10 day cough

daydreamer

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hi,

I just wondered if anyone had any advice/ideas. My 20 yr old loan horse has had a dry cough for the past 10 days. No nasal discharge/high temp/any other symptoms. A couple of weeks ago the hay was particularly dusty and although I wet it thoroughly i wonder if this was the start.

He has thoroughly wetted hay and some haylage (he stopped eating haylage but now has restarted eating it so i am giving him all haylage). Turned out in the day but there is very little grass at the moment, very sandy soil so I asked for turnout to be slightly reduced so he isn't snuffling in the dust as much. Bedded on straw but can't change that easily, in an american barn system surrounded by all the other horses on straw anyway.

I have been using equimins airways powerbooster for a few days to see if that helps. He coughs occassionally in the stable but if I ride he will cough in trot, either when we start or after a short while. I have only been doing the odd 20min walk ride with a tiny bit of trot to see if he is any better.

I'm not sure if it is bad enough to call the vet out, i'm pretty sure it isn't bacterial so am not sure antibiotics will help. Obviously if it was getting worse or affecting his breathing noticably all the time i would get the vet, and i appreciate it is hard to judge without hearing/seeing but i just hoped someone might have something helpful to say!

Thanks
 

OldNag

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hi,

I just wondered if anyone had any advice/ideas. My 20 yr old loan horse has had a dry cough for the past 10 days. No nasal discharge/high temp/any other symptoms. A couple of weeks ago the hay was particularly dusty and although I wet it thoroughly i wonder if this was the start.

He has thoroughly wetted hay and some haylage (he stopped eating haylage but now has restarted eating it so i am giving him all haylage). Turned out in the day but there is very little grass at the moment, very sandy soil so I asked for turnout to be slightly reduced so he isn't snuffling in the dust as much. Bedded on straw but can't change that easily, in an american barn system surrounded by all the other horses on straw anyway.

I have been using equimins airways powerbooster for a few days to see if that helps. He coughs occassionally in the stable but if I ride he will cough in trot, either when we start or after a short while. I have only been doing the odd 20min walk ride with a tiny bit of trot to see if he is any better.

I'm not sure if it is bad enough to call the vet out, i'm pretty sure it isn't bacterial so am not sure antibiotics will help. Obviously if it was getting worse or affecting his breathing noticably all the time i would get the vet, and i appreciate it is hard to judge without hearing/seeing but i just hoped someone might have something helpful to say!

Thanks

I might be inclined to give the vet a call and see what they say.

One of our loan ponies started coughing a bit in the autumn. I damped her hay and it made quite a bit of difference. I mentioned this to owner who then told me they had always put her on haylage in winter.... hadn't though to mention it to me!

I put her straight onto haylage (high fibre small bag stuff, arrgh why can't she have nice cheap hay like our other one!) and no cough since.

Hope you find out what's causing it.
 

Rosesandhorses

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I would say almost definitely it was the dusty hay that caused it. If you are in an American barn on straw, hay and turn out during the day on sand base then that is quite a lot of dust to contend with. If your horse has been okay on this before then hopefully it will settle if hay has been changed. When you ride him does he cough a bit and then settle or does it persist? If you literally can't ride because of the cough then yes I would get the vet, if it clears after a few minutes then stick with soaked hay, the supplement your using and wait it out a bit longer. I've had both situations- giving normal cough syrup in hand can help like Benalyn, soaking hay thoroughly over night to get rid of dust spores. You could also ensure you only put fresh straw in when horse is out of the stable so dust isn't up in the air around him. If it persists vet can give steroid injection or ventapulmin. Hope this helps
 

daydreamer

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Thanks for the replies. It has rained a bit so the ground is a bit less dusty and the soaked "haylage" (just like good quality hay rather than proper haylage) seems to be helping. He didn't cough at all when I was at the yard this evening so hopefully a few more days off and then light work for a bit will do the trick. I guess it just takes older horses longer to get over things and I need to remember not to panic.
 

Equi

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My little mare had this over winter. Think coughing on some chaff did it. Eventually for some anti-biotics just to give a little boost just in case.
 
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