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Veteran
Posts: 297
 
| My mare started coughing back in November. Had a vet treat her with a round of steroids and it seemed to help some. Put her on some cough free too. Took her to another vet for second option and they scoped her and treated with ventipulum and now dex. She is still coughing. This is a mare that I retired and is just a pasture buddy. I'm debating what to do next. I hate hearing her cough constantly. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 683
Location: Ohio | I have a retiree with mild heaves that can have explosive coughs when it gets really dry/dusty out or when seasons are changing. Something that has given him instant relief is Finish Line Air Power. Super affordable, easy to use and he eats it up. Not sure if it would help with more advanced cases buts it may be worth are try. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | I am curious to know what everyone is doing and feeding these types of horses that is working. |
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | Dust and mold are your horse's nemesis. Do whatever you can to minimize exposure to those things. If you ride him a lot in a dusty arena, consider minimizing the arena work, if you can. Another thing is mucking out or cleaning his stall while he's there. Take him away from it before stirring up all that dust, etc...
If possible, wet his hay, and wherever possible, feed him so his head is at chest level....away from the dusty ground, but still so his airway is pointed downward a bit.
Everyone is aware of dex and ventipulmin. I'd use them, but try to be judicious. As far as antibiotics, I'd recommend checking with your vet. You don't want to give dex regularly, if you can avoid it.
I've heard that apple cider vinegar with the mother helps, for some reason. We've tried it when our horses seemed to be hacking away at the same time. I think that was a seasonal allergy sort of thing, but I think it helped. A lot of people swear by OxyGen. I don't know much about that. |
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| I have one that was having pretty serious troubles, at his worst he was not ride-able and could hardly get a deep enough breath for a cough. Tried multiple things (Cur-Ost, would not eat it; allergy shots, couple other supplements I can't remember), what works for him is feeding him his hay on the ground (can't eat off of a round bale), Equi-Resp treatments 1-2x a week and pre-race, Silver Lining Herbs Respiratory (also has had a treatment of 60 days of the Kidney, Liver, and currently Immune, to get him overall much much healthier), and Equi-Pulmin pre-race. He is doing great and running great. No need for dex or ventipulmin, although I did use those frequently at first to keep him comfortable, before I got better options figured out. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | What type of grain do you feed? |
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Expert
Posts: 1432
| We hve a barrel/pole horse that has heaves really bad. No hay, alfalfa cubes, oats and Heave Ho. We also give him equi-resp treatments. He's also turned out in a 30 acre pasture year round.
Edited by 3TurnsonSpud 2017-03-26 10:09 PM
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Gettin Jiggy Wit It
Posts: 2734
| I agree dust is his enemy. You will be told to try this supplement and that on here... The most important thing is eliminating dust or mold from the source... the cause of the allergy... which is Hay or being locked in a barn... ect... outside turn out is important and also your hay. Water your hay. Make a homemade steamer. I made one for 150 dollars with a plastic tote and a steam generator/ clothes streamer. I have one horse that I eventually had to pull off hay and feed soaked cubes and chaffhaye. He is doing great now. Just like any allergy you have to pull away the cause to stop the reaction. If you were allergic to bees or peanuts you obviously could not be stung or eat them... same goes for hay mold/dust. If a horse isnt taken away from the cause and keeps having a reaction, it turns into a chronic progressive disease that will eventually get worse and worse.
edited for spelling... 
Edited by WetSaddleBlankets 2017-03-26 10:17 PM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 595
Location: North Dakota | When I wasn't competing on my mare with heaves, she was managed just fine by keeping as much dust out of her life as I could. Keeping her outside 24/7 and giving her dex on bad days. I soaked her hay when neededd but at that time we trail rode occasionally or would go to fun shows now and then and all was well.
When I made the decision to start running barrels on her I started legging her up and realized she needed more support. I found Cur-OST on here and those products were just the support she needed to perform at her best and handle all the stressors thrown at her during hauling. She still gets the best hay I can find and I try to keep dust to a minimum as you should with any horse.
When it comes to these horses you have to decide what you are going to do with them. As a pasture pet there are cheaper options to help but when asking them to perform I do believe Cur-OST is the best option.
I give 1 scoop of Plus, 1 scoop Revive with Rice Bran and 2 ounces of camelina oil. |
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Location: In my own little world | Clean feed is a great start. I ended up finding EquiPulmin and it has been very effective. Ventipulmin did nothing. |
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  Whack and Roll
Posts: 6342
Location: NE Texas | Cur-OST products did the trick for me after literally everything else had failed and we were dealing with full blown respiratory distress and COPD. It was so bad he couldn't take a deep enough breath to cough. I'd spent thousands at several vets over the course of about 3 months and he'd exceeded the dosages of all medications with no improvement. As a last resort before putting him down, I took a leap of faith and quit all medications cold turkey, changed my feed program as advised by Dr. Schell, and started the Cur-OST program. In 30 days I had a new horse and haven't looked back since. LOVE what this program has done for this horse, and now for me and my allergy issues!
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Veteran
Posts: 297
| She is just a pasture buddy now so she isn't rode. Fed on ground hay that is watered down. On pellet sweet feed. She is turned out 90% of the time.when she is turned in she is on end stall by alleyway door. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 595
Location: North Dakota | PokiesTrick - 2017-03-27 4:30 PM
She is just a pasture buddy now so she isn't rode. Fed on ground hay that is watered down. On pellet sweet feed. She is turned out 90% of the time.when she is turned in she is on end stall by alleyway door.
I would keep the sweet feed to a minimum as excess sugar can and will cause inflammation which can lead to mucus production which does COPD horses no favors. If she is only getting a small amount then I wouldn't be too worried. Rice bran as been great for my mare with heaves. I had her on just whole oats but she likes rice bran better and looks really good on it. If I was in your position I would try Tumeric, with black pepper and a fat source of some kind. You can make the "golden paste" it is called but I wouldn't personally want to bother with having to keep it refrigerated.
Tumeric is cheap on amazon. I give my arthritic gelding 1 1/2 TBS of turmeric once per day along with..
Black pepper-- just go to your grocery story and buy the black peppercorns in the grinder-- I do 10 grinds for my arthritic gelding.
Fat source-- I choose to use camelina oil. I like that it has perfect Omega 3-6-9 ratios and my horses love it. Just 1 ounce for my arthritic gelding. Coconut oil, flax seed, chia seeds and many others work as well.
For my actual heaves mare like I said she is on Cur-OST. I tried her for a short time this winter when funds were low on Tumeric, BP and a fat source for several weeks till I could get her Cur-OST again and she held her own on the Tumeric just fine. I wasn't riding her at the time. But choose to go back to Cur-OST when I started riding as you get extra nutrients from the other herbs and whole foods he puts in the formulas which helps fight inflammation and keep the gut happy.
Next winter when she is off again I may very well consider putting her back on just Tumeric when she is just standing around as I am a college student and it would help me save some money.
I hope this helps some. Heaves can be frustrating but it can be managed for sure! |
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