RAO/COPD - still not getting anywhere

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silverstar

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My horse was diagnosed in Feb with COPD. Its chronic. A little history .............

Shes been living out since then and has had 2 tubs of ventipulmin so far. It has made a little difference but shes not 100% right with her breathing and until she is I cant compete her (which is why I bought her). I started soaking her hay about 2/3 weeks ago but she lives in a paddock which is sectioned off for her to eat her soaked hay, but ive started moving her into another field as she is eating the other horses who are out with hers haylage which is fed to them dry. But shes still not 100%. Ive tried inhalers (poor horse went ballistic with it, to the point where her breathing got much worse because I was fighting with her to get it down her). So have ditched that. On vets instructions ive also been doing light hacking with her (walk & trot). I feel like im wasting my money with the venti as she's eating other horses haylage.

Now at a loss as to what to do next or whether to move yards.
 
I take it you have had this horse scoped? As there could be an underlying problem such as a low grade infection?? if you have not done this then that maybe what you need to do. I had mine on inhalers amazingly she was great (she was not good with mant things!) she had a steriod one and one that acts like ventipulmin took a long time but got there in the end
 
Just posted this on a thread above, but horses can have steroids to decrease the inflammation seen with RAO. Horses can become tolerant to ventipulmin quite quickly, and ideally it shouldn't be used on its own so you could maybe talk to your vet about trying steroids to go with the ventipulmin. You could also maybe discuss Ventolin instead of ventipulmin, they do the same thing, but from what I remember from lectures, ventolin has an effect in over 90% of horses whereas ventipulmin is only effective in 75% at the very highest dose, and 25% at the lowest dose.

Is there any way she could be kept on her own at all times so she can only access her own hay? Or you could see whether other people at the yard would be receptive to soaking their haylage as well so that even if she ate other horses haylage, it wouldn't harm her. 24/7 turnout is ideal for her, and you will be helping immensely just by ensuring this. Unfortunately, truely chronic RAO is where irreversible changes have occured in the horse's lungs, in which case a horse will never properly come right. If it only started shortly before she was diagnosed then I would have thought that there is still the opportunity to reverse the changes in her lungs, but if its been going on for a long time then it may be that she will never be 100% with her breathing.
 
After unsuccessful trial of inhalers vet mentioned keeping her on the venti and then trying a course of prednisoline steriods. Shes been on her own during day and in with others at night. I really think its the haylage thats causing this. So have decided to put her on her own 24/7 for now. She has a couple of other horses as neighbours so have decided to put her on her own for now and see how she goes.

Murphy88 - she was diagnosed in February with COPD, so great doesnt look like she'll make a comp horse then. Vet hasnt said what prognosis is for her returning to competition but that he has two other horses on prednisolone, one being a racehorse and the results look good.
 
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I always thought that if a horse was allergic to the spores in hay, soaking the hay would cause the spores to enlarge so they would not be airborne and thus would not cause the allergic reaction in the horse. And haylage is a better option than hay because it doesn't have the spores in the first place because haylage is part-fermented hay and the process kills any spores/doesn't allow them to form.
 
as loopylucifer has she been scoped???
when my boy was diagonosed in 2008 it was the first thing they did when they took samples the results came back that he had a serve upper resp infection he is now fine and was back in work within 3 months of his treatment ending we just manage it with easibed,haylage and feel good 30 herbal breathing i agree with Box_Of_Frogs you need to be feeding haylage hay is no good because of the spores i use pre packed west lancs haylage
 
Who is your vet? Mine has also recommended the Preds (I think we touched on this on a previous post) but haven't gone there yet, still soaking hay and hoping for something to happen! Is your horse heaving?
 
Haylage still has plenty of dust and allergens in it, and it needs to be soaked too if a horse has RAO, as does any hard feed that is fed.
 
echo those that ask if horse has been scoped???

I would insist on it being done if not as she may have an infection that also need antibiotics. In fact if vet hasn't done it by now I would also be looking for a new vet
 
I took on a loan horse with COPD, she had the works, a cough, heave lines, noisy breathing. We tried everything the vet could throw at her for several months without real success but several years down the line have eradicated the symptoms to the extent that even the vet struggles to find a problem now.

I stable on hemp bedding, did feel haylage for several years (she is now well enough to cope with hay with no ill effects), feed everything from the floor and used Global Herbs products for a year, adjusting them to the seasons. She now does not need any medication or special feeding at all.

This probably can be cured. It may need scoping by the vet or using different products. I would also say that in the scheme of things a couple of months is no time to see a significant improvement and no matter what you do it it will be more like six months before you see a significant improvement.
 
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