Long post sorry. Took dd and her PC this morning. Had a great morning being lightly ridden, then this afternoon he just suddenly started to cough over and over again, head right down, leaning well back and clearly agitated as his flanks were heaving. Thought he was choking so gave him some vegetable oil. This settled him a little but he still continued to have shorter episodes of coughing and was still agitated. Called the vet they came out with 30 mins and gave him a sedative, which they struggled to do. He’s usually extremely placid so show he was struggling. The vet gave an injection of antibiotics and said they didnt think he was choking and thought it could be a reaction to something at PC. I’d mentioned he’d been in a stable with (grubby) straw and had been nibbling it even though he had a hay net. Vet is ringing in the morning and Im to give him Bute then too. He’s had a very slight stable cough over the last week (heard him a couple of times a day), but nothing I would usually worry about. The vet didn’t seem very sure why it had happened.
we make our own hay and for the first time in 20 years I’ve had to kick out a few after there was a bit of mould growth but I’ve checked the rest and it smells sweet and there is no sign of mould. But it’s worrying me now that there’s mould spores that I can’t see.
It was an acute, sudden onset attack and quite traumatic. We’ve only had him for 6 months and not had a problem before. Has anyone experienced anything like this?