Coughing

[Custard Cream]

Tuesday night, horse brought in from field by yard staff. I was told she coughed once after cantering to the gate. An hour or so later when I arrived and started grooming before tacking up, she coughed again. 2 real big coughs that sounded quite deep. Horse has never coughed before.

Tacked up and the short story is we did ten mins walk and she coughed the whole time, so I jumped off.

Temp was normal, mare seemed bright in herself, no nasal discharge, eating normally. Poos and wee's all fine. No change in bedding or feed, though hay and straw both been quite dusty of late.

Wednesday morning, mare eats breakfast fine, gives one cough afterwards. Coughs twice on walk to field and is turned out. I've changed her bedding from straw to shavings and yard have now swapped from old hay to new hay, which I'm soaking.

Vet came out Wednesday afternoon. Typically the mare hadn't coughed since the morning. Vet said all seemed normal...then he said he wanted to hear her lungs after a deep breath so he placed a bag over her muzzle, forcing her to breath her own air and after a couple of minutes, took it off. She took a deep breath and gave 2 really deep coughs. He said he could hear a small squeak but that was it.

So, he suggested it was more environmental than viral/bacterial. She's on ventipulmin, which we started on Thursday morning and she's been out as much as possible. I didn't hear any coughing on Thursday evening nor Friday morning. Last night she had to come in as the hunt where about first thing this morning. She gave one cough on the way in from the field. This morning, yard staff said they didn't hear any coughing after breakfast. I turned her out and she gave 2 big nostril blows (she was dancing around because there were lots of folk parked there having hacked to the meet) and then one cough. She cantered away down the field, giving 3 big coughs.

Of course, got to wait for the ventipulmin to start acting, but I am worried. Her temp has been checked morning and night and has always been within the normal ranges. It does seem now that the coughing is exercise / deep breath related, but I've no idea what is causing it.

Will be calling vet again on Monday to come and scope, it sounds like she's got something stuck and is trying to cough it up, but I don't know what else I can do to make her more comfy? Leaving her out tonight as vet says she's better out and about incase it's dust related, but that wouldn't suddenly come on overnight would it?

 

[be positive]

A dust related cough, which this sounds very much as if it is, can seem to come on overnight you often miss the very subtle signs then they start coughing as the dust accumulates in the airways, literally in a day or two if they are in a poorly ventilated box filled with dusty bedding and hay.
She will take a while to clear and the coughing now should be a sign she is clearing her airways properly as she opens them up when she gets out moving about, the nose blows are also a good sign she is opening up, ventipulmin is fairly fast acting but she has only been on it 48 hours it will need a bit longer to do its job fully.
I wouldn't be scoping at this stage as there really is no reason to as long as she responds well to the drugs and you change her management so she is no longer exposed to the dust that has triggered it off, being out 24/7 would be ideal, otherwise plenty of fresh air, exercise normally once she seems ok, soaked hay or haylage and a dust free bedding will all help but it is something that requires constant monitoring as each time it occurs it can become worse.

 

[Custard Cream]

Thanks BP - She's 15 and never coughed before with me and I've had her 7 years now. She once ate a thistle and this caused her to choke and cough (vet called and all sorted) but that was a couple of years ago now. To be honest I thought it might have been something similar. I think I will try and keep her out as much as possible over the weekend and into next week. If it is something like RAO then it's going to be quite tricky to manage at my yard I think.

Will call vet again on Monday.

 

[googol]

This happened to me. My horse coughed quite badly when ridden the first few days I brought him home after I bought him. It got worse and I phoned his old owner to see if there was anything he knew. He said he had never had issues and was treated same as his others. I got the vet out (I feel I got the vet too late) when he started coughing in his stable. Vet said he had rao. He had to immediately go out in field for 2 weeks and got prescribed antibiotics which the vet said were very strong. Vet was very clear with me that everything he ate must be soaked, he should be out as much as poss and be careful when bringing him back to work. I know for fact that the issue was the yard. Looking back I cant believe I kept him there and fed him the seriously dusty hay. They used to brush the American barn type stables with those leaf blower things which generated soooo much dust. The hay was seriously ridiculous. I was sooo lucky I haven't given him long term issues. My friends horse was also diagnosed with rao. We moved yards very soon after. We still soak their hayledge but we have to bring in at night in winter and all and they are fine. We are careful with cobwebs etc and don't add shavings when they are in. Tbh I'd manage any future horse like this going forward just because it makes more sense! Hopefully this gives u some hope.

 

[Custard Cream]

My thoughts about it being tricky to manage at my yard aren't really related to the yard as such as I can provide bedding and haylage if needs be. I was more thinking that in the field during winter they feed round hay bales and if she has to be on haylage I'm not sure what I'll do.

Anyhow, no coughing tonight when I went up and fed and rugged up. Fingers crossed.