Nose bleeds

[mayfair84]

Any advice / experience great fully received !
I have an older horse who suffers with nosebleeds. Vet investigated and found nothing wrong, but did speak of the possibility of further investigation. No set pattern to when he’ll have a bleed. Can be at a show when he’s on high alert or stood in the stable quiet. He’s on a vitamin C supplement and Rue, as recommended for bleeders by the manufacturers.
Before I go down the route of further veterinary investigation anyone have experience / how they fixed it. He’s 23 perfectly sound and well (more like a 10yo) but hasn’t been in work for a while now due to the nosebleeds.

 

[Barton Bounty]

My friends horse has nosebleeds regularly, he is no longer ridden and is just an old boy now, but I remember being terrified the first time I saw him, I was calling her frantically, had the first aid kit out and everything. She said yeah, it will just stop itself ??‍

 

[Denali]

I wish I had advice. I owned a horse who was considered a bleeder as he would get nose bleeds during intense exercise. I hope you find a solution. The nose strips seem to help but also cause problems but maybe something to look into?

 

[Birker2020]

If the horse has a problem with its gutteral pouch (infection) it can cause nosebleeds as I had a previous horse investigated for this. They put a camera in and scoped this area but gutteral pouches are notoriously hard to open and they could only manage to open one to see inside one but it scoped clear although from memory (2003/2004) I think they were flushed.

Nosebleeds can also be caused by trauma. Said horse had fallen heavily onto his neck/head whilst coming in from the field. I firmly believe he'd gone over backwards after being yanked in the mouth on his chifney by the handler.

We never got to the bottom of the nosebleeds because sadly my horse went on to develop severe wobblers directly due to the damage to his neck and was eventually pts due to this.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

There can be many causes for nosebleeds. High intensity exercise can sometimes pop vessels in the nasal cavalties. Sometimes vessels in the lings burst and cause the bleed. A Whack to the head can cause it. An infection to cause it. Not all bleeds are caused that day. Your horse may not show it on the day it does it but may show it a day or so later - like when your horse is relaxed with its head down in its stable.

Nosebleeds are not something I worry about but I know why my horse used to get them. He was a bad bleeder as a racehorse so his lungs were fooked and burst easily when he ran around like a twit.

 

[Skib]

I dont know if this is relevant to horses but I can comment on human nose bleeds because OH suffered for years. Eventually bleeding so badly he spent a night in hospital. I remember it vividly as I had to cancel riding.
Our GP then refered him to an ENT consultant at our preferred hospital where the registrar cauturised the nostril. She looked into the nostril with a gadget and identified the problem place where the blood vessel is weak. When OH had further bleeding on the other side, he was again referred and it was cauturised. No big nose bleeds since.

While the probem was on-going he was not to drink hot drinks or soup nor chili or spicy food. But that would not apply to horses.