Erehwemos
Well-Known Member
Is anyone else's horse coughing at all at the moment? It isnt something I've ever had a problem with Ellie before, but she seems to have developed a bit of a cough this past week. It isnt a real rasping cough and normally follows a sneeze, and I have not found any evidence yet of any nasty gunge being coughed or sneezed up.
She tends to cough when she's been taken out for a walk and then brought back into the box. There is no real pattern - some days she has coughed once or twice, and other days not at all. It isnt affecting her demeanour at all - we went out for a ride on Thursday and she was so full of it she nearly bucked me off! The coughing does not seem to be brought on by strenuous exercise - I have been deliberately gentle with her when riding this week, but even her bronco episode did not bring on any coughing at all.
She is stabled 24/7, and has been for the majority of the winter. She gets a walk out in the morning and is then ridden most nights (on nights when I am back too late to ride she is walked out again). The stables are very open and breezy - the barn has open sides so airflow is not a problem. She has access to a respiratory lick in her box, and I have also started damping her hay this week. The layout of the yard is such that she has access (albeit only if she stands on tip toes!) to horses being kept loose in a barn behind her box, and I have noticed that some of the other horses in neighbouring stables have a slight cough too.
Should I be worried, or is the fact that a) the coughs are minimal and inconsistent and b) she is bright and breezy in herself enough to tell me not to worry? I wondered if she may have picked up a virus from one of the others?
She tends to cough when she's been taken out for a walk and then brought back into the box. There is no real pattern - some days she has coughed once or twice, and other days not at all. It isnt affecting her demeanour at all - we went out for a ride on Thursday and she was so full of it she nearly bucked me off! The coughing does not seem to be brought on by strenuous exercise - I have been deliberately gentle with her when riding this week, but even her bronco episode did not bring on any coughing at all.
She is stabled 24/7, and has been for the majority of the winter. She gets a walk out in the morning and is then ridden most nights (on nights when I am back too late to ride she is walked out again). The stables are very open and breezy - the barn has open sides so airflow is not a problem. She has access to a respiratory lick in her box, and I have also started damping her hay this week. The layout of the yard is such that she has access (albeit only if she stands on tip toes!) to horses being kept loose in a barn behind her box, and I have noticed that some of the other horses in neighbouring stables have a slight cough too.
Should I be worried, or is the fact that a) the coughs are minimal and inconsistent and b) she is bright and breezy in herself enough to tell me not to worry? I wondered if she may have picked up a virus from one of the others?
