Polo Pony Deaths In Florida
At least 21 ponies belonging to a Venezuelan polo team died shortly before a competition yesterday in Florida. Not much information about what happened has been released. It was reported that the ponies exhibited signs of dizziness and disorientation, then collapsed. Some died on site while others died en route to a nearby veterinary facility. It is unclear if any affected horses survived. Necropsies (autopsies) are being performed to try to determine the cause of death.
One veterinarian has stated that it was "clearly" caused by a toxin of some sort. That's a reasonable suspicion based on what has been reported. An infectious cause seems unlikely. Unlike on TV or in the movies, multiple individuals rarely become fatally ill from an infection at the exact same time. Even if all the horses were exposed to an infectious agent at the same time, it's extremely unlikely that they would die in rapid succession. The lack of reported cases in horses other than those on the team also supports a point-source exposure to a toxin. It is likely that it will take some time to determine the cause of these deaths, if it can be determined at all. Hopefully samples of food, water and any other substances to which the horses were all exposed (e.g. supplements, medications) have been collected for testing.
Diagnosing disease caused by toxins is not always easy and often takes a long time. Considering the number of deaths and the value of these horses, I assume that testing will be done as quickly as possible, and we're anxiously awaiting any more information.
