horse breathing when exercised - is this normal?

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whiteclover

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Im probably being paranoid but my horse had a pollen allergy and his breathing had been bad - he was wheezing & you could see him breathing from his flanks. Anyway Ive moved yards and his breathing has got better (no visible breathing from flanks or wheezing) but when he is worked he can breathes from his flanks but he recovers quickly. Is this just an unfitness thing as he isnt fit? (well he was about 7 weeks ago but I think hes lost that fitness).
 
As per your heading, yes, it is perfectly normal for a horse to breathe when exercised lol.

Seriously though, what you describe is known as a heaves line and it is caused by the horse's lungs being unable to work properly. Normally the exhale is automatic but with damaged lungs thehorse has to use his abdominal muscles to force the air out of his lungs so he can take another breath in. As you have said, the symptoms you describe fit a pollen allergy, known as Summer Pasture Associated COPD. A classic side effect is exercise intolerance because the horse cannot get enough oxygen into his body to keep himself going, never mind with a rider as well. It sounds as if moving him to a different yard may have helped him a little but if he is still struggling when exercised you need to continue to help him as it is almost certainly a residue (or ongoing) effect from his pollen allergy. Your vet may recommend only the very gentlest of exercise for him and he may need some form of drug support. It may be of value to endoscope him so the vets can see in more detail what is happening inside his chest.
 
What treatment has he received for the pollen allergy? I have had huge success with Naf Respirator since my mare had an allergic reaction to Oil Seed Rape pollen about 5 weeks ago. She is completely back to normal but we did twig very quickly what was going on and luckily got rain at the height of her symptoms. The wind has changed direction completely now so we are not affected now as the pollen is no longer being blown down on us. The Respirator was recommended to me and even when we had a pollen surge two weeks ago the mare had no reaction to it at all!
 
box of frogs - hes being lightly worked at the moment. Will he ever recover from this? Im going to ring vets on Monday and get a scope done.
 
It depends how much damage has been done already. The allergic reaction starts by the production of histamine when pollen is breathed in and the histamine then kick starts cells lining the airways to start producing mucus, the idea being the mucus traps all the nasties and then they are harmlessly coughed up and out. Of course, we know that the body is wrong in thinking that pollen grains are dangerous bacteria but the mucus-producing cells keep on producing the mucus anyway. A bit like emphysema in people, the mucus can clog areas of the lungs and cause damage that cannot be repaired. Talk to your vet about it - as I said, an endoscope would allow them a direct look into the chest. I'd worry if he's still showing exercise intolerance that he may have recovered as much as he ever will. Another thing to think about is whether there is something else going on on his lungs. Again, the endoscope and lung wash would identify that.
 
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