Right !? It was so frustrating. Being told your horse is the picture of health. Good weight, no temp, no indication of an infection, poop good, eating great lungs at rest sound clear. No heave line. No labored breathing. Just that damn cough and the mucous. So obviously some type of allergen. Such a mind F to realize it’s what we all covet as horse owners …. A lush pasture … that for my horse was the trigger. I guess I feel the same pain as someone with a metabolic horse. The thing we think is best … vast tall grass is likely hurting our horse. I don’t care how many steroids or antihistamines or bronchial dialators I might have given him … the key was to lessen or remove the exposure to the trigger.
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What treatment did you end up with, out of curiosity? I’ve been vaguely googling horse inhalers and steroids.
Just removal from the upper 10 acres of lush grass. Zyrtec and an expectorant. My next step would have been to move him home to where he did not cough and I mow often. I wanted to try because he is my show hunter and this is where my trainer is. If at any point it doesn’t work I will bring him home. In my experience if what you are dealing with is what I am … then removal of the trigger is key. Ventipulmin(broncho dialator) will only open the airways to the allergen. Steroids just suppress the allergic response. If the trigger is there you are putting your finger in a leaking dyke. I have had a pony with true pasture heaves. And used an inhaler with steroids. It was so expensive. About $250-$300 a month. Dex wasn’t an option. Fat little pony. Laminitis was too much of a threat. That pony did well for years on the inhaler as well as being dry lotted. Or stalled. I guess in my mind my current horse is dealing with an allergy that I can address with careful management. My pony was way past that.
At my previous barn he was only out half a day and was stalled the other half. Maybe getting him back to that will help also. Being on pasture 24/7 was the only other real change besides location.
The stalls were supposed to be done by Nov 1st… 
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That was the key that made me and my vet realize what was different. It was the turnout. It was the exposure. I have my lovely horse back. By just lessening his symptoms and removing the trigger. Again I’m not sure your issue is the same but it is an easy test.
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Yes yes and yes. I had an old pony with this and his life was hell in certain locations until frost hit. Moving him to another barn was the only thing that kept him alive. Literally.
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I agree with @ThreeWishes. Sounds like you have a pasture problem, or some other environmental trigger. I have a gelding that developed equine asthma in August of this year. This was the first year that I had really improved my pastures with fertilizer and lime, and as a result my pastures were lush and thick and much longer than usual. I believe that long, seedy grass was the thing that pushed my horse over the edge.
Also, Zyrtec wasn’t very effective for my horse - he responds better to Hydroxyzine. I have also put him on a Omega 3 supplement with 1.5 g of DHA and he will stay on that year round. Also, I have changed bedding to a more low dust alternative, and serve wet hay. I can’t remove my horse from my farm but I am changing the things that can be changed so that hopefully we can keep his immune system from overreacting next summer.
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In addition to the scope I would look into intradermal allergy testing. It will give you a much better look into what his triggers are and the best way to manage them.
My 12yo started having asthma attacks and lots of mucous last fall, August - November. Coughing while riding, etc. Also developed stubborn rain rot and scratches several years in a row, only in the fall. He already lived out 24/7, and they weren’t eating much hay when it started since the grass was still good.
Vet wasn’t very helpful, but did give me a big box of dex and said “it’s probably just allergies”. Well horse does a lot of showing, we can’t really be using dex all year. Zyrtec didn’t help much.
This spring I took him to a specialist for allergy testing. Mildly allergic to a couple pollens (spring), moderately allergic to a couple weeds (fall), very allergic to a couple molds (fall), very allergic to staph bacteria (hello stubborn scratches), along with a couple other things.
Started him on allergy shots in the spring and he’s been much better, no skin issues, and just the odd cough when the ring gets too dusty.
Most of his triggers are environmental and outside. I probably should be steaming his hay, but that would be nearly impossible at our current barn, especially during the winter.
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Sorry I am no help but you say no hay and latersaying he is being medicated for ulcers
One of the points for caring for ulcers is unlimited hey. Reduce the grain.
I would very much like him to have hay. But, the situation right now is that the horses in the pasture don’t get any. I’m not overly thrilled with the situation, but my trainer has promised us that it will go to normal once the stalls are built and he’ll get alfalfa twice a day.
He is on daily ulcer preventative and hasn’t had a flare up in over a year.
This situation has absolutely nothing to do with ulcers (Except for the vet trying to convince me not to call him out.)
Yikes!!!
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I’d say that if the stalling and pasture situation doesn’t change soon (like within 2 weeks), I’d move the horse. The fact that all of this began when you moved to a new stable really strongly suggests that it’s the stable, not the horse.
Good luck.
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I agree that he definitely does not seem to like his new living arrangement! I also feel your frustration with the vet situ too! As an aside, I have 2 horses that are very sensitive to steroids and go off feed or get colicky with any amount of steroid in their system-maybe that was what the colic-episode your guy had was all about? Hard to say but good luck!
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Horses guts are a balance. If the percent of grain versus forage is anywhere near 50% you will end up with an unhealthy horse and it is dangerous for the horse.
Good news bad news update.
Good news - it wasn’t actually colic! Found that out last night when I called the emergency vet out a second time for the same symptoms.
Bad news - it is something respiratory and it was mimicking the symptoms of colic.
We still have our appointment for scoping on Wednesday and he’s got a stall for the weekend. The vet gave us an antibiotic to help until our appointment. Hopefully, taking him out of the pasture will make a difference.
So, he’s getting all his food super soaked (including the alfalfa I just bought for him while he’s stalled).
Let’s hope the scoping shows something!
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The horse was getting forage, it was on 24/7 pasture turnout.
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Vet Update!
Hardly needed the scope. As soon as my regular vet laid eyes in him she said: “Oh yeah. He has heaves.”
I’m so shocked…
We’re not sure at this point if it’s seasonal, pasture related, or a new chronic lifelong issue.
He’s starting on a much more hardcore steroid for the next month. And the stalls should be finished around that same time so he will not be out all the time anymore. Or he’ll end up being a very expensive lawn ornament. Either way I’m glad he’ll at least be able to breathe.
Once he goes through this medication we’ll have a better grasp on what’s going on. I’m just glad the vet finally listened to me! Sometimes when you know somethings wrong, you do actually know.
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My horse gets really bad heaves symptoms twice yearly in spring and fall that are 100% allergy related. He gets 10 zyrtec a day and is completely normal. They wanted to put him on heavy steroids because of how awful his breathing was but the Zyrtec cleared it up in a week. Worth a try!
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He was on Zyrtec for about 2 months and it did absolutely nothing for this.
I’m personally leaning towards the pasture associated heaves since that’s the only real difference from the move.
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That makes sense at least you tried it and know it didn’t work. Good luck figuring it out!
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