Breathing difficulties

[fjordgirl75]

She ended up having her soft palate cauterized and a hobday procedure. The first scope missed the floppy palate but we rescoped at the same time as doing X rays to check there wasn't something in her sinuses and then you could see it.
Has to be ridden bit less now but fine for hacking and light schooling.

The soft palette covered the larynx once but as mine swallowed and corrected it they said it was normal.

 

[SEL]

The soft palette covered the larynx once but as mine swallowed and corrected it they said it was normal.

sorry - only just seen this. They can do a scope while the horse is being exercised which can give more information - mine was dramatically worse being ridden. We didn't do the exercise scope because the noise she was making gave the specialist a very clear idea of her issue (we had to take a series of ridden videos). I think if I hadn't burnt through the insurance money they might have insisted on a ridden scope but it took a while and a fair amount of money to diagnose.

 

[Appygirl]

So about two weeks after Paddy was back to full fitness from the last injury and was just ready to start competing... his breathing increased dramatically. As in, it’s usually 10-12, and it had jumped to 30. That was almost two weeks ago. We had the vet out on the day it started, he thought it was just gas (the horses had just moved field and the grass was very lush) and to ride him gently. I put him on one of the small paddocks without much grass but he was still breathing fast after a few days and he wasn’t coping with exercise very well - he is pretty fit but was breathing hard and almost blowing after a couple laps of canter in the arena. I’ve never heard him breathe that hard and he has often done long xc sessions and gallops training - so it’s not his fitness. The vets came out a couple more times and now think it’s an odd case of equine asthma; the odd thing being his lungs are completely clear to listen to and there’s no unusual nasal discharge. He’s been on Ventipulmin for almost a week but it doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference, his breathing rate this afternoon was between 27-30ish. The breaths aren’t particularly laboured but they are shallow and uneven.
He is otherwise very cheerful and shows no other signs of distress, he is eating well, not tense or sweaty, and is sound. No digital pulses in his feet, legs and hooves aren’t at all warm. He is on soaked hay and comes in at night, he’s on rubber mats and a thick shavings bed. He’s fed from the ground so no haynet to stuff his nose in either.
He’s having scopes done on Friday, but has anyone experienced something like this? Did it turn out to be asthma or something else? And if it is asthma and he’s not responding to the ventipulmin then where do we go from there? The vet has mentioned steroids but we haven’t spoken in much detail about that.

Hi there - So sorry to hear you are having this problem with your horse - I have a pony with almost identical symptoms - this started last March and has not improved. She spent 4 days at an equine hospital and had full blood works, endoscopy and ultrasound - they suspect equine asthma but like your horse - there is no cough, no nasal discharge. She is not distressed and is eating well. The high respiration rate is not all the time but comes and goes, usually happens mid afternoon. She is still under vet care, but has not improved. We have used an inhaler with Respigen followed by Flixitide (steroid) - this hasn’t made an difference. Would be very interested to see how you get on as we are at our wits end trying to solve this. We have also changed her hay and this is given wet too. Good luck with your horse - fingers crossed you get it sorted.

 

[Red-1]

Hi there - So sorry to hear you are having this problem with your horse - I have a pony with almost identical symptoms - this started last March and has not improved. She spent 4 days at an equine hospital and had full blood works, endoscopy and ultrasound - they suspect equine asthma but like your horse - there is no cough, no nasal discharge. She is not distressed and is eating well. The high respiration rate is not all the time but comes and goes, usually happens mid afternoon. She is still under vet care, but has not improved. We have used an inhaler with Respigen followed by Flixitide (steroid) - this hasn’t made an difference. Would be very interested to see how you get on as we are at our wits end trying to solve this. We have also changed her hay and this is given wet too. Good luck with your horse - fingers crossed you get it sorted.

Hi, the horse in my avatar has asthma. He doesn't have discharge, in-between attacks his resp is good. During an attack his resp is high, he coughs too. It is a non productive cough, I think it is to help him expel the air rather than to clear gunk. He gets a heaves line as it is obviously difficult to empty his lungs so he can refill with good air.

My difficulty has been that the vets listen to his lungs and they do sound clear, so, unless they see him during an actual attack, they think I am exaggerating the issue.

This has proved to be seasonal. He is just recovering, his was from August 1st more or less, to now, so likely to be pollen or harvest dust.

We used antihistamines, as it is an allergy. This seems to have helped. He also has Ventipulmin as soon as an attack starts, to simply calm it down.

For next year, the vet advised starting antihistamines before the symptoms start. They aren't expensive. They said it is like with sweet itch, more effective if you can give beofre they are re-sensitised. If that doesn't work, I guess he will have a steroid inhaler, but I was trying to avoid that as he is EMS/ recovering laminitic.

He is taken out of work during this time.