New yard - horse coughing

[Bramblebear]

I moved my horse to a new yard on Saturday and for the last day or so she has had a bit of a cough. I wondered whether it was:

- Just a bit under the weather because of the stress?
- Change of bedding, straw to rape straw chop?
- Change in hay/haylage. She currently has 50:50 which is the same split as before?

My current plan is to wet her hay, avoid disturbing her bed too much and wait and see if it gets any worse at which point I will obviously call the vet. Is there anything else that I should do, or any ideas on other causes?

Might be unrelated but she has also had slightly sticky eyes for the last few days, only a really small amount of gunk that wiped away quickly.

 

[Flummoxed]

My two have both had bad coughs this year, requiring vet intervention as they both had raised temperatures too. My advice to you would be to continue to monitor but, in the meantime, make sure your new stable has been thoroughly cleaned and give your horse as much turnout as you can so she is not overexposed to the spores causing the cough. Continue to wet her feed and always feed from the floor rather than use a haynet to discourage any mucus build up. Eucalyptus oil may be helpful; I spray a little solution over their beds. Mine are greatly improved now; hopefully your mare will soon.

Sticky eyes could be due to blocked tearducts - she may need some eyedrops. Human eye products work well as a first course of action.

 

[fatpiggy]

Its like people - outsiders bring in "foreign" germs. I work in a University and you can guarantee that half the people in the office will be struck down by a plethora of cold and other virus' in the first fortnight of term - the spaccy students infect us! It is quite common when a new horse arrives on the yard, for the ones either side of it to develop a cough or a snotty and vice versa. I would treat her as you would yourself if you weren't feeling 100%. It is stressful anyway for her so taking things gently for a week or two so that she can find her feet is a wise move. Nice tasty feeds to perk her up and as you say, keep the dust (and grooming) to a minimum to help to ease her cough. I bet you she will be fine in a few more days.