Respiratory or Allergies?

[Phanta]

I am looking for some advice.

I have a 14-year-old Belgian/paint cross mare who has developed a cough and white nasal discharge.
It is a dry cough, and the white nasal discharge only happens after she is ridden. The discharge is thick and comes out of both nostrils. Usually one at a time, so one day can be the left nostril and another day could be the right nostril.

I’ve had the vet out to run some tests and take a look at her. Her lungs sounded fine after riding, and while standing on the cross-ties. Out of all the tests, she passed the lung tests except for the rebreathing examination which caused her to cough.
There have been no signs of a fever or of her being lethargic.
We decided to put her on a generic antibiotic (sultrum) which is used mainly to clear up lung infections, just as a precaution. The antibiotics did nothing to cure the issue.

We are now thinking it could be geared towards allergies… She’s been on Respillium and is currently on Prednisolone (steroids) and there has been no improvement. I put her on Respifree (alpha Omega) and it seems to be helping her cough a little bit…

She has been living on the farm for quite a few years, is out with a herd of mares, and is on a round bale. She does not get grain, and she has never had a cough or developed allergies in the past. Unfortunately wetting hay, or putting her on square bales is not an option.
She is up to date on teeth floating,

Has anyone experienced a case like this before? The fact that the nasal discharge only happens after riding, leads me to think there could be a sinus blockage…however, all of her sinuses around the eyes, ect are not inflamed.

I will be taking a culture of the nasal discharge to have tested, to see if we can pick up anything.

Has anyone had a horse with similar symptoms and was it allergies? If so, what did you do? or how did you go about treating the issue?

Any advice would help!
Thanks

[blue_heron]

Any leaky eyes? My mare gets allergies around the same time every year plus if we get hay that smells musty. She gets serious eye crusts and some nasal discharge that is clear or sometimes a tranluscent white. It not thick. She coughs the first 15 mins of riding and sometimes at night or when she gets up from a nap. She gets Dex on her grain and it helps a lot.

[Phanta]

No leaky eyes or crust. At first, I thought her tear ducts were blocked. Without runny eyes or crusty tear ducts, my vet doesn’t think that is causing the issue.

Her nasal discharge is very thick white. Is Dex a form of antihestime?

[blue_heron]

No, it’s a steroid. Some horses react better to a Claritin/Loratadine type drug for allergies, which are antihistamines. It’s probably allergies, but the fact that there’s no eye crust and the mucus is thick concerns me a little too.

[Phanta]

Oh okay, I may bring up Dex to the vet.
I did ask the vet if we should give her an antihestime shot, but apparently, it doesn’t work that way generally for allergies, normally steroids get ruled out first. Since it’s not a chronic or severe issue at the moment I think the vet wants to approach it gently.

When you flush your horses tear ducts, does the nasal discharge pass almost immediately?

[RedHorses]

My older horse has white or translucent white nasal discharge after I ride more often than not. He has done this for well over 15 years. It started as a winter only thing and is now year round to varying degrees in amount and thickness. The vets have all said not too worry unless it changes colour or increases in amount.

I actively work to encourage it as if he doesn’t get it drained out his nostril(s) it seems to go down his throat and he’ll cough a bit when worked. There are days I can hear the catch of shifting mucus as he breathes. If I give him 45cc of RespiFree and ride (the more active/faster the better) and then get his head down afterwards (grazing, some grain in a feed dish on the floor) I get the best results. Meaning drips and splats of mucus on and around the feed dish. The RespiFree seems to help thin the mucus.

Later in life he has developed heaves primarily triggered by seasonal allergies and is on Prednisolone and antihistamines in the season. This does reduce the amount of drainage he has suggesting that it is caused by irritations in his sinuses.

I remember one spring a new vet came out for spring vaccination day and my horse walked up to her, said hi, dropped his nose almost to the ground and splatted a big drip of drainage on the ground before bringing his head back up. After I’d said it was a normal thing for him the vet’s reaction was “I’d love to see what going on in his head.”

Edit to add: My horse is on round bales in nets. I check nets and repair holes often as my horse is definitely worse if he gets his nose in a hole in the bale. The BOs fix holes when putting a new bale out - I’m checking in the paddock day to day.

[Phanta]

Your guy sounds a lot like what I’m experiencing with my mare. Although, her discharge is thick.

I try to actively work it too after every ride. I make sure I get her to hand graze, and I watch it all pour out like a waterfall.

She gets ridden about 2-3 days a week, as I can’t get to the barn every day. The more I work her (ring work, the worst she coughs) - for instance, after trotting for 10mins, she starts to cough, stops and refuses to work. Although, it’s hit and miss depending on the weather (ie: humidity, etc) Somedays she’s fine in the ring, and only coughs once and I can keep her working after 10mins of troting.
I have no problems riding her on the trails. The sand ring can get dusty, so I’m sure that plays a factor in her behavior aswell.

I know it hasn’t gotten to the point where she has developed heaves. She doesn’t have the double breathing like you hear when they do develop it. This only started a few months ago, but I don’t want it to get worse.

Do you notice a difference in giving the respi-free before every ride, compared to giving it after you ride?
Also, does your guy still have the discharge while being on the Predisolone? I’ve noticed no difference with my girl being on the Prednisolone.
Did you ever get a culture done on your guy’s discharge? If so, did it come back with anything?

[GoodTimes]

My gelding has had sporadic episodes like you’re describing throughout his life. He’s 12 now, purchased as a yearling.
Last fall he started having asthma attacks, increased coughing and mucus production. Dex kept it under control. Once the snow came his symptoms mostly went away, so we strongly suspected allergies.

This spring I took him for intradermal allergy testing. He had strong reactions to a few different tree pollens, some different weeds, some common flies, yeast, staph bacteria, along with a few other things. He’s just finishing the induction set for the allergy shots so it’s too early to tell if they’re working. I’m hoping they kick in before September.

I’d like to avoid long term medications for as long as I can.

[RedHorses]

No, I never had a culture done. No vet has ever felt it was necessary. I do periodic check ins regarding the drainage.

Yes, I generally tend to get a lot more drainage after the ride if I’ve given him RespiFree before riding. Sometimes I forget and give the RespiFree after riding. Giving it before gives it time to get into his system and have some effect.

The Prednisolone doesn’t affect the amount of mucus. He gets it to keep the inflammation in his lungs down during the allergy season.

The Hydroxyzine antihistamines reduce the mucus a lot. I find that if I haven’t been able to get him worked and draining the mucus does get thicker. It’s usually like ranch salad dressing consistency, sometimes as thin as Italian salad dressing, but after maybe 3 days it’s more like yogurt thick. Do you ever go out two days in a row? Is there a difference in thickness or ease of flow on the second day?

One of the hardest things to do is take my horse out and make him go faster when he’s wheezing and coughing. His coughs are the sharp, dry, airless, “I can’t breathe” hacks. I don’t push him beyond what he can do, but I do push him for more than he offers to do. He’s actually really good about it and he trusts me not to demand too much and I trust him when he says he needs a break. Some rides are mostly walk with short little 20 second trots that might be 2 minute trots by the end of the ride. He tells me when he needs to walk unless he’s decided he wants to go faster than he can breathe and then I tell him. I do not ride in the sand ring unless it’s wet. If we meet motorized vehicles on the trail we walk until I can’t smell the exhaust any more. It’s a bit ridiculous, but I do it.

If he coughs once I will encourage him to keep trotting or cantering, but 2-3 coughs and I have him walk and catch his breath. Everything is done on a loose rein or very long contact as much as possible. He will lift his shoulders and round over his topline but if he gets his poll up and nose in too far that will trigger coughing. I read that horses breathe better with a sealed mouth so I use a hackamore as much as possible to give him that tiny advantage.

It takes time to figure out what helps your individual horse and what factors influence how your horse is doing on any given day. Mine has gone over the last hump on the roller coaster and is accelerating down that last bit of the track. Every year he needs a bit more for a bit longer, and this year it started a lot earlier.

In the season I count his breaths per minute (15s multiplied. by four), listen to his lungs with a stethoscope, and observe how easily he is breathing. Tonight I could see he was in trouble from over 20m away, then I used the stethoscope and breath count to determine how bad things were.