We have a horse that has seasonal breathing issues. Lately he buries his head in a round bale and then cant breath.
Ive bought slow feed nets so he cant do that anymore. He’s on Dex for a few days but I want to supplement.
Anihist, Trihist, Smart Breath?
He’s a picky eater so the really bad tasting ones may not work.
Thanks.
.
I tried Cough Free first and then Smart Breathe for my heaves horse and neither of them made any real difference for him. Last winter, I took him off of fescue hay, switched him to a timothy mix and put him on MSM. He hardly coughed at all last winter whereas the previous winters, I had to have dex on hand at all times. Not sure if it was the switch to timothy or the MSM but he was much better on that combo.
Coincidentally, he’s always gotten scratches in the summer, this first summer on the MSM, his scratches were 100% better. So he’ll be on MSM for the rest of his days.
If you have a vet that can prescribe it, I had amazing results with Dr. Xie’s Jing Tang External Wind.
Are you asking about supplements or meds and has you vet made a diagnosis yet? Heaves is a catch all term sometimes referring to simp,e allergies, sometimes to the equine equivalent of COPD. Which it is would effect how you deal with it.
I might avoid letting him bury his head in a round bale though…
My horse has heaves (some call it COPD in horses, others asthma in horses, the OSU vets say it is kind of like both, but more like COPD). Anyway, according to the OSU vets that have treated her, Omega 3, 6 and 9 are the most helpful for repository issues involving inflammation, and the only ones with real scientific support.
Yes, I just bought chix nets for all the round bales.
This is more like COPD than allergies. The roundbale diving likely triggered it.
He’s getting Dex for the next 5 days.
Add flax and MSM. I double the MSM when a known trigger is in season. Mine has issues with pine trees, corn, and dust mites. I used Tri-Hist until we allergy tested and found out he was triggered by corn. Now I just give the human pills if needed. Haven’t had to use any other drug now for 2 years.
Histall-H and fish oil, and Smartbreathe, and EOD Dex worked for a long time for my old gal. I just added Heave-Ho. Seems to be working but then the weather has cooled a LOT here so it’s hard to tell. The Histall-H has lots of turmeric in it.
Ive ordered the Histall-H. Thanks everyone.
have you tried rinsing the hay in the haynet?
If Histall-H doesn’t work, try Respire by HorseTech. It’s kind of pricey but my mare has responded well to it. She has allergies, not heaves.
MSM works good so does Lung EQ from uckele’s kind of spendy but it works.It comes in pellets, my gelding eats them just fine. My boy is eating from a round bale it’s not netted and he hasn’t had an issue.
My gelding has similar issues. Seasonally it’s worse and I’ve tried several different things. The small hole hay net over t he round bale helps the most in a covered feeder (my other 2 don’t bury their heads in the round bale, but my horse with mild heaves does, of course…). Currently he’s on MSM and was on flax but he’s off that for the moment. I also have him on Heave Ho which as skeptical as I was, made a HUGE difference. I did have to feed it 2x/day for 2 weeks as directed and then when the coughing started again after another 2 weeks, I fed it 2x/day for another 2 weeks and then possibly gave 1 week of 1x/day and a third week of 2x/day but since then he’s been fabulous. I’m afraid to take him off it or change anything because he’s feeling really good now. But, I wish it wasn’t so pricey. I did take him off of the other allergy supplements he was on and he’s still fine (he’ll eat pretty much anything but Cough Free). We were dealing with the heaves for about a year plus some allergies and the Heave Ho was the only thing to touch it. It’s pricey though…
My vet did suggest OTC Equi-tussin to control the cough through rides/exercise. My horse tends to exaggerate the coughing sometimes when we do “boring flatwork” and somehow forgets to cough when we do fun things like trail ride, gallop up hills, or jump… Since starting the Heave Ho I’ve used it once, but I probably didn’t need to so I can’t say how effective it is.
Whoa…the Histal H smells terrible. So far he hasnt eaten it. We’ll see in the morning.
After 4 days of 10cc dex there isnt the change I’d expect to see. Im going to consult with the vet tomorrow.
The BEST thing you can do for a heave-y horse is to change the environment. Get them outside, 24/7 if possible, and make sure you have the best hay available (ie NOT dusty). Dex actually reduces the airway inflammation to control the cough, a great many of the ‘supplements’ are a waste of time. It is important to hit it hard as quickly as possible, prolonged inflammation causes scarring and chronic problems.
No round bales, not even with a net over it. He needs to eat with his head down. It’s only going to get worse over time and he’ll start reacting more frequently and each episode will likely be worse. Each time he reacts will scar his lungs further making it harder to breathe over time.
I keep my MIL’s horse and he became symptomatic about 3 years ago. Tried soaking hay, steaming hay, supplements, etc to no avail. Even on the best hay I could find he still had issues. Changed his environment. NO stall time and no round bale or any kind of ‘baled’ hay. There is a 2 sided shed I let him have access to if raining. It has mats and no shavings.
Hay cubes are expensive but they were the only thing (in addition to the environment changes) that have kept him symptom free. Had a couple of times that he flared up the past three years but could tie it back to access to baled hay (tree fell on fence which let him into my horse’s lot, my horse drug her hay pillow over to the shared fenceline). However end of summer (not on hay yet) he started reacting to something again. We can only guess dust/pollen is setting him off now. Vet checked out his lot and his two sided shed and couldn’t see anything else I could do differently. Went back on dex for 5 days to get him back under control and now doing a step down plan to see how far I can reduce the dose before he starts showing symptoms again.
It shouldnt smell too bad… maybe old? Lots of turmeric so that’s the smell. Ease him into it a bit at a time.
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