Horse breathing very fast?

[Pleasedontdothat]

Any ideas what this could be? DD’s horse moved fields last week and since the first 24 hours or so he’s suddenly started breathing much faster than normal. The bet happened to be on the yard soon after it started and had a look at him and thought it was probably tummy ache from eating too much grass. His lungs and airways all sounded fine, no temperature, heart rate a bit faster than normal but not crazy, he seems perfectly happy and is moving beautifully - no signs of lameness or soreness anywhere. He’s pooing and weeing normally (poo is definitely green grass poo but isn’t sloppy) but he is farting a LOT ... we’ve kept him in a couple of nights since and he’s been fine in the mornings when he gets turned out. However, he’s been out for the last two nights and the breathing’s not getting any better. We’ve got him in tonight and tomorrow he’s going out in a bare-ish paddock and if there’s no improvement we’ll obviously call the vet back, but I was wondering if anyone’s seen something like this before?

It’s interesting that it’s a bad year for summer asthma as that’s what ours usually gets , last year the vet had to come out twice and she was on the maximum dose of ventipulmin . We started her on Winergy Ventilate daily in August last year and I have not had to buy any ventipulmin so far this summer . She’s on full livery and the lady who actually deals with her is way more of a worrier than me so she must be fine or I’m sure I’d have been told .

We got the test results back today - it’s definitely asthma and he’ll need a short course of oral steroids followed by nebulised steroids and bronchodilator. Our vet is a bit worried that there were fungal spores in his lungs which apparently is an indicator that the air quality in his environment isn’t that great. I’m a bit puzzled by this as the asthma started when he was out 24/7 but we’re going to give his stable a really thorough clean tomorrow. He’s already on soaked hay and shavings (he’s currently in at night until he’s weaned off the oral steroids). Sadly our insurance won’t cover the cost of the nebuliser and they don’t come cheap 😬. Any more ideas of how to manage an asthmatic horse gratefully received!

Our vet recommended steamed hay instead of soaked but that’s more expense I suppose .

You can get your own steamer. The cats love to sit on it.

Buy a big tub and pour a few kettles of boiling water into it. Add hay. Cover. Steamed hay.

I'd also soak his hard feed, because it can't hurt.

@Pleasedontdothat mine gets really snotty when he is stabled and I find that he is fine on cardboard bedding, haylage and Winergy Ventilate.
Hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised on the insurance front. I had a hideous year with mine. Both got Atypical Myopathy, lost one with a mortality payout and the other was at the Vet on a drip for a week. My son bought a new horse who promptly went down with strangles, giving it to the AM survivor. Thankfully new horse had it really mildly and I only got the vet out to check it wasn't an ongoing respiratory problem and the other one was completely asymptomatic, but the ongoing tests until they were clear clocked up a bit. Then the AM survivor got septic bursitis and needed a £7k op. Actually the op was cheap but he was on 3 IV antibiotics one of which was £240 per day. The following year my premium for 2 horses plus trailer went up £30.

@countrygirl99 which cardboard bedding do you use and do you find it harder to muck out than shavings?

Renewal has come through and it’s not too bad at all (phew!) they’ve not excluded anything after his accident (I was worried the whole leg would be out, despite him making a full recovery with no worries about future performance). The premium has gone up but by under £10 a month so I’ve got off pretty lightly!!

I use Bedkind. It's a little harder than shavings until you work out the best method for you but my horse is so disgusting in the stable that any bedding is hard work.

Thanks @countrygirl99 that’s the one we were looking at

For those of you using supplements, did you try lots of different ones? And how much difference do you think they make?

I only tried Ventilate as my vet recommended it and it worked. I did notice a difference when I misjudged and ran out over Christmas one year.

We also just started with Ventilate as it got good reviews and as I said previously we’ve had minimal use of ventipulmin this summer whereas last year were getting through a tub in 2/3 weeks ( pony is 11.1 hh) .

Quick update in case anyone’s interested - he’s been on oral steroids for a week now, plus I spent an eye-watering amount on a nebuliser which we’ve been getting him gradually used to so we can wean him off the oral steroids and have them through the nebuliser instead. The rain is helping too I suspect but his breathing is back to normal for the first time in over a month ... phew! DD’s back riding him and gradually building up his fitness but so far so good 😊

That’s good news .