My Mare Has A Nasty Cough...Advice Please!!

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chels90

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hi there,
6 weeks ago i bought a gorgeous 15.3 14 year old id x tb mare. i bought her from some close friends who had only had her 8 weeks. the day after she came to me, she started with this horrible cough but ive started to notice a pattern where shes only coughing in possible stressful situations i.e when shes being seen by the farrier, when shes being tacked up, when shes being tied up to be groomed! its very very rare that you hear her cough when shes in the field with my other mare. shes not got a snotty nose and shes not really coughing anything up apart from the odd bit of chewed up hay/feed. i was told that she must be stabled during the winter. ive managed to get in touch with the girl who owned this mare before my friends did and she said that she does get a bit of a cough during the winter and im to soak her hay and feed and give her a cough syrup sandwich and keep her in. ive been doing this for 2 weeks now and nothing has changed so i made the decision last night to triple rug her and leave her out so that the straw and hay isnt aggravating the cough even more. what else can i do? im tearing my hair out coz its not nice to see her coughing so much. i really dont wanna run up a high vet bill for a cough especially if people out there have a few home made remedies! what dya think? thanks
 
Could be an avoidance thing, my old lad did it when asked to do something he didn't want to do, was checked out, nothing wrong. :rolleyes: However, no way would I leave it without getting out the vet for a thorough checkup. Did you have her vetted?
 
my friends that i bought her from had her vetted when they bought her and she was clear one everything. ive been told about 'global products' ive been told to try her on a easy breath one and a stress free one as i think stress may have something to do with it
 
Ring a vet, whether or not you want to avoid the bill. Homemade remedies are fine if you are pretty sure of the cause, however you aren't.
 
It sounds as if she may have COPD, an allergic type of reaction to dust or spores in her environment, turning her out 24/7 is usually the best thing for them, keeping them stabled, especially on straw is going to make them worse. They often cough more in winter due to having hay, being in more and it is usually a condition that becomes more obvious when under stress or exercised. The vet would be best so you get a proper diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be given.
 
at our yard we are all about home made remedies, we research everything and make our own creams for laminetic ponies, sweet itch, sarcoids ect. we make our own vapour rub and our own disinfectant and aromatherapy sprays for the stables and we very rarely have to get the vet out. i will ring the vet for advice but im not jumping the gun and getting the vet out if the cough can be fixed by something simple. the health of my horses are main priority to me and i will get the vet out if its needed but at the minute i really dont think it is as its not all the time that shes coughing...only in certain situations. thanks
 
A horse I tried passed a 5 stage with flying colours several weeks before I tried it. My vet happened to seems on it on my very first ride: he immediately diagnosed suspensory ligament issues.

Never mind what the vetting said, something drastic can happen overnight, let alone after a few months.
 
be positive said:
It sounds as if she may have COPD, an allergic type of reaction to dust or spores in her environment, turning her out 24/7 is usually the best thing for them, keeping them stabled, especially on straw is going to make them worse. They often cough more in winter due to having hay, being in more and it is usually a condition that becomes more obvious when under stress or exercised. The vet would be best so you get a proper diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be given.
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its funny you should say this because another horse on our yard has a touch of copd and his owner manages it with some global herb stuff...cant remember the name. im gonna give the vet a call first thing in the morning x
 
Sounds like the times when u describe her coughing is when she is indoors
When I got my boy he had a mild cough the next day. I thought maybe he caught a bit of a cold because I know his old owner bathed him before I collected him and it was feb! The cough however got worse and looking back I should have got the vet sooner. One night I was mucking out and he was coughing outside his stable so I made an emergency appt the nxt day. Turned out he had RAO. He was 5 stage vetted and I am in touch with his previous owners and the people I bought him from - they never had a problem. I could have really damaged his lungs if I didn't get the vet when I did and I still kick myself for leaving it so long (about 3wks) Moral of the story is I think u need the vet. U dont want any long term damage. And start trying to uncover what (if anything) the allergen may be, as you will need to remove it eg hay/bedding/dust etc
 
thank you so much for all of your responses! i have only just started leaving her out at night to see if that works as i want to out rule everything before i actually get the vet out however i will be calling the vet in the morning for advice and see what they say! if her old owner had said she has never had a cough whilst she was with her then i would be a bit more concerned but she said that in the 3 years she owned her, she would always get this cough in the winter and so long as i soak feed and hay and give her a cough syrup sandwich it should wear off. i know a lot of you have said get the vet out....when you have 5 horses its not always possible to run up a vet bill for the slightest thing however that doesnt mean i dont love and care for my horses any less than any of you love your horses. my mare had cut her leg and i came on here looking for advice and everyone urged me to get the vet out so i did....the vet did exactly what i had been doing and told me to carry on doing what i was doing and she would be fine....£150 later....the vet didnt use anything i wasnt already using and she was there for all of 10 minutes! thats when i along with the ladies on the yard decided to research some homemade remedies to keep the costs down as most of us dont have rich mummies and daddies to bale us out. i really do appreciate all of your responses but please dont think bad of me just because im not gonna rush to get a vet out but of course i shall be ringing them in the morning for advice
 
Few of us can afford to be getting vets out unnecessarily. But there is a big difference between being sure of what's wrong & the treatment & thus not calling a vet, & having a try at various methods when you aren't sure. If a horse has a cough when stabled, the first thing I & many others would try is soaking hay, keeping out as much as possible & being careful as to the bedding & environment when it did have to come in. But, the difference is I would do that without needing advice & be confident enough not to need second opinions from others. The fact you tried keeping in for 2 weeks first & you are asking for advice on here, makes me think that neither you or your yard friends are experienced enough to just get on with it. Whatever knowledge or experience anyone has, the basic rule is if in doubt, get a vet.
 
1 horse, 5 horses, if simwthing needs to be Investigated you call the vet.

None of us can afford vets bills, but we ensure we have the means to pay them.

However for you maybe purchasing one more horse is the straw that broke the camels back, financially that is....
 
Also, the fact that this has been going on for 3 years (albeit with another owner) is very concerning.

I also find it hard to believe this horse passed a five stage vetting only a few weeks ago.
 
With the hay, op, are you able to switch to dry haylage or haylage? One of mine coughs even on soaked hay, but not on dry haylage. Make sure you're feeding from the floor if possible, too. Not sure I'd bother with the cough syrup sandwich. Bit of a drop in the ocean when you consider that it's inside a sandwich and the size of a horse's gullet!
 
Stop being stupid and get the vet. You could be causing irreparable damage to your horses respiratory system by failing to do so. I have seen this first hand, owner trying to save money, horse nearly died and was never the same again after.

If you can't afford for your horse to be seen by the vet when it needs it you shouldn't have one.
 
Agree with kirstie.
If you don't know what the problem is get the vet out, if I don't have a pretty good idea of a problem I wouldnt be playing with herbal products to attempt a diagnosis regardless of what your friends all do. And advice asked on here should be whilst waiting for a vet not instead.
Far better to spend a little money now than a lot putting right a problem you left so long
 
be positive said:
It sounds as if she may have COPD, an allergic type of reaction to dust or spores in her environment, turning her out 24/7 is usually the best thing for them, keeping them stabled, especially on straw is going to make them worse. They often cough more in winter due to having hay, being in more and it is usually a condition that becomes more obvious when under stress or exercised. The vet would be best so you get a proper diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be given.
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If she is ok when out and seems quite happy otherwise, I wouldnt rush to ring vet unless she has a temperature /snotty but you mention food in her mouth? I would get her teeth checked(they can inhale a seed dust etc) and as suggested soak feed but agree wth the above otherwise. Vet if worried and continues. Good luck.
 
chels90 said:
thank you so much for all of your responses! i have only just started leaving her out at night to see if that works as i want to out rule everything before i actually get the vet out however i will be calling the vet in the morning for advice and see what they say! if her old owner had said she has never had a cough whilst she was with her then i would be a bit more concerned but she said that in the 3 years she owned her, she would always get this cough in the winter and so long as i soak feed and hay and give her a cough syrup sandwich it should wear off. i know a lot of you have said get the vet out....when you have 5 horses its not always possible to run up a vet bill for the slightest thing however that doesnt mean i dont love and care for my horses any less than any of you love your horses. my mare had cut her leg and i came on here looking for advice and everyone urged me to get the vet out so i did....the vet did exactly what i had been doing and told me to carry on doing what i was doing and she would be fine....£150 later....the vet didnt use anything i wasnt already using and she was there for all of 10 minutes! thats when i along with the ladies on the yard decided to research some homemade remedies to keep the costs down as most of us dont have rich mummies and daddies to bale us out. i really do appreciate all of your responses but please dont think bad of me just because im not gonna rush to get a vet out but of course i shall be ringing them in the morning for advice
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Yes, because we are ALL loaded :rolleyes:
You carry on with your homemade potions OP. I'm sure she'll be fine. Try a little eucalyptus if she starts to heave :rolleyes:
 
Please do try to get it sorted. She could end up 'broken winded' and struggle to do anything, as well as get horrible heave lines on her sides.
If you can't afford the vet perhaps you should have less than 5 horses?
Agreed that keeping her in is the worst thing to do.
 
Once lungs are damaged they do not repair themselves. The damaged tissue is dead tissue. A horse never recovers from COPD, if managed correctly by the owner, it can cope with the reduced lung capacity. Every time they suffer an 'attack' more lung tissue gets killed off.
I have one with it and it was diagnosed early. He has suffered with it for nearly 10 years and I can spot the warning signs of any problems very early now. I would not leave him to suffer with compromised breathing at any point. FWIW he has cost me a fortune to keep 'healthy' but that's the choice I make.
 
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