Horse Coughing

[Dizzleton]

My horse always has a bit of cough every winter due to being stabled at night. But this last couple of weeks he seems particularly bad where he is coughing up white phlegm. He does not wheeze, have nasal discharge, shortness of breath or lack impulsion when exercised. He usually coughs when we walk out to the field or the first few minutes of ridden work.

The vet has been out previously and stated that he's allergic to dust but does not suffer from COPD or RAO, however this was about 3 years ago.

Should I call the vet out for an endoscope exam?

 

[Sizzlea89]

I have the same issue only mine doesn't get ridden. He's allergic to dust. Coughs when he gets hay that's not been soaked.

Do you soak his hay?
What consistency is the phlegm?

Iv found that soaking his hay in water(completely immerse it) for an hour helps to get all the dust off the hay. Also you will be rather shocked at how much dirt is left in the water afterwords. It's rather disgusting.

 

[Dizzleton]

He doesn't have soaked hay as no amount of persuasion will make him eat it. He'll go all night without eating if he has to!

 

[Sizzlea89]

Even if you dry it out after soaking it?

 

[LovesCobs]

Can you steam his hay?
My daughters pony coughs, last summer it seemed worse than usual so I did get vet out, her breathing was a bit fast so she has ventipulmin and an inhaler which worked to get her back to normal. So maybe get your vet out, doesn't mean he'll need scoping

 

[Sizzlea89]

Steaming would really help. When I first heard my pony cough I thought he had lung worm and panicked then realised that I had wormed him including lung worms. Got the vet out only to be told he's allergic to dust after being kept in a field all of his life to suddenly being stabled at night must have been a shock to his system. The inhaler sounds great. I'm curious to know what it looked like lol

 

[Dizzleton]

This best describes him
''Warm-up" Cough
Other signs: None. After a few coughs, the horse has no further respiratory disturbances.
Triggered by exercise? Yes
Likely cause: Indeterminate.

"This cough is a bit puzzling because it's predictable, not random," says Robinson. "Normally such a cough would be cause for concern, but the horse is perfectly healthy in every other respect." The culprit, he says, is probably accumulation of mucus: "If you endoscopically examined a large number of horses, you'd find that almost all of them have some mucus collected behind the larynx. The cilia of the respiratory tract can move mucus up to the larynx but not past it--the horse must cough to do that. The start of exercise requires a horse to breathe deeper, and perhaps the cough is to clear the mucus through the larynx into the throat. Exercise also transfers fluid from the blood to the lungs, which could trigger cough." What to do: Nothing. If coughing is limited and never occurs after the first few moments of a ride, there's no cause for alarm or action. "You do want to be careful that you don't 'tune out' a warm-up cough over time," Robinson says. "So you'll be aware if it worsens."

This goes along the lines of what I believe and what my vet said it was. I just feel distressed when he's coughing as it's obviously not comfortable for him.

 

[LovesCobs]

Steaming would really help. When I first heard my pony cough I thought he had lung worm and panicked then realised that I had wormed him including lung worms. Got the vet out only to be told he's allergic to dust after being kept in a field all of his life to suddenly being stabled at night must have been a shock to his system. The inhaler sounds great. I'm curious to know what it looked like lol

her inhaler is just the same as an asthma one with a spacer like children have. took a couple of weeks of the spacer flying through the stable before she got used to it! i taped it together as getting 6 puffs into her was taking ages when i had to keep putting it back together as she knocked it out of my hands! easy now we've both got the knack

 

[Sizzlea89]

That's great! At least you both have the knack of it now I hadn't thought of being able to get inhalers for horses.