Has anyone had any success with any herbal supplements? I’ve gone down the traditional road with oral and inhaled steroids, bronchodilators, hydroxyzine, Zyrtec, and management changes (24/7 turnout, forage instead of hay, soaking hay, minimizing dust) She is older, 20 ish, and also on prascend for cushings. She is a picky eater. As far as supplements, I have tried adding Spirulina, smart breathe, Hilton herbs freeway, vitamin e, and heave-ho (which she won’t eat). She has good days and bad, and it doesn’t necessarily correlate to heat/weather/season. I have been working with my vet (who is wonderful), and been to New Bolton. Just looking to see if there are any alternative options that have worked for other people. It seems to me that all the steroids just put a band aid on the problem and it always comes back. I really have been unable to locate the cause… Thanks for any help
It’s like similar pulmonary disorders in humans, a progressive degeneration of the bronchia. Dust and mold can aggravate but once it’s there its slowly getting worse. Steroids help with inflammation. Keeping triggers away helps, no dusty stalls. But you can’t cure it, just manage it.
My old gal gets Histal-H. It’s got lots of turmeric. I also give her a fish oil because it increases the effectivnes of the turmeric. Seems to help but really there is nothing that “fixes” it. I found no help from Heave-Ho or other breathing herbs.
Right, I understand that there is no “cure” for this, and that it is progressive. Just trying to see if there was anything else to manage it that I haven’t tried. She’s my kids pony, and while she is retired, I’d obviously like to keep her as comfortable as possible for as long as possible.
Thank you lorilu
Have you tried Respire by Horsetech? My guy while it is not heaves yet was diagnosed with Inflammatory Airway Disease 5 years ago. I tried just about everything and settled on Smartbreathe and it did help but one day reading a thread on here someone mentioned Respire so I decided to give it a try. Amazing difference! He was no longer wheezing when we went up hills and his stamina was better working in the arena. It is a powder but my guy eats it with no issues at all.
I’ve also had good results with Respire for my mare who has allergies. She has been off it for a while but I am going to start it up again now that it’s winter and the barn is more likely to be closed up.
I’ll look into that quietann and uncorked! Thank you
Have you tried changing hay? My mare had a really bad cough for months, vet thought heaves. I found that when I tried changing hay suppliers it made a huge difference, even though the original hay did not outwardly appear moldy or bad and other horses ate it without problem.
A customer’s gaited gelding was diagnosed with heaves. Mostly lived out, but was brought into barn for grooming/occasional stall for severe weather. Fed orchard/timothy hay, Triple Crown Senior. MSM. Light exercise when possible. Treated for one year with the usual steroids/albuterol with decreasing results. Following a bad week and a discussion re having him PTS, we decided to do this: No access to barn at all. No hay. No drugs. No grain. He was switched to a diet of timothy pellets, flax, loose white salt, Heave-Ho, alfalfa/grass mix hay cubes (scattered on the ground to keep him from eating all at once). The reversal of symptoms was truly astounding. Within a couple weeks, he went from struggling for breath just standing around to his old happy, easy-breathing self. He’s now back out on the trails enjoying a normal life.
Since we didn’t want to upset the amazing apple cart, we have not tried eliminating the supplement to see if the other diet and management changes were sufficient without it. But I think the most important thing we did was eliminate regular hay from his diet.
My pony is old and only gets heaves in really high humidity. When he does have an attack(?), we use cough-eeze and dose him orally. It seems to help, but he does not have a super severe case.
My guy is pre-clinical so we are dealing with different severity, but I’ve tried two products in the last 2 years that made a measurable difference in his comfort. (This is alongside daily Zyrtec and environment management.) My guy has Cushings and anhidrosis.
OmegaAlpha Respi-Free is an oral liquid that clears my tubes just smelling it. It’s herbal and from the scent is largely eucalyptus based. I dose before exercise and before turnout and see a quick decrease in respiration rate and apparent increase in breathing deeply.
This year my vet recommended I add Yoder’s Horse Powder to the supplement rota after other horses in her practice had responded successfully. She says it’s Amish herbal voodoo and she can’t explain why it works, but it’s dead cheap (cost me something like $40 for a supply that lasted 6 months) and seemed to work better than MSM and vitamin C, which is what I had previously used. It’s quite strongly scented so if you have a picky eater you may need to camouflage it in the feed. My horse eats anything, so I can’t tell you if it’s palatable or not!
You probably know that if you can improve the fitness of the respiratory system while the environmental conditions aren’t as adverse, you can set them up for more success during the hard times of year. I know she’s retired, but if you can get her heart and lungs working a little harder while she’s finding breathing easier, it will help her out when we get into allergy season. Of course, this presumes that she doesn’t have another condition which makes it a bad idea to do some power-walking or jogging in hand!
I’ve had a lot off success with turmeric plus a double dose of MSM. Granted, my horse isn’t a picky eater, but he won’t eat everything (cough free, histall-h). It’s not perfect, but it’s made a huge difference. I mix the turmeric with cocosoya oil. He struggle the most now in bitter cold weather, but the rest of the time seems to do well.
We had good luck with SmartBreathe for my pony with heaves. It seemed to really help and keep the flare-ups at bay. We also started soaking his hay daily and changed his bedding type. As well as moving him to a stall with a run that was pretty much always kept open baring crazy wind storms or other inclement weather.
Yes, I have tried this a few different times with no luck. She doesn’t really cough much at all. It’s more labored breathing and wheezing. Thank you for the suggestion
I may have to try cubes… When I previously removed traditional hay from her diet it was replaced with forage. She really didn’t like it. Her hay is probably the thing she looks forward to the most (even more than grain) so I have been soaking it. Did you have to soak the hay cubes? Thanks for the info
Thank you for the suggestions on supplements. I have not tried them yet. Where do you get the Yoder’s powder? As far as fitness, I have been taking her for little walks and a tiny bit of trot when she’s up for it and weather allows. She’s a very nice pony, and quite good to ride. I’m hoping a little improvement in her fitness might help when summer comes. Thanks again
We do not soak because we scatter them over a wide area on the ground to encourage eating them slowly.
Thank you! I will discuss making this change with my vet and see if she thinks it’s a good option for her. She lives out in a field with a run in and 2 minis. Any reason why they wouldn’t be ok with the hay cubes? There is only 1 field with a run in for bad weather so I can’t really move her away from them permanently, everyone else just comes in the barn if the weather is bad.
I buy mine from Bit of Britain. Hope you find an arrangement that makes a difference for her!
