Horse cough

[rhia.mx]

My mare has a slight cough, I notice it more in the mornings than evenings. She coughs as she eats, it’s not a constant, but more than my other horses. She has sometimes got a runny nose, but nothing major, seems to be every three days or so I see it. She is 22 years old, is there anything to help her.
We have very sandy ground and she is having hay. It sounds like a dry cough, nothing has ever come out.
Thank you in advance!

 

[Widgeon]

Mine is just getting over a dry cough caused by dusty hay at the end of the winter. As others on here said to me when I asked, can you steam her hay? Also mine has had a 10 day course of potassium iodide powder from the vet - it thins / loosens mucus and has worked well for him, he had grey gunge pouring out of his nose for a few days and the cough has almost gone. £23 well spent! And I'll be keeping a closer eye on the hay in future.

ETA your problem may be something entirely different, I just thought I'd share what happened to us in case it's of use

 

[lamlyn2012]

I would get your vet to do a scope to determine what she is allergic too. Possibly dust and spores from hay. Do you soak the hay? Feeding haylage may be better for her.

 

[rhia.mx]

Mine is just getting over a dry cough caused by dusty hay at the end of the winter. As others on here said to me when I asked, can you steam her hay? Also mine has had a 10 day course of potassium iodide powder from the vet - it thins / loosens mucus and has worked well for him, he had grey gunge pouring out of his nose for a few days and the cough has almost gone. £23 well spent! And I'll be keeping a closer eye on the hay in future.

ETA your problem may be something entirely different, I just thought I'd share what happened to us in case it's of use

Thank you! I will give that a try!

I will start soaking her hay - any methods that you recommend?

 

[rhia.mx]

I would get your vet to do a scope to determine what she is allergic too. Possibly dust and spores from hay. Do you soak the hay? Feeding haylage may be better for her.

I don’t soak her hay, but I will do from now on or I may switch to haylage! I’ve had her for just over a month now, she’s moved from very wet mug to dry sand, so I imagine dust does have something to do with it. Thank you!

 

[Widgeon]

Thank you! I will give that a try! I will start soaking her hay - any methods that you recommend?

I think some people would recommend steaming over soaking (I prefer it because wet hay seems to be less appealing to the horse) - you can put it in a dustbin (wheely type or metal) and pour a kettle or two of boiling water over it, leave the lid shut for a while, then take it out and let it cool, and tip the water out of the bin down the drain. If the slices are falling apart in the bin you could net them first. You can also buy special hay steamers if it turns out to be a long term requirement but they looked pretty pricey to me! A bin is much cheaper....

There are lots of threads on here on the relative merits of soaking v. steaming for dust removal, have a read

Oh and if haylage is available, doens't give her the runs or make her fat....that would be a lot less hassle than steaming hay. Unfortunately it was not an option for my fat cob!

 

[meleeka]

Just wetting the haynet with the hose is enough for my pony who sometimes gets a slight cough.

 

[fidleyspromise]

I put a post on a couple weeks ago about my horse as she was coughing but was also cold.
I throw a couple buckets of water over her hay and she's stopped coughing with it.
I'd like to get a steamer but there's no electricity at my yard.