animal or snake, yes it happens. I have found snakes in our hay, I throw the bale away if I find one! UCK!! Here is a link from the University of Kentucky about botulism. http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/news/2001/Aug/spoilage.htm
So if you all can, please say a prayer for the horses that have passed, those that are still sick and for Bobby and his family. This is a horrible devastating tragedy! I can't imagine losing one horse but 6 or more, makes me cry just thinking about it.
Jane
15 comments:
That is so amazingly sad - I can't imagine such a loss. My thoughts are with them.
Kate, I can not imagine it either. After reading some of the info on the internet it's pretty scary to think that this could happen to anyone! I will really be watching my hay from now on.
Jane...
I will send my prayers out to him & the other horses out there in pain.
Such a terrible loss. I never would have thought that about the hay. There's SO much to learn when you take on the responsibility of such Large Beautiful animals. My Heart goes out to them...I could not imagine such a loss...
Thinking Of You
~Marilyn
Of course, I've never heard of such a thing but it is incredibly sad. I can't imagine how bad these people have to feel. Thanks for posting and I surely will add them to my prayers.
How horrible! To lose so many at once... My thoughts are with them and the horses. :'(
I just got an email from Bobby. All his horses died save one, a young one that was not on his farm but at his father's. He lost 6 horses in one week! I can not even get my head wrapped around losing this many horses in such a short period of time. It breaks my heart!
One of the horses was sent to Ohio Ag animal testing center at Reynoldsburg. I ask if he would let me know what the test results were and when I hear I will post it.
wow incredibly sad =( Lots of prayers for your friend as they cope with this.
How horrific to lose them all at once. And one would have no way of knowing until it's too late.
How sad, my thoughts are with him.
So very terrible and sad!
Is botulism caused by mold spores, too?
We've found dead animals in our hay before. Once, a part of a dead cat!
The big hay scare last summer was a place selling hay infested with blister beetles. A horse only needs to eat about a handful to die a terrible death.
One woman had just adopted two donkeys from the Lucky 13 Donkey Rescue and she had an older horse in his 20's....she only had the donkeys home for 36 hours, and they, and her old riding horse sucumbed to the blister beetle poisoning.
Broke my heart :(
~Lisa
Jane
I'm terribly sad about this news. Heart rendering.
Praying for all involved ~
Jane, this breaks my heart. I can't imagine losing even one horse, let alone 6. How horrible. I'm saying a prayer for these poor horses as I type and please, God, keep my horses safe!
how awful! I'll have read up on that.
The same thing happened to a friend of mine last winter...all their riding stock..gone~ Prayers going out to them~
So tragic!!!! aways check hay between flakes for any sign of mold and even sniff it for the mold order. We all get in a hurry and just grab 2 flakes and dump it!
Post a Comment