A sudden "allergy" to hay?

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rmasterson

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My 14yr old ISH has over the years been a little "coughy" depending on the quality of the hay available. Last year the hay was very poor but strangely he managed ok. It never impacted on his work. Normally he would cough a bit at the start of a session but he would blow it through.
This winter the hay has been top class (verified by vet but only in a sight test). However about a month ago he started to cough badly. Scoped by the vet he was prescribed 10 days of ventipulmin and an antibiotic ( as a safeguard, no infection present). The vet said his bronchial tubes were full of gunk.
He recovered well from that and has been hunter trialling etc. I have been feeding him haylege but on occasion he has had a few bites here and there of hay and immediately he is coughing again. The other 2 horses are totally unaffected.
I have removed all hay from the yard now and will feed only haylege from now on but am wondering has anyone else experienced this problem with hay?
 
They often build up the intolerance to hay over several years, the quality has little to do with it, unless it is obviously very bad or mouldy in which case that should not be fed to any horse, it is due to the dust or spores in the hay which cannot really be seen, you need to totally avoid him getting any otherwise each time you risk a build up of the gunk which will then need to be cleared by drugs.
One of mine was just the same, even a few mouthfuls caused him to cough but since retiring to grass 24/7 he has become able to tolerate some hay although gets mainly haylage and has done so for many years.

It is not the hay that is the problem as such but the individuals inability to cope with any dust etc.
 
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