Exercise induced cough

[candyappy]

Last Spring one of our mares started a random couple of coughs when starting a ride and it eventually was a few coughs at the beginning of every ride. Her breathing was fine and her energy level was normal. In August she started having a slight wheeze to her breathing( afternoon only) which turned into a full blown heaving episode with 1 romp in the pasture.

Vet was out, we treated her with Dex, soaked hay etc… she responded beautifully and is ridden as normal so far this year even when the temps are high and the humidity is also. We stopped soaking hay last fall.

My vet was out for teeth and told him she seems fine now and he said it could have been allergies and not heaves.

[16_Hands]

A vet told me once that coughing at the start of exercise is perfectly normal and not to worry. It’s akin to him just clearing his lungs. A horse I leased coughed at the start of trot work every time. He’d cough four or five times, snort a few times and that was it. I never worried about it and he was perfectly fine with the work we were doing - jumping and dressage.