A Bit of a Cough

[Dani]

My 5yo Morgan gelding has a slight cough. No nasal drainage, no weepy eyes, no fevers, nothing else out of the ordinary. He’s been out on pasture full time so no moldy hay. His feed is fresh and not moldy. I’ve never heard him cough before Sunday and it started while I was warming him up under saddle. Throughout the ride it happened a few more times, always a dry cough. I hadn’t heard it again until Tuesday (yesterday) morning and he coughed a couple times when he came up to eat. Didn’t in the evening, and not this morning either. Still no fever.

That all being said, the neighbor has been doing a BUNCH of small burns and I’m wondering if he might be getting irritated by smoke or maybe allergies? I’ve been dying the last couple weeks as my allergies are picking back up… We do travel frequently (at least twice a month), but he is fully vaccinated and hasn’t been sharing buckets or touching noses with other horses at all.

[cheval_convert]

For the past several years I have had my horse on “Cough free” from smart pack. He usually starts with a mild cough in mid summer and it get progressively worse if I don’t treat it. Since the Cough free helps as much as it does, I assume the coughing is from allergies. The coughing goes away when the cold weather arrives.

This year he has also had hive so bad that I had to have the vet out. He’s been on dex and antihistamine to control the hives and he gets medicated baths and betagen spray because the hives get weepy then crusty. (I don’t know when he became a hot house flower.)

[GoodTimes]

I’ve been going through something similar.
Horse broke out in hives in late August, some hot weather and heavy rain followed which allowed the irritated skin to turn into rain rot and scratches.
Then he developed a cough and was extremely short of breath just trotting a few steps, and couldn’t catch his breath. No snot.
Treated with abx and dex. Was back to normal within about two days. Was good for about 10 days. Then had another dyspnic episode this past Saturday. Monday, Tuesday he coughed a couple times, but was otherwise normal.

He lives out 24/7, but does have access to a round bale. I suspect he has some allergies or very mild RAO.
My allergies are flaring up. My ears have been bothering me for a few weeks now.

[Dani]

He has absolutely no other issues. No skin issues, has never had hives, no decreased stamina or trouble breathing, just a dry cough or two intermittently. He’s never coughed with me (got him Jan of 19) and I spoke with his breeder and he’s never had any sort of coughing issue.

[ThatBayHorse]

For what its worth, I am going through this. My horse was as you described last year, but this year became much worse. Essentially she’s allergic to every type of grass, some trees, all mites and cats (ahhh) and I have been trying to figure out the medication. She’s slightly better with rain and cool weather but still not correct

[candyappy]

@Dani

He has absolutely no other issues. No skin issues, has never had hives, no decreased stamina or trouble breathing, just a dry cough or two intermittently. He’s never coughed with me (got him Jan of 19) and I spoke with his breeder and he’s never had any sort of coughing issue.

Is she still coughing occasionally? Last year at about the same time( late Sept) the same thing happened with my daughter’s mare. It eventually erupted into a horrible heaves situation.

As the year progressed we found that her cough was allergy related, not chronic heaves and that a few days of Dex clears her cough. So far we haven’t had anything this year.

[Dani]

It went away when the neighbor stopped burning stuff for about a week and now that he’s at it again, the cough is back. I’ve put him on AntiHist daily and Cough Ease before work and that seems to be helping. When I first work him I get a couple big coughs and then it’s out of his system until he’s turned out again. If the neighbor won’t quit in the next few days I’ll probably have to keep him stalled full time as I don’t want this becoming a bigger issue. Thinking about invoicing the neighbor for cost of supplements and shavings :lol::no::lol: he’s got tons more to burn…

I’d prefer to avoid Dex for risk of laminitis.