I live in Texas and this is my mare’s second summer here. I live near Houston. She has been coughing for a few months, and after 3 vet visits, the diagnosis was RAD-- which is asthma-- but could turn into heaves over the next few years. I give her dexamethozone (I know I misspelled that!) every other day and an expectorant powder twice a day. I just now have started keeping her off the pasture and in a run. I bought as many supplements as I could afford—
Lung EQ, E-03, DMHA, Mo Lung and Allergy herbs. She has been on the herbs 3 days. I rode her out in the pasture today and she coughed 15 times while riding. NOthing too hard, but did canter in both directions. I am still trying to decide if I will keep her up entirely from the pasture. The funny thing after our ride, my mare was breathing better. She has never really breathed hard. Should I ride her 30 minutes a day even if she is coughing intermittely through ride and especially at canter? I would also like to hear supplements that work. Thank so much!
I’m in the same boat with my 18 year old WB. I tried a bunch of over the counter supplements too. Right now he’s on SmartBreathe Ultra, along with Dex. Too soon to tell if the SmartBreathe is actually helping or not - just started a few days ago.
The vet also recommended Zyrtec, which seems to be helping quite a bit. I ordered the generic on Amazon - got 500 tablets for around $30. 30 pills per day, split into AM and PM doses. I bought a cheap coffee grinder and put the pills in with a small handful of his grain - keeps the dust from the ground up tablets down. He doesn’t seem to have a problem eating it just mixed into his grain that way.
Other things I may end up trying - HorseTech Respire, Aleira ($$$ liquid supp that’s supposedly pretty effective), and I’m hoping to get a hay steamer if I can get past the sticker shock.
I’ve also noticed that his coughing seems to improve with work - he coughs pretty consistently in the trot and the first few minutes of canter, but it lessens the more he works. The few times we’ve done gallop sets lately, he’ll go the entire workout without coughing once after the gallop.
Jingles to you and your horse… it’s so frustrating!
Trying various supplements is a good idea, but have a plan. Throw everything at her at once and you won’t know which one is doing anything.
My horse has the added complications of PPID/Cushings so steroids are not a management option for him except as a stopgap, emergency relief for a bad day. His breathing issues are exacerbated by hot, humid summer weather which suggests an allergy component. So he gets Hydroxyzine all summer. Two capsules every morning when it is humid, one if it’s not going to be too hot. I also use Omega Alpha’s RespiFree - 45cc every morning. If I ride in the evening I give him another 45-60cc if he needs it. I find the RespiFree loosens the mucus in his sinuses and it drains out more easily, and it has reduced his breath rate by 2-4 breaths per minute all by itself.
I suggest you track your horse’s breath rate. We had a very hot and humid summer here and my horse’s baseline acceptable breath rate is 20 breaths per minute (count for 15s and multiply by 4). Every day I count breaths. When I bring him in before riding, after riding, after he’s recovered from riding and returned to a resting breath rate. With one exception the post ride resting rate has been lower than the pre ride rate every time. The exception was the day he was 20:20 but his post ride breathing was visibly easier even if no slower.
Exercise naturally prompts the body to dialate the airways, and provided we don’t ask the horse for too much too soon, the horse will be capable of doing more later in the workout than at the beginning. I discovered this effect by accident and learned about the airway dialation from my vet later when I told her what had happened. That was three years ago in the spring and I have been deliberately using it and measuring results ever since. Let me give you a concrete example.
On the hottest day this week my horse’s breath rate was 32, heart rate 48 before I rode. When we got back to the barn his heart rate was 60 (we did walk for the last bit) and breath rate 28!! Fifteen minutes later, after cooling off, his heart rate was 40 and breath rate 18!!! From 32 to 18, barely more than half the start rate,and the effect was entirely from exercise as I discovered afterwards that he hadn’t yet had his hydroxyzine and RespiFree.
The benefit of exercise is quite amazing, so yes, ride your horse. Let her tell you when she needs to slow down to catch her breath before doing more, but do ride.
This is great advice. I love that you count your horse’s breaths. I am so excited that I can feel better about riding her. I am not sure what Hdyroxyzine is-- I will google it. I have heard that Zyrtec helps. My horse doesn’t have a runny nose at all, just coughs. My 27 gelding I have had for 14 years also is coughing. He is as bad as her. I have to believe it something in the pasture. I am waiting for a blood allergy test to come back on her. I kept her up for 3 days from pasture and rode this morning, and there was no improvement in her coughing. I felt sorry for her and she is out right now, but I am going to bring them all up this afternoon when it gets hot. I might try just turning them out at night and then putting in the runs during the day. Just in the discovery stage, but I thank you for the time it took for you to post your findings. Very interesting. My mare had a breath rate of 17 after her ride. She can be as much as 20 breaths per minute.
Has your horse been scoped? Is the upper airway open and clear?
No but that is next. Both horses though have the come go. My 27 year old gelding developed one too. My mare was checked for infection. None
Hydroxyzine is an antihistamine. My horse’s issues are likely allergy related as they are currently only an issue in the summer. He may very well have a genetic predisposition to developing heaves as his dam died from it. I was always watching.
Before we tested for PPID my horse was on Prednisone for his breathing and two tablets per day worked very well for him. That’s another option for you to explore with your vet. Do note that Prednisone is converted to Prednilosone by the body and while people in general are very good at that, horses generally aren’t. If Prednisone is not effective, Prednilosone might be.
Drugs can be helpful but they have limits. I knew a heavey horse who’s owner was told the vet could do nothing more for the horse, but the owner could help by getting the horse fit. I was determined to avoid that situation and so kept riding even on bad days. Which led to my discovery of the immediate benefits of exercise.
Other history prompted an early call to the vet regarding his breathing issues. I had been told by a vet that if you leave lung issues and they develop scar tissue that is a permanent, irreversible loss in lung capacity. I had the vet out earlier this summer when I had concerns about my horse’s lungs filling with mucus/fluid. With a stethoscope I could hear them wheeze. The vet confirmed the wheezing was just airway constriction and his lungs were clear. Keep doing what I was doing, and maybe get some Ventipulmin to have on hand in the event of a very bad day with no chance for exercise.
I never had a scope or lung flush done. We caught it early and have managed it to keep it controlled. I think it helps him to have some relief in the winter, though each summer has had a bit of adjusting to find what’s most effective.
Good luck with yours! 
