Dr. Beth ;
A friend of ours lost their horse this past weekend , and she was told that he died of a ruptured diaphragm , maybe from a kick or from falling down , would this be possible . He was a 9 year old Paint . He was turned out and a few minutes later he was running around and then just fell over and died within a few minutes . If you have any ideas on this I like to hear them . Thanks

The diaphragm separates the abdomen, with the gastrointestinal tract, from the chest cavity tht contains the lungs and heart. In a horse the diaphragm has to be particularly strong because the weight of the gastrointestinal tract is enormous and the intestines will move forward and back in the abdomen as the horse is moving, especially when running and jumping. If the diaphragm is overstressed and tears, intestine can get into the thorax and the horse will no longer be able to breath. Ruptures can occur due to falls or, much less likely, kicks. It is possible for a horse to live with a diaphragmatic rupture for a bit before this happens, so often we never know when or why it happened. But as soon as intestine finds its way into the chest death occurs very quickly. I am sorry to hear of your friend's horse, but hopefully they will be somewhat reassured to know that there was no way they could have known this was happening and nothing they could have done to prevent their horse's death.