haybar and consistant coughing

[jokadoka]

Just wondered if anybody else has had this problem. My horse (16.1hh TB) has had the same stable management for years without any problems, apart from him being a messy so and so with his hay so I installed a haybar last winter. Throughout the winter he has had a persistent cough that had to be vet treated all the time. We have been racking our brains to where the problem has come from. We cut our own hay from the same fields, and I soak it religiously. He is out 24/7 from April till October and is in at night and out during the day the rest of the time. His fields haven't changed either. The only thing we came up with eventually is that when the hay goes down quite a bit in the haybar, his head goes in quite a long way down making it quite a small space for a large head ( sorry old boy, but it is BIG) leaving nowhere for dustparticles etc to go except for straight up his nostrils and in to his lungs. Have i got a point or have I completely lost the plot...????
Advice appreciated!!!

p.s he used to eat his hay from the floor before

 

[MrsMozart]

If your hay was very dusty then I could see there being an issue with the space and head size (sorry lad! ).

Mine don't have an issue with the Haybar, but I tend to keep it stocked up, that and she just pulls it out anyway...

 

[kezimac]

I put a bucket (the rubber tyre ones with handles) at the bottom to collect the bits then pull it out to empty it every few days - really works and no dusty **** at the bottom then

 

[PaddyMonty]

I've had the opposite experience. Horse used to cough a couple of times as I went in to trot for first time each session despite soaked hay being fed from floor. Since putting in a haybar this has stopped

 

[jokadoka]

I put a bucket (the rubber tyre ones with handles) at the bottom to collect the bits then pull it out to empty it every few days - really works and no dusty **** at the bottom then

I do this as well, doesn't seem to work for him!
Thanks for advice tho!