Cough...hay....what shall I do?

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Littlemissmerlin

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Morning all. I have a little problem and need some advice please! My new horse has a cough this morning. Not heard him cough before (had him 4 months now) and it's quite a lot. Now.... He lives out most of the time and has haylage when in. When I bought him last owner mentioned dust allergies and bedding. So he has the bedding she recomended, also I give him a breatheasy supp. And lives out 99% of the time. So I was waiting for delivery yesterday of haylage. And it never came, and with the horrid rain last night I decided to bring him in all night (which I haven't done before) so bed was made up for night and I filed large Haynet with half haylage and half as I didn't have enough for full net.
So this morning he is coughing a lot. I've turned him out and hopefully fresh air will help. Any advice on how to help his cough? And can it develop into more? Also what does every one else do with their horses and ponies in these situations? I do worry a lot!!! And like as much advice as I can get. Thanks :-)
 
It will be best if he can always live out to be honest. You might find the cough clears today as he grazes, eating with their head down is how they are designed and it makes everything drain better.
If his nose is clean I wouldn't worry but if he gets snotty, especially if it is green then he needs the vet. Also if he is wheezy or rattly in his lungs.
When he has hay I would soak it for 12 hours. Is the haylage quite damp or dry? If it is dryish I would wet that too.
 
You might find that it was just the hay that has caused it and that he will be OK with haylage when you get some, if you have to use hay I would soak it to remove the dust particles. I had one that always coughed on hay but was fine with haylage and stabled on wood pellets.
 
I only bought him in for my own sake as I'm soft and thought he would be nice and dry as it was soooo bad! The haylage we have is lovely. It's not over damp but not too dry, if that makes sense. I'm just shocked at how quick it made him cough. Bless him! Hopefully like you said, being out today will clear his airways. I worry about every thing. :-/ I don't want it to progress into anything else. Ill never give him dry hay again :-)
 
You don't need to soak hay for 12 hours if you are only worried about removing dust. Soaking for that long will remove all the nutrients so it's only done for laminitics etc.
 
Don't feed any hay stick to haylage.
Never muckout when the horse is in the stable , don't deep litter.
Turnout as much as possible .
There's a supplement made by Wynergy call ventilate which has really helped a lot of horses I have had through here with bad winds .
 
My mare will cough on hay, however perfect it seems. A quick bucket of water over her net is enough to fix it for her, she also coughs less on straw than shavings. Yours sounds as though he may have slightly more issues, but I suspect when you go back to haylage it will be fine.
 
The haylage has arrived. So I will defo be sticking to that! My friend mentioned a steamer. Maybe in the future i might be able to steam half hay and put with haylage. I only have my big boy and mini Shetland. So don't really mind spending the money on haylage for him. Mini seems to live on nothing and still be far! Haha. Thank you for advice peeps x
 
Mine had a cough a little while ago, didnt really cough in the stable, but just a couple of times whilst being worked. Bit of white snot from the nose after being worked too.

I put it down to a bit of dusty haylage, and the weather being on the turn. he was well in himself in every other way.

I damped his haylage and added a glug of Benyllin cough syrup to his feed (dont tell the pharmacy its for a horse. Btw- a vet with a previous horse has told me to do this....!) and it completely sorted itself out after 10 days or so. Might be worth a try?
 
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