Horse Asthma / COPD

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skye01

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Hi Guys,

My horse had recently been diagnosed with copd. She's really struggling In this heat but vets have highly advised to keep her out as she always seemed to flare up when in the stable. She had a course of steroids and ventipulmin and then I was allowed to ride again. I rode super early to avoid the heat and only walked and we done 20 mins ( she has a nose net now). She instantly flared up and vet has advised not to ride in this heat/ til even autumn time.

Please can anyone advise what they have found has helped their ponies with COPD. Her field has gone super dry and dusty in this weather which I understand isn't helping.

Secondly will this affect her "career" as such? Will she have to step down from what we're competing at etc, how is she going to be fit enough to do anything if I can't ride all summer ? Am I being super dramatic by thinking the kindest thing to do is retire her ??

Any advise or words of optimism would be highly appreciated as I'm just feeling a bit lost and down about it at the moment.
 
How old is she? We had one that was diagnosed with Cushings after developing COPD.There was a further complications that her ACTH levels were not excessive but when we had the TRH-Stim test, that was! She responded to Prascend but I think she should have been given it sooner. She struggled with pollen specifically and poor air quality more generally.
 
She's only 12, had one flare up last August which we thought was dusty hay and she's then been fine til this hot weather started. Is there anything you do for yours to help against the pollen etc? Or do we just have to keep a close eye ? The vets told me she can't live of the ventipulmin and for obvious reasons don't want to keep giving her steroids :(
 
My mare is severely affected by summer pollens, particularly willow and grass pollens. For about five summers I managed her with human asthma inhalers (vet prescribed) delivered through a Flexineb. However, a couple of summers ago a different vet advised me to try daily antihistamines which are a game changer and so much cheaper. When pollen counts are at their highest she now has up to 20 in a her daily feed (she weighs approx 700kg) and only has Ventolin inhaler (via Flexineb) before riding, rather than two different inhalers twice a day. Seven months of the year she's medication free.
 
skye01 said:
She's only 12, had one flare up last August which we thought was dusty hay and she's then been fine til this hot weather started. Is there anything you do for yours to help against the pollen etc? Or do we just have to keep a close eye ? The vets told me she can't live of the ventipulmin and for obvious reasons don't want to keep giving her steroids :(
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Ours was in her 20s and had to be pts, several years ago, in the January, so not pollen related at all. We gave her the Global herbs supplement, sorry i cant remember the name.
 
My gelding has asthma and we use an inhaler as and when needed. Ventopulmin and airways supplements made no difference at all. I have had him scoped and results showed asthmatic/allergic inflammation. Would it be worth scoping your horse to get more of a clue as to the cause of the breathing difficulties?

My horse is stabled on Aubiose bedding and I use haylage not hay. If it's really bad I steam the haylage in my Haygain steamer. If the coughing gets beyond a few coughs at the start, I stop riding. He had a flare up after an infection and I couldn't ride for 3 months. I would worry about doing your horse harm if you ride when they are having breathing difficulties/coughing. Horses have large, sensitive lungs that need looking after.
 
Hazzelnutt said:
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Oh bless her .... it's so hard !! The vet hasn't even suggested an inhaler yet, just suggested not riding her 😢


Thank you so much! I'll definitely have to try that supplement 😁

She does have a fly mask but not one that covers her nose. She's out atm so been trying to research what to put her on bedding wise, I'll definitely try the cardboard! Her hay is soaked etc, luckily our stables have good ventilation but im still worried to put her in 🙈 thank you so much this is all really helpful! X
 
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Marigold4 said:
My gelding has asthma and we use an inhaler as and when needed. Ventopulmin and airways supplements made no difference at all. I have had him scoped and results showed asthmatic/allergic inflammation. Would it be worth scoping your horse to get more of a clue as to the cause of the breathing difficulties?

My horse is stabled on Aubiose bedding and I use haylage not hay. If it's really bad I steam the haylage in my Haygain steamer. If the coughing gets beyond a few coughs at the start, I stop riding. He had a flare up after an infection and I couldn't ride for 3 months. I would worry about doing your horse harm if you ride when they are having breathing difficulties/coughing. Horses have large, sensitive lungs that need looking after.
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She was scoped last August and nothing really to see, the vet has said she doesn't think there is any benefit to scoping her at this moment as we know it will just show us she has asthma but no mention of an inhaler or nebuliser yet ....

This is my worry, and why I'm wondering if it is just kinder to retire her / partially retire her. She's only had 1 coughing episode which is when I got the vet out but no coughing since, just high respirate every now and then. I obviously haven't ridden her if she has had a high respirate or been coughing, just the once when she was fine 😢
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Ours was in her 20s and had to be pts, several years ago, in the January, so not pollen related at all. We gave her the Global herbs supplement, sorry i cant remember the name.
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Oh I'm so sorry to hear:( I'll have a look at the global herbs website, thank you!
 
homepaddock said:
My mare is severely affected by summer pollens, particularly willow and grass pollens. For about five summers I managed her with human asthma inhalers (vet prescribed) delivered through a Flexineb. However, a couple of summers ago a different vet advised me to try daily antihistamines which are a game changer and so much cheaper. When pollen counts are at their highest she now has up to 20 in a her daily feed (she weighs approx 700kg) and only has Ventolin inhaler (via Flexineb) before riding, rather than two different inhalers twice a day. Seven months of the year she's medication free.
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Do you use regular human antihistamines? I know a lot of vet practices do ... might be worth trying her on them ? I'll ask my vet about that, thank you!
 
My gelding has asthma and we use an inhaler as and when needed. Ventopulmin and airways supplements made no difference at all. I have had him scoped and results showed asthmatic/allergic inflammation. Would it be worth scoping your horse to get more of a clue as to the cause of the breathing difficulties?

My horse is stabled on Aubiose bedding and I use haylage not hay. If it's really bad I steam the haylage in my Haygain steamer. If the coughing gets beyond a few coughs at the start, I stop riding. He had a flare up after an infection and I couldn't ride for 3 months. I would worry about doing your horse harm if you ride when they are having breathing difficulties/coughing. Horses have large, sensitive lungs that need looking after.
 
skye01 said:
Do you use regular human antihistamines? I know a lot of vet practices do ... might be worth trying her on them ? I'll ask my vet about that, thank you!
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Yes, Cetirizine Hydrochloride. I've just purchased another 240 x 10mg tablets for £4.89 from Amazon. Price changes regularly so I just go with the cheapest at the time. Sometimes 360's work out cheaper per tablet but not this week so I don't stick with one brand.
 
Baggs my 20 year old was diagnosed with COPD when he was 13, so I've been trialling things over the years and found the following :

- A nice sloppy feed (if she has feed) helps soothe any soreness he may have in his throat from coughing
- He has a big stable with full ventilation but also protection from the elements, that way he gets consistent clean airflow without being compromised by dust
- Dust free bedding (or as close to as possible), I use Bedmax as I've found this is the best for him personally
- I supplement with MSM, Turmeric, Vitamin E and Mint. They've all been proven to help the airways in some way through studies done
- I don't ride when it is mega hot or the pollen levels are high, Baggs simply can't cope and it's not fair to push him
- I use haylage where possible, but also use slightly dampened down hay if I can't get haylage


When he was first diagnosed the vet advised me not to ride for 3 or 4 months whilst we got the COPD under control but then after that he could resume gentle exercise and keep an eye on anything that may trigger him. That was 7 years ago and he is still going strong to this day - merrily bossing around my 2 year old, legging it around the field and trying to bugger off for a good gallop whenever we hack. It isn't the end for your mare being ridden - I also thought about retiring Baggs when he was first diagnosed xxx
 
20 plus years ago I used winergy ventilate which really helped my copd horse. Soaked hay and as much turnout as possible.
 
My loan connie has asthma, diagnosed by vet last year. She was coughing and wheezing really badly in the stable and then ended up getting laminitis from the steroids the vet gave her 😭
Seems dust and pollen related as she was really bad May/June last year. We have to stable at night.

Switched to haylage only and started Pirton (8 a day) at end of April this year. No problems this year at all! I try to keep her slim and fit as well with plenty of canters out hacking (ground permitting) which in turn reduces the work on her lungs.

Good luck 👍
 
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