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EllenJay

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HELP! I am having a problem with my boy. Last summer he was diagnosed with equine asthma. This was controlled with drugs and changing from feeding hay to haylege. During the summer he was living out as much as possible, so only having a small amount of haylege, and the coughing completely stopped.
Roll on winter - he had to be in more (although still having daily turnout), however, increasing his haylege intake it causing him to have loose droppings, and weight lost. We have now moved him over to rye grass, less dusty than hay, but this is causing him to start coughing again. What do I do? The rye grass stops the squits, the haylege stops the cough - the two issues do not seem compatible. YO is being great, and currently allowing 24/7 TO, but this isn't possible long term.

Any ideas forva long term solution (should add that there are no yards locally who offer 24/7 turnout, so that really isn't an option
 

PurBee

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Try a different haylage.
Some hay fields for haylage have too high nitrates, which causes the very loose stools.
If application of NPK fertilizer has been too liberal to grow ‘super grass’ to increase yield per acre...which a lot of commercial haylage producers are into, the downside is high levels of nitrates in the feed causing diarrhea.
I had this with my horses with one popular Irish brand...my gelding lost weight rapidly too, so I imported a different brand from the UK from a company that test for nitrate levels and energy/sugar levels of their haylage and my horses did great on it! Immediate change in stool texture. The best haylage I’ve ever used, and I’ve been through all the Irish companies.

It’s a science to make great quality, botulism-free haylage.

For coughing sensitivity you might want to look at the vitamin e and d levels in his diet. Vit E is not going to be in hay.
Vit d is low in the winter. They’re both anti-inflammatory for the airways...especially vitamin E.

Do you think it’s just when on hay he’s coughing? Could it be bedding?, as horses have to lay down for REM sleep only and some park their noses into the bedding while deeply sleeping causing them to inevitably breathe in bedding dust, which they aren’t exposed to when out 24/7 and sleeping in the field. If he coughs when stabled only consider the bedding as a cause too. As you’re not there 24 hrs to monitor his coughing tell as many people as possible on the yard to keep an ear out for hearing him coughing when you’re not there.

Pm me if you want a recommendation of excellent haylage in the uk...not sure I’m allowed to state here in open forum.
 

Equi

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What bedding is in the stable and how much can other stables effect this? Silly things like other stables being mucked out when he is in can make it worse...my boy can cough on hay and has summer allergies so in winter i use wood pellets and deep bed with haylage and comfort gut which stops the squits. Deep bed (ammonia) may seem counter intuitive but the less fresh shavings he has to root about in the better. You could try soaking the forage for 5mins too.
 

EllenJay

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What bedding is in the stable and how much can other stables effect this? Silly things like other stables being mucked out when he is in can make it worse...my boy can cough on hay and has summer allergies so in winter i use wood pellets and deep bed with haylage and comfort gut which stops the squits. Deep bed (ammonia) may seem counter intuitive but the less fresh shavings he has to root about in the better. You could try soaking the forage for 5mins too.
Hi thanks for this. He is on rubber matting, with a small sprinkle of shavings. Hevis on full livery, so they all get turned out together before being mucked out. I have tried soaking the hay, but that doesn't seem to make a difference.
 

EllenJay

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Try a different haylage.
Some hay fields for haylage have too high nitrates, which causes the very loose stools.
If application of NPK fertilizer has been too liberal to grow ‘super grass’ to increase yield per acre...which a lot of commercial haylage producers are into, the downside is high levels of nitrates in the feed causing diarrhea.
I had this with my horses with one popular Irish brand...my gelding lost weight rapidly too, so I imported a different brand from the UK from a company that test for nitrate levels and energy/sugar levels of their haylage and my horses did great on it! Immediate change in stool texture. The best haylage I’ve ever used, and I’ve been through all the Irish companies.

It’s a science to make great quality, botulism-free haylage.

For coughing sensitivity you might want to look at the vitamin e and d levels in his diet. Vit E is not going to be in hay.
Vit d is low in the winter. They’re both anti-inflammatory for the airways...especially vitamin E.

Do you think it’s just when on hay he’s coughing? Could it be bedding?, as horses have to lay down for REM sleep only and some park their noses into the bedding while deeply sleeping causing them to inevitably breathe in bedding dust, which they aren’t exposed to when out 24/7 and sleeping in the field. If he coughs when stabled only consider the bedding as a cause too. As you’re not there 24 hrs to monitor his coughing tell as many people as possible on the yard to keep an ear out for hearing him coughing when you’re not there.

Pm me if you want a recommendation of excellent haylage in the uk...not sure I’m allowed to state here in open forum.
Thanks - I have sent a PM
 

be positive

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I have generally found that haylage is much better for any coughing horses than soaked hay and have rarely had an issue with loose droppings from using it, the few that were loose usually improved with use of a supplement to reduce the acidity, I have used a few different ones that helped and tend to just give a good measure of brewers yeast or charcoal for a week or two until it settles but would be more than happy to keep them on it longer term if required.
If he were mine I would start by very gradually reintroducing haylage alongside the soaked hay and take a couple of weeks to do a slow swap over to 100% haylage, also giving a supplement to support the gut, as he has been bad maybe go for Protexin acid ease to give him a really good start.
 
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