Grass sickness
Grass sickness is an often fatal condition that typically occurs in grazing horses. First recognised in eastern Scotland in 1907, the United Kingdom has the highest incidence of grass sickness in the world. It is estimated that the disease kills between one and two percent of horses in the United Kingdom annually, with cases being more common in spring.
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Growing equine guts in a lab and tracking weather to help beat fatal disease
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‘A very emotional situation’: experts gather to tackle equine grass sickness
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‘I never thought I’d see this’: pony out competing after grass sickness – and nearly losing an ear
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‘Worth every single penny’: pony who fought off grass sickness makes winning return to the ring
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Mare recovers from grass sickness to give birth to ‘miracle’ foal
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Hope grass sickness project could hold the key to understanding the disease
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Grass sickness: how new research is shedding light on the disease
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Call for owners to play ‘crucial’ role in equine grass sickness research
A new equine grass sickness ‘biobank’ has been formed, containing samples from horses and soil samples, that will play a role in future research
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‘We want to give people hope’: owners of grass sickness survivors launch awareness week
The week will provide facts, scientific information and advice about the disease with input from veterinary experts, feed companies and other owners of grass sickness survivors
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‘We need owners to be our eyes and ears’: new five-year research plan for grass sickness
“We’ve done a lot of great work so we’re saying ‘let's gather it together, take a step back and review it’. We’re not dropping the theories we’ve already got because we think they all fit together somehow, but we just don’t know how yet”
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Equine vet to run 100K in a month in aid of grass sickness
‘The difficult thing is a lot of clients become friends over the years, so having to tell someone I consider a friend that’s what their horse has and there’s nothing we can do, never gets easier and it never will’
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Hopes for grass sickness research with launch of new project
The three-year project will involve a fellow setting up a national database and sample biobank with the assistance from vets and owners
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Rider raising funds for grass sickness to be joined in marathon by her gelding who survived the disease
‘When the vets said it was grass sickness I thought I was going to lose him. I was told he had a five percent chance of survival’
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The Queen’s Highland ponies to help raise vital funds for grass sickness
A public vote will decide which photographs will star in the calendar, opening on the stud’s Facebook page on 1 August
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Joy from sadness: grass sickness survivor welcomes second healthy foal
The Highland mare, who was diagnosed with grass sickness in 2016, overcame losing a filly in 2017
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Goats take on clear round jumping in fight to beat grass sickness
Woody and Jessie from Toy Story, and an Oompa-Loompa, have also taken on the challenge
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Grass sickness – a veterinary emergency needing immediate action
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‘He never gave up’: gelding survives grass sickness and returns to ridden work
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Exploring the cause of grass sickness
Recent research may have failed to identify the cause of grass sickness, but the drive to understand this often fatal disease continues, Andrea Oakes discovers