Melms92
Active Member
I have a New Forest pony who I have owned for 10 years, he is wonderful in every way but very sadly the summer we bought him he developed a severe pollen allergy during the spring/summer months from about April to October.
The first time this occurred was a very hot summers day and we arrived at the yard to find him with acute respiratory discomfort (coughing) and extremely high respiration rate. We panicked and rushed him to the Royal Dick Veterinary Hospital who kept him in overnight for observation and phoned us the next day to collect him as the symptoms had completely subsided.
The following day when we returned to the yard we were greeted by the same stricken pony and immediately rushed him back to the vet where he was kept in for a week for observation and further tests. He later returned to the livery yard where he was prescribed ventrapulmin inhalers twice daily, this provided some relief however he still suffers acutely during April-October.
That was 10 years ago and a further 10 years down the line I am still struggling to control it. The vet recommended I move him closer to the sea and so he now stays in a private estate fairly close to the sea, he is slightly better but still suffers dreadfully.
I am now in full scale panic as we approach these months again as I have yet to find something that can help him. I have tried in the past ventrapulmin, nostrilvet, resperize, koff eze, cough syrup, local honey, homeopathic remedies and lots more which I can't remember, all of which were of little help. He's been blood tested and screened for allergies and the only thing that appeared was a slight intolerance of daisies.
He is fed haylage and is kept on Bedmax with as much access to turnout as is possible however in the summer months if it is really hot he is better if I keep him inside. We have a crop field directly behind the field and the yard he was stabled at prior to this was a working farm. I think it may have something to do with the fertilisers and pesticides they use on the fields however I can't move him anywhere else and unfortunately my stables aren't totally inside - like an American Barn (which I believe may help him). Interestingly when we moved to the new estate there was a field of oil seed rape directly behind our paddock (something I was terrified of) but he barely suffered that year and was the best I've seen him in 10 years of ownership. I managed to track down his first owner who rescued him as a foal (he was sold from the new forest and bought by a man who separated him too early from his mother) as a result he developed pneumonia and would've died had this lady not bought him. I think this may have something to do with it. I will never sell him but I would really like to find something that can help him as he is so special to me.
I don't know what to do and wondered if anyone else had a similar situation/could offer some advice.
The first time this occurred was a very hot summers day and we arrived at the yard to find him with acute respiratory discomfort (coughing) and extremely high respiration rate. We panicked and rushed him to the Royal Dick Veterinary Hospital who kept him in overnight for observation and phoned us the next day to collect him as the symptoms had completely subsided.
The following day when we returned to the yard we were greeted by the same stricken pony and immediately rushed him back to the vet where he was kept in for a week for observation and further tests. He later returned to the livery yard where he was prescribed ventrapulmin inhalers twice daily, this provided some relief however he still suffers acutely during April-October.
That was 10 years ago and a further 10 years down the line I am still struggling to control it. The vet recommended I move him closer to the sea and so he now stays in a private estate fairly close to the sea, he is slightly better but still suffers dreadfully.
I am now in full scale panic as we approach these months again as I have yet to find something that can help him. I have tried in the past ventrapulmin, nostrilvet, resperize, koff eze, cough syrup, local honey, homeopathic remedies and lots more which I can't remember, all of which were of little help. He's been blood tested and screened for allergies and the only thing that appeared was a slight intolerance of daisies.
He is fed haylage and is kept on Bedmax with as much access to turnout as is possible however in the summer months if it is really hot he is better if I keep him inside. We have a crop field directly behind the field and the yard he was stabled at prior to this was a working farm. I think it may have something to do with the fertilisers and pesticides they use on the fields however I can't move him anywhere else and unfortunately my stables aren't totally inside - like an American Barn (which I believe may help him). Interestingly when we moved to the new estate there was a field of oil seed rape directly behind our paddock (something I was terrified of) but he barely suffered that year and was the best I've seen him in 10 years of ownership. I managed to track down his first owner who rescued him as a foal (he was sold from the new forest and bought by a man who separated him too early from his mother) as a result he developed pneumonia and would've died had this lady not bought him. I think this may have something to do with it. I will never sell him but I would really like to find something that can help him as he is so special to me.
I don't know what to do and wondered if anyone else had a similar situation/could offer some advice.
