Horse coughing from... everything? (with video)

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Cobraess

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So my horse is an 8 year old ex-racer and we believe he had a tie-back and a hobday operation, but we are unsure as we bought him from a unreliable source. The trainer said that he has always had this cough and that grazing on good grass seemed to be the most important thing for him.

He coughs whilst eating: hard feeding, haylage, hay cubes, hay, dampened hay, whilst drinking, whilst working, whilst hacking and only when he's stood stuff and sunbathing does he not cough, as well as something eating grass (he can have a cough or two in the field though).

The cough sounds as though he is trying to dislodge something, but it's dry and raspy. Food and water will come out of his nose.

He coughs about 10x when eating hard feed on average just to give you a number. He will sometimes have coughing fits. https://youtu.be/0MisgiImtsM
https://youtu.be/kHr-AJ4Xu2o

It sounds as though he has had this cough since he was very young - I hope there is something that can be done for him that hopefully won't break the bank.

We will get the vet out as soon as we can but it may be a while yet.


Thank you for any and all advice.
 
I'm sure somebody more knowledgeable than me will be able to help but it sort of sounds like he's having chokes all the time. What sort of state are his teeth in? That might be a good place to start although it does sound a thorough vet inspection is going to be the best way to get to the bottom of it really.
 
Thank you for your reply.

I researched choke and that's what I thought it was at first but choke seemed to strike me as a one time occurance that's a medical emergency when it does happen.

The way he coughs is more like how we accidentally inhale a bit of our drink and then have to cough it back up.

It also gets worse the more work we do.
 
to be honest if my horse coughed that much everyday and had food and water coming out of his mouth I would be getting a vet now! The second video he actually throws his leg in the air to me that is a drastic reaction to what should be a pleasurable time as in eating and that looks quite uncomfortable to me, I can appreciate that vets cost money but when you take on an animal you have an obligation to its needs and that horse needs a vet now.

is the horse not insured?
 
I'm with Pinkvboots - I think i'd be getting a vet out straight away if they coughed all the time, doing anything.

One of my friends horses had choke, a one of occurrence but for a couple of weeks afterwards he coughed quite a lot as he throat was sore and inflamed. After a while this went down and he's fine now - so probably not the case for yours if they've had it from a young age but definitely needs investigating.

If it gets worse when you work him I would perhaps stop working him for a while... . In the second video he looks in discomfort and being asked to work can't be helping? I'm no expert though, so could be wrong. That's just what I would do.
 
Cobraess said:
The way he coughs is more like how we accidentally inhale a bit of our drink and then have to cough it back up.
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This is almost certainly what is happening.......if he has had a tie back operation, that will be the reason

A tie back op is done to help with breathing problems due to laryngeal paralysis, in the operation, the paralysed vocal cord(s) are drawn out to the side to open up the airway...which will improve the airflow, but also means that the horse cannot protect its airway when swallowing. So small amounts food/liquid go down the airway, and can lead to lung problems too.

If he has not had the tie back, then if he has laryngeal paralysis, the airway protection system is still compromised, but not as bad as after the op.
 
It might be a good idea to get the vet to confirm if he has had a tie back and hobday...I think this is one of the complications of those ops.
 
Ok, I'll schedule the vet for next week in that case. We had him imported from the U.K. where he has had 2 stage 2 vet check and they both gave him the all clear.

After the first 10 minutes of hard work, or an uphill trot whilst hacking he seems to clear whatever is obstructing his pathway and is usually ok after that, but the cough is never truly gone - he has better days and worse days.
 
Cobraess said:
Is there anything that can be done for him? Will he just have to live with it?
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It depends exactly what has been done, so you either need a full history, or more probably a vet exam, including scoping, but further surgery is not usual.

Some do better fed from the floor at all times, and experimenting with the consistancy/type of food fed.
 
Ok, thank you very much. I obviously do not want him in constant discomfort. I have tried different feed consistencies and there's not much I can do about how he drinks water. I hope there is an easier solution to stop it once and for all.

He's super fit now and has the potential to have a great career so it would be such a shame if he can't show off his abilities due to this.
 
A friends horse has struggled similarly when eating (he has had tie back op) though not when working, presumably that might be a saliva issue? After one particularly nasty episode eating haulage in the lorry he ended up at the vets for 2 weeks with pneumonia, they think the constant inhalation of food over the years had lead to it reaching a point it couldn't cope with. Your horse definitely needs to see a vet but it may be that management is all you can manage.
 
Oh god, that's awful - was the horse alright in the end? Management is quite a sad answer but I think that is the only true one. Definitely the most realistic than what I had been hoping for. I'll be with him though forever so if management it is then I'm willing to do whatever it takes. Very much a shame he may never be able to compete though. Thank you for you comment. The vet is coming Tuesday now (:
 
He had last summer off recuperating and is back out be100 now :) prepping to go novice soon.

After the episode I said about which wasn't that unusual for him he did actually go on to compete fine (in hindsight we prob shouldn't have continued but he recovered ok as normal and stormed round!) several (5/6) hours later after 2 hour trip back home he presented as a bit colicky.
 
My big horse has this problem. He had a tieback at about 5 years old and was fine and eventing until he was about 12 when he suddenly became very unwell at a competition one day. Food and fluid coming down his nose, muscle tremors, etc vet seriously thought he had grass sickness but overnight he recovered with massive antibiotics and painkillers.

He was scoped on 2 occasions by the vet and there was evidence of food and fluid in his lungs - big doses of antibiotics help to clear any acute inflammation but it is just a case of management now. I had to retire him from eventing and competing as he couldn't cope with travelling anything over 1 hour in the lorry and he started to show signs of pneumonia. He is now 21 years old and still happy out hacking and playing in the field. He copes with walking hacks with the odd trot although he does cough when trotting or cantering. It actually helps to keep him in light work as the coughing helps to keep lungs a bit clearer.

Sorry I can't come up with any magic solutions but with good management he can cope.
 
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