Those who have horses with COPD- advice/help

[EquestrianFairy]

My gelding has been diagnosed with COPD at 15 years old- he is currently on Ventapulim and Steroids.

These along with changes in stabling, bedding, turnout etc have made a massive difference in a short space of time.
We showjump up to 1m/1m05 and obviously I am concerned at the affect the COPD will have on our competing.

Does anyone have a horse with COPD, how debilitating is it, do horses go back to full work, do they eventually find they have to have a slower pace of life?

Any one with experience would be helpful. Thanks

 

[hollyandivy123]

hi if you can turn out 24/7 and a rug in the winter if needed, found this the best way.

You would be surprised how many people compete from the field, everyone horse is different and it depends on how developed his COPD is.

 

[Fruitcake]

I'm in the process of treatment with my horse at the moment. He was diagnosed with asthma last summer and it's been a bit of an up and down journey. He now has a nebuliser and has nebulised steroids daily. (Safer long term than oral steroids as they supposedly only target the lungs). After weeks of doing really well, he had a flare up last week, probably due to a neighbour's fire. We've managed to get on top of it by adding some Salbutamol and we did a normal lesson today but I suppose there will always be triggers out of your control that cause flare ups.

I'm still getting to grips with managing the asthma but I think that noticing any flare ups quickly and acting before they get worse may be the key. I imagine you might have to be a bit flexible with training and competing depending on how your horse is doing at any particular time.

Good luck. I hope your horse continues to improve.

 

[LD&S]

Also it'll depend what the trigger is, usually it will only get worse with time though it may be many years before it makes much difference. A lot will depend on what vet treatment is available and also how you manage the condition, wet not soaked hay may be better and has already been said living out helps too.

 

[cobgoblin]

My last horse was diagnosed at the age of 7yrs...he was just coughing at the time when fed hay and was immediately put onto a dust free regime with dust extracted bedding, as much turnout as possible and soaked hay ( this was before haylage was generally available). He didn't have any problems at all for a number of years until one episode of wheezing which the vet didn't think required treatment but advised feeding haylage. He was kept on a scrupulously dust free regime, mostly out 24/7 for the rest of his long life and never had another problem, even after galloping.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

I find they need a longer and slower warm up than the average horse and to be kept as fit as possible to help manage the condition, as well as all the usual dust free management measures, together with whatever veterinary medicine or herbal supplements you find works for your individual horse, which can be a bit trial and error to find what works. If they have time off it can take longer than usual to get fit again. I find it best to exercise them almost daily and if you go on holiday for longer than a week to get someone else to exercise for you, to avoid having to go back a step with building fitness up on your return.

 

[pennyturner]

I have taken on a horse with COPD in the past. Once out 24/7 he had no issues whatsoever. Turn him out and rug him.

 

[EquestrianFairy]

Thanks all.

He has been on 24/7 Turnout for almost 5 years and I have kept it this way.
He basically got diagnosed around a month ago, I had been nagging for a diagnosis since last summer which was when I first noticed a difference- I personally think it was triggered by extreme dust from a stay away show which I still remember the exact day it happened.

He is now on dust extracted bedding (pro bed) now has rubber matting and is fed steamed haylege (we cant get good quality hay)

He is on the steroids and Vetapulmin now and its making a difference already but I am concerned immensely that he will struggle with the workload the more the COPD progresses as I have never had a horse with it before. He is already very fit and like others have said, the vet suggested I keep him this way.

He has oodles more energy now.

 

[laura_nash]

I don't compete, but my cob was diagnosed with COPD around 6 years ago following a lung infection.

I managed him okay at a normal livery yard for around 2 years, using a mixture of soaked hay and high-fibre haylage, on dust free bedding and keeping a low dust environment (hoovered the stable!). He still had to have ventipulmin occasionally, but not all the time, and was in the same workload as before though he would sometimes cough at the start of any work. He got slightly worse over that period.

I now have him at home and he is almost cured. He lives out full time and shows no symptoms, he can even come in to the barn on straw bedding and eating dry hay for a couple of days in bad weather. He's actually in much less work (has the winters completely off) so it is the turnout that has made the difference. The only other change is he now gets minerals balanced to a grazing analysis, no idea if this has helped but possibly. I say almost cured because he did have a bad episode (emergency vet callout) after he broke into a hay barn full of old, moldy straw and ate some.