shetland coughing

[joanne1920]

My shetland mare is over weight and is on a diet, therefore she is stabled at night on shavings( she will eat straw) and has a very small haynet, no feed at night. in the mornings she has literally a handful of baileys lo-cal balancer with a half scoop of yea saac mixed with some water so its mushy. and is turnt out with my othe rpony who lives out

the past 3 mornings i have noticed her coughing whilst she is eating, coughing up and spitting out her breakfast. i havent noticed her coughing whilst in the stable or yesterday when i turnt her out with the arab on the yard to 'play' (she chases him and he enjoys it!) although i heard her cough once yesterday once when i brought her in.

she hasnt got a runny nose or anything else that i can see wrong although she was lame last week after the farrier came... oh and she appears to have a single wart on her nostril (although shes 6 yrs old) i think caught from the welsh type pony whose nose was covered in them a few months ago, although wart appears to have come over night as it were not big though, but white and stands out on black nose!


should i be worried about the cough?
is there anything i can do to help her?

i had thought about soaking her hay? leaving her out overnight is a possibility if i make a small enclosure within her day time field...

thanks in advance x

 

[angiebaby]

She might be eating her brekkies too fast if she has limited hay at night ( she's probably hungry!) Mine sometimes does this, I have a shetland too aged 9. Have you tried getting a muzzle for her, then she could be turned out with the other horse. Ours has his on during the day in winter when he's out on the big field and in at night with as much hay as he wants. I can feel his ribs!