Noisy breathing

jenbleep

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Last night I went to ride Frankie - now I hadn't ridden him since last Wednesday due to weather and I was away at the weekend. I got on him last night, just walked around and then about 5 minutes of loose trot, when he started wheezing
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and did a few coughs
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Do you know when you have a cold, and you have gunk in your throat, well thats what he sounded like!!
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I really thought he was going to fall over under me!
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I told his owner and she said it was more than likely the hay he was on - and that he had been coughing slightly. I stopped trotting after that, and just did some circles etc in walk.

Do you think that the fact that i hadn't ridden him in a while didn't help it? Or is it all due to the hay? Obviously thats hard to say when you haven't seen what he is eating.

I'm just a bit worried that he is going to drop down dead when I'm on him, or when I'm lunging him!
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I've got a lesson booked for Saturday as well (only walk and trot, nothing too exuberant
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do you think I should leave it?
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It could be the hay, or it could be a virus of some sort.

Either way I would not ride until the coughing stopped, and sorry but I wouldn't be having my lesson on saturday either.

You not riding him won't have caused this problem.
 
Has he been kept in a lot recently? Sometimes if they are standing around a lot they can get gunk (esp. if hay is dusty) and the exercise helps shift it all!

If he is fine in himself and the coughing is very mild I would be tempted to just keep walking him out until it clears, otherwise rest and get the vet!
Btw - any news on the Woof job??
 
Need more info. Was the cough like a rattling? Did he have a snotty nose after you rode or before? Do you loan him or share him? Do you have any imput into what he eats? Maybe haylege would be better than hay. Does he have a dust allergy?

Did his owner not seemed concerned about her horse coughing?
 
His owner said about soaking his hay but get this - she said 'because he is having 5 wads a night it would be too heavy........mumble mumble etc etc'

she said she could change to haylage but wants to get rid of all the hay first
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wtf???????
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so even more reason to let me take him off her hands.
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sometimes after heaving exercise he does get a runny nose. not been like for a while though because I haven't done any real heavy exercise.
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I think I will ride him tonight and see if he is that same - if he is then I shall have to leave the lesson until he is breathing more clearly!

Oh and yes he has been stood in for a few days...........not on end, he was in for a day or two last week and was in yesterday. and his stable is covered in cobwebs - before you say it i have attempted to clear them but his owner keeps saying 'she will do it' but the cobwebs are still there.

I just don't want him to find work difficult but he actually sounded like his throat was full of crap and needed a big ol clear out!
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Frannie I havent heard from the Woof Wear place yet! Had a 2nd interview yesterday and he said I should know by Friday
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[ QUOTE ]
Need more info. Was the cough like a rattling? Did he have a snotty nose after you rode or before? Do you loan him or share him? Do you have any imput into what he eats? Maybe haylege would be better than hay. Does he have a dust allergy?

Did his owner not seemed concerned about her horse coughing?

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I ride him for his owner. I could say what i think he could do with regarding feed but she doesn't trust my judgment. Sometimes after heavy exercise (a decent lesson for an hour or lunge for 30/40 minutes) he gets a snotty nose - only on one side if that matters?
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the cough was not rattling, can't quite describe it - just a cough! But his breathing was wheezy - like he has gatar (don't know how to spell it!) in his throat
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she said 'because he is having 5 wads a night it would be too heavy..

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It would be terribly heavy actually - and would probably break the net. However, you could split it in to two nets.
 
Amymay she even mentioned to me the other night about getting a haybar.................whoo hoo that might take a few months to get though lol

Thing is because she has 3 horses and 1 pony she is always looking to do things quickly in the morning and evening.......so if I suggested to her 'maybe soak two haynets ready for the eve and morning' she will come up with some excuse like 'im too busy' 'that adds extra time' etc etc
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As is said I'll go up there tonight and see how he is - he might be better (ish) now he's been out today.
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I am just paranoid that I am going to kill him somehow
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Tad over dramatic but thats me
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It does sound like a stable cough. I took on a horse with snotty nose and cough. As soon as he was out more (24/7 in my case), the snot and cough went.

For now, I would split the hay into two nets and soak it and also see if he can be turned out more/switched to dust extracted shavings if he's on straw. Henry got a cough on one batch of hay and it cleared with exercise. I used to come back to walk if he coughed, but when I started to keep him going in trot, it cleared faster.
 
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It does sound like a stable cough. I took on a horse with snotty nose and cough. As soon as he was out more (24/7 in my case), the snot and cough went.

For now, I would split the hay into two nets and soak it and also see if he can be turned out more/switched to dust extracted shavings if he's on straw. Henry got a cough on one batch of hay and it cleared with exercise. I used to come back to walk if he coughed, but when I started to keep him going in trot, it cleared faster.

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Thanks for the advice
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There is no chance that she will switch to shavings - she has only got all her neddies changed to straw last week so that's that last of it I'm afraid!

I will mention soaking hay again, as she did mention it herself last night but 'uming' and 'ahhing'. Sometimes it takes a while to get things through to her. You will get to know that the more I post about her lol *rolls eyes*

I just want my own horse someday and Frankie is important to me so I want to do that what I am doing/suggesting to hos owner is correct
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Couldn't you offer to take over his stable duties then you could soak the hay etc. I know you said she does't trust your judgement but it's not as though she wouldn't be around to be able to see that you can do it. Suggest to her that it would make life easier for her?

Frances - My horse had a dust allery and after his first trot stride he would cough and clear.

But he did after this develope a bad chest infection and had to have antibiotics and (forgot the name of it) the powder that smells of ucalyptus very expensive I had to give 3 times a day for two weeks. They said he'd probabley have to stay on it for the rest of his life.

When we moved house built stables put in rubber matting and dustfree shaving changed to haylege NOT HAD A COUGH AT ALL EVEN AFTER FIRST FEW STRIDES OF TROT THAT WAS SEVEN YEARS AGO.

(P.S. DIDN'T MOVE HOUSE BECAUSE OF THE HORSE) HAHA
 
I always offer to help! I always say 'if you need me for anything......' but apart from mucking out a couple of times a week she does all of it, because she is there about 4 hours earlier then I could manage in the morning (seriously - she is there at about 4am!!) and she gets there in the afternoon at about 3pm. So the works all done
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As is said I will be back up there tonight so no doubt will post about this tomorrow!
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*rolls eyes*
 
Sorry I should have said he has always been on straw, but she has only changed the others onto straw so to suggest to her change Frankie to shavings............well she won't have it
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My old pony tends to get his whjat I call 'old man's' cough in winter, he's out 24/7 but occasionally at the start of a ride he may do some coughing which soon stops.

However, my horse is in at night in winter and for teh alst two years we've found horrible lumps of snot over his stable door and he's coughed quite horribly every morning. He is bedded on straw and is fed hay. Once he was out his cough would clear so put it down to stable dust and not that severe that it required bedding change. Anyway, we decided to soak his hay to see if that helped and it seems to have worked wonders. When i say soaked though i do not soak it through I just hose it down so get rid of the surface dust on it. I have my hay on the floor not a haynet and feed about 4 flaps a night - it is not heavy down like this (although i do have to run to avoids too much water dripping down my legs! ha ha)

His coughing (and lumps of snot) have disappeared and he is still bedded on straw and the horse next to him (the stables have bars in between) has dry hay and stil there is no problem. I think he was poss inhaling the hay dust as he ate.

Worth giving it a try see if it releives the problem.
 
thanks a lot for that - thats what i was thinking of suggesting to his owner. I thought that putting it on the floor would alleviate the need for heavy haynets and also drain out his nose!! plus stretch his topline. (his haynet is quite high and when he eats it it turns his neck upside down, if you get me lol). Plus i suppose the hay being wet might stop it getting into his bed too much.......it should weigh it down lol
 
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