1st night in 1st problems...

lottiepony

lottiepony

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Well finally got myself organised and got my straw to the yard last night so the girl had her first night in last night. (last time being in March) I had been hoping to leave her out 24/7 till the end of October but due to other horses coming in she was starting to stress and pace. Anyways got up bright and early this morning to turnout and muck out and as expected her legs had filled hopefully she'll walk it off during the day and I'll see how they are tonight. The other thing I noticed was she coughed a few times, I thought hay was fine as she's been having it out in the field with no problem but now wondering whether to start soaking. What a bugger if she's not going mental in the field she gets problems from being in grrrrrr any advice gratefully received!
 
It's very usual that any horse stabled overnight the first time for ages will get filled legs so don't worry about it. As Amy says it's probably the straw that's making her cough because she can't get away from it while in the box. You can either change it for something else completely (wood pellets get my vote of course;cheaper than shavings, quicker and easier to muck out) or try to change things by feeding your hay on the floor so everything drains down and her nose is mainly out of the way of the rising dust; always muck out/bed down with her out of the box too, amazing what a difference that makes.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I'm hoping that maybe she came in a little too soon after laying the bed so any dust was still hanging about a bit although really pleased with the quality of the straw very little dust etc so am loathed to change onto a different bedding and in the past it's never been a problem. She developed a cough last winter when on shavings so put it down to some not so great hay which then got soaked which seemed to cure the problem. Will see how she is tonight and go from there.. also I never muck out/bed down when she's in the stable :)
 
I get this problem with my horse. It's solved by soaking his hay. He too can handle dry in the field but not every day over winter inside.
I always muck that stable out in the morning and put any fresh bedding in long before he comes in. This is enough to solve this particular cough. My other horse however just can't have straw. It makes me cough too so I'm not overly worried. I'm going for wood pellets this year.
 
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