Harvest dust allergy?

[Old Bat]

My daughter's wonderful pony has been experiencing raised respiratory rate during exercise and a lack of stamina for a few days, noticed breathing seemed to be too rapid at rest as well, just been to vets and blood tests have indicated a mild allergic reaction...the only trigger that I can think of is that the field next to us was combined a couple of days before I noticed any symptoms...and it was VERY dusty! Has anyone else had a similar problem with harvest this year?

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

My ned Sunny gets an allergic response every summer to (vets think) tree pollen. He just gets an intermittent dry barking cough from June - August. But about a month ago, a virus went round the yard causing wet coughs, snotty noses and unhappy horses. I had the vets out and Sunny had a slightly raised breathing rate and pulse, though temperature was normal. He's fine again now but is still coughing a bit when he first exercises. The vets told me that the cells that are kicked into life to produce the mucus in response to an infection, have a life of about 3 months. This is why a recovered horse (people too!) will continue to cough for weeks after the infection has gone. We are trying Sunny on ventopulmin (antihistamine) for his summer allergy but tbh I haven't seen any difference after about 2 weeks.

I'd think that you are probably quite right regarding your daughter's ned but the allergy may mean ponio coughs for some time after the original allergen has disappeared. I'd definitiely say don't work him until he is 100% again or it could cause more problems. Did your vets suggest a course of ventopulmin?

 

[Old Bat]

Hi there, thanks for your reply. Yes, we are on ventipulmin, sputolosin and antibiotics, so covering it from all angles! I've spoken to a few friends overnight and our local vets are reporting similar this summer, a combination of wet weather at the wrong growing time has cause musty, dusty crops, and the night our village harvested we were in a blanket of dust all evening. Hey, ho, can't blame the farmers, they have a bad enough time as it is. I'll have to be very careful with hay and bedding from now on which is a shame as it was a very low maintenance ponio! Thankf ully the other two seem to be unaffected.