Horse coughing under saddle during warmup.. allergies?

[sublimequine]

So, my mare has started coughing under saddle, usually within the first 10 minutes of the ride. They aren't little coughs, either. They're big, dramatic coughs. She tries to keep walking/trotting as she's coughing, but I halt her and let her just be still and cough it up/out? ( :lol: ). She coughs 4 or 5 times, kinda does a blow/snort, then is fine for the rest of the ride.

This just started the last few weeks, seemingly when the weather began to really warm up. I've been sneezy and eye-itchy lately too, so I have a feeling it may be an allergy thing, but I'm not sure.

Any ideas? Allergies, or something else? If it is allergies, is there anything I can do? :confused:

Oh, and she also gets a bucket of alfalfa cubes before I ride, if that changes anything. I thought maybe they were too dry (I don't soak them regularly, she's a very slow eater and slobbers on them enough to wet them down herself :lol: ), so I tried wetting them down before a ride. No difference, still coughing. But I figured I might mention this as well. :)

[ThoroughbredFancy]

It could be allergies or dust.

Usually in the winter if I ride my horse inside and it's rather dusty he will get a good cough or two out and that's it. But he never does it outside and I find it's usually in the cold weather...odd.

I also would not feed alfalfa cubes that aren't soaked.

[sublimequine]

It could be allergies or dust.

Usually in the winter if I ride my horse inside and it's rather dusty he will get a good cough or two out and that's it. But he never does it outside and I find it's usually in the cold weather...odd.

I also would not feed alfalfa cubes that aren't soaked.

I rode her outside today, and she coughed. Also, there's very little dust in the indoor, as it's watered quite frequently. :)

[bludejavu]

I have two horses right now that have what is called a "stable cough". It usually starts up when the weather is dry or pollen is thick, but sometimes general barn dust induces the coughing as well. There are a lot of things you can do to lessen a cough that is environment related, but I recommend you do not completely halt your horse when she coughs. The movement is breaking up any mucous and she is coughing it out. You don't need to trot all out, but a slow to medium speed trot is a good thing. If it continues, then talk to your vet about antihistamine or other cough remedy. Wetting feed/hay can sometimes help too.

[joharavhf]

Personally, I'd have a vet come out and check her. Here's why:

My pony started coughing back in December after eating 1/2 flake of dusty hay (before I caught it - my husband had fed it out in the dark when we had lost power for one of the 11 days during the ice storm!!!). I actually had an emergency vet call out the next day, as he started coughing pretty violently. That vet (not my normal vet - she was away at a conference) listened to his lungs and perscribed Benadryl.

Two weeks later he was still coughing and we had nasal dripage. Home vet came out and perscribed ventipulmin. Pony continued to cough. Vet perscribed prednisolone. Two weeks later pony was exercise intolerant.

At that point I took him to the clinic. $800 later he is diagnosed with inflammatory airway disease and put on $200 inhalers (I've gone through 4)....

Fast forward to mid-April - he's still irritated but at least he's not coughing anymore.

I'll never be able to gain those two weeks back where I was just treating with benadryl. Who knows what would have happened if we had been more agressive in the beginning? It has been a VERY costly venture and I certainly learned my lesson with this guy. Better to over react and hope for the best...than to take the laid back approach.

My *guess* is that this is allergy season related. It could also be a bacterial infection starting (my mare did this once....no signs other than exercise induced coughing that came and went). I guess if this is something that has never happened before I would take caution and call the vet.

ETA: in the meantime, I would start by soaking her hay. I am not talking about dunking it - I mean letting it sit in LOTS of water for at least an hour. Make sure she gets outside as much as possible. Try to keep contact with dust as minimal as possible (ie: if they are sweeping or blowing the aisle ask that your horse be outside during that time). ``

[sublimequine]

I have two horses right now that have what is called a "stable cough". It usually starts up when the weather is dry or pollen is thick, but sometimes general barn dust induces the coughing as well. There are a lot of things you can do to lessen a cough that is environment related, but I recommend you do not completely halt your horse when she coughs. The movement is breaking up any mucous and she is coughing it out. You don't need to trot all out, but a slow to medium speed trot is a good thing. If it continues, then talk to your vet about antihistamine or other cough remedy. Wetting feed/hay can sometimes help too.

FWIW, she lives outside, so really doesn't experience much dust, and always has fresh air. :) Maybe I'll continue wetting her cubes, just in case. She doesn't like them as well wet, but she can deal with it I suppose. :lol:

joha; I'll drop a call to my vet and ask about it. :yes:

[bludejavu]

Living outside wont exempt her from dust. I don't know how much rain your state is receiving, but dry spells make outside dust really bad. If she lives out with other horses, they can stir up dust all by themselves. Since it just started happening though, I bet it's an allergy. I have allergies and I wake up in the morning with drainage and sneezing. Thru the day, as I move around, it drains away (gross sounding I know). So far I haven't needed my meds for it, but that may not last long.

[sublimequine]

Living outside wont exempt her from dust. I don't know how much rain your state is receiving, but dry spells make outside dust really bad. If she lives out with other horses, they can stir up dust all by themselves. Since it just started happening though, I bet it's an allergy. I have allergies and I wake up in the morning with drainage and sneezing. Thru the day, as I move around, it drains away (gross sounding I know). So far I haven't needed my meds for it, but that may not last long.

Oh yeah, I know. But on average, outside horses seem to have less breathing problems than inside horses, in my own experiences. She isn't in an enclosed space, with ammonia and shavings dust and hay dust and such, you know?

[BuddyRoo]

Allergies could be the root cause, but I'd be looking for COPD/Heaves.

[deltawave]

Gwen has done this since I bought her, only the first few minutes of a ride, or sometimes if she's let out on grass in the morning and has a little playtime. Several big coughs, then nothing more. Never have come up with anything on exam, no other symptoms, no drainage, no nothing. It didn't matter if she was in a boarding situation, at home where she's on constant turnout, at a show, etc. It usually seemed a little worse in the springtime.

My only conclusion? Mild allergies, nothing worrisome. I loosen the reins and let her stretch her head down to cough, but make her keep going. She was never the sort to evade work, but it's entirely too easy to teach a horse bad habits that they can use to be lazy. :) Don't mean for that to sound hard-hearted--obviously I paid attention when she was doing these things at first, but after it became obvious that it was a very innocuous, low-grade thing, I just kind of kept riding through it. It's going on six years now and although she isn't ridden any more, I will still hear an occasional morning cough when she gets her motor running for the day or upon opening the gates to the big pasture.

[sublimequine]

Gwen has done this since I bought her, only the first few minutes of a ride, or sometimes if she's let out on grass in the morning and has a little playtime. Several big coughs, then nothing more. Never have come up with anything on exam, no other symptoms, no drainage, no nothing. It didn't matter if she was in a boarding situation, at home where she's on constant turnout, at a show, etc. It usually seemed a little worse in the springtime.

My only conclusion? Mild allergies, nothing worrisome. I loosen the reins and let her stretch her head down to cough, but make her keep going. She was never the sort to evade work, but it's entirely too easy to teach a horse bad habits that they can use to be lazy. :) Don't mean for that to sound hard-hearted--obviously I paid attention when she was doing these things at first, but after it became obvious that it was a very innocuous, low-grade thing, I just kind of kept riding through it. It's going on six years now and although she isn't ridden any more, I will still hear an occasional morning cough when she gets her motor running for the day or upon opening the gates to the big pasture.

So you think keep her going? If I'm trotting, should I bring her back down to a walk at least? Or is she okay to continue as usual?

[deltawave]

Well, that depends on how she feels to you. With Gwen she was fine to keep going, just gave the 2-3 big coughs and kept right at it, never seemed to bother her in any way. Like I said, I'd just loosen the reins so she could stretch her neck right down, and at first I sort of made sure she was OK, but when it became obvious it was nothing, I figured it wouldn't hurt to just keep moving. YMMV, doesn't hurt to be observant but if she's not doing more than a couple of coughs it's probably OK to keep going. I just don't like horses to stop working on their own for little things, like rubbing their nose on their legs or pooping or whatever. This applied in my situation only after I'd come to the conclusion that the cough was innocent and benign. :)

[zakattack]

my gelding does something similar, he will give 2 coughs during the first trot, followed by a snort, and then nothing more. its usually after a day off of work and its always the same number with a snort at the end so i have summed it up to him 'stocking up' in his chest.

i'll be reading this for more info though

[Mtn trails]

My horses usually do this within the first few minutes of a ride, few coughs then that's it. I did speak to the vet and he said this is normal and not to worry. If they started coughing and then couldn't stop, then I'd worry about allergies or dust problems, but for this little cough, nah.

[LarkspurCO]

My horse has respiratory allergies and his symptoms are very similar, but more severe with coughing during warm-up and continuous sneazing throughout the ride. He is greatly improved on DMG 2x daily. I have used it for the past two seasons and it has been a great help. I usually notice a difference in a week.

He also lives outside year-round. I think if he lived in an enclosed barn he'd probably develop COPD -- had a tracheal wash done years ago and the signs were there.

[sublimequine]

My horse has respiratory allergies and his symptoms are very similar, but more severe with coughing during warm-up and continuous sneazing throughout the ride. He is greatly improved on DMG 2x daily. I have used it for the past two seasons and it has been a great help. I usually notice a difference in a week.

He also lives outside year-round. I think if he lived in an enclosed barn he'd probably develop COPD -- had a tracheal wash done years ago and the signs were there.

What is DMG exactly, and how does it work to help your guy? :)

[suzyq]

same as deltawave here.

[LSM1212]

Yep... agree w/ deltawave.

My guy does this too but not every ride. Mostly when it's dusty. Once I start trotting he'll do a few good big coughs... snort and then he's fine. I just let him stretch his head, get it out of his system, and then we go on our merry way.

:D

[fordtraktor]

Agree with DW. My first pony had to "get the coughs out." Usually after he started trotting he would cough a couple of times and blow his nose. I let him stop, but he could keep going if necessary.

We had him for 20 years before he passed on. The cough never got better and never got worse.

If you notice any changes, I would call the vet.

[Hunter Mom]

My girl does the same thing, but at the canter. We normally just keep going and she gets her cough or two out and that is the end of it. I've talked to the vet, who assures me there is nothing to worry about.

[LarkspurCO]

What is DMG exactly, and how does it work to help your guy? :)

DMG = DiMethylGlycine. I use Gateway's Su-Per DMG 3000 and feed 5-6000 mg per day. DMG is said to help with endurance and has been popular at racetracks for years. I had read anecdotal reports that DMG was helpful for heaves, so I gave it a try.

Not sure exactly how it helps with the respiratory stuff, but it is inexpensive and effective so I keep using it. I have tried taking him off of it and the coughing returns.

[sublimequine]

DMG = DiMethylGlycine. I use Gateway's Su-Per DMG 3000 and feed 5-6000 mg per day. DMG is said to help with endurance and has been popular at racetracks for years. I had read anecdotal reports that DMG was helpful for heaves, so I gave it a try.

Not sure exactly how it helps with the respiratory stuff, but it is inexpensive and effective so I keep using it. I have tried taking him off of it and the coughing returns.

Ah okay, interesting! :)

I think I'm going to just keep an eye on her, and see if the coughing gets worse. I'll also be wetting her cubes a bit again, in the very least it won't hurt anything.

[jenm]

My horse does the same thing but only for a short period of time in the Spring and Fall. I did talk to my vet about it and he said he had many clients call with the same issue and that it was most likely related to pollen or something in the air as the seasons change.

If it lasted for a longer period, I would be concerned, but both the amount and length of time the coughing persists are quite short.

[*JumpIt*]

This is so funny, my mare recently started doing this too. When we start she coughs on average about 5 times, she doesn't seem distressed or bothered by it. The first few time I would let her stop but now we just trot right through it with a loopy rein.

I came to the same conculsion as everyone else, just the pollen/spring season. She doesn't do it any other time so I'm not worried.

[sublimequine]

Rode just bareback today, no coughing, but she sneezed once or twice. I'm thinking it's an allergy/pollen thing.

Did I also mention the FLIES are starting to come out here already?! I had to go buy some Bronco today. :mad::mad::mad:

[Wizard of Oz's]

My horse does the same thing right when I start trotting during evey ride, two big coughs and then a snort and then he's fine. Sometimes he will do 3-4 coughs if it's really dusty. My vet also said nothing to worry about, he's never had an "episode" of coughing. I let him walk when I feel him about to cough, just because I'm a softy:lol:. He'd be more than happy to keep trotting through it though.:)

[Denzel]

My mare does this as well, just at the beginning of the ride when we first start trotting. Usually it gets better when we ride outside (even though our indoor is shredded rubber, so no dust). We've had the vets out, and since it doesn't happen all the time, the vets said it was probably a "stress cough".

[goeslikestink]

worms cause coughing to -- have you wormed the horse also if you do dialy worming horses build up inmune system to that
might be you would have to change your worming protocol as to season of the year and the worming cycle---

[sublimequine]

worms cause coughing to -- have you wormed the horse also if you do dialy worming horses build up inmune system to that
might be you would have to change your worming protocol as to season of the year and the worming cycle---

She's wormed regularly, no daily stuff. She gets a paste every other month, and I rotate them.

[chawley]

It could be allergies, but it's hard to know without having tests done. Some horses become more sensitive to dust as they get older. A product I've had GREAT luck with is Finish Line's Air Power. I use it on my own horse, who suffers from mild COPD. It's apx. $26/bottle, which lasts anywhere from 30-60 days, and it's all natural and doesn't test either.

[mysandi]

One of my horses used to cough frequently so the vet told me to give him root vegetables. Carrots helped alot in reducing his coughing.

[sublimequine]

One of my horses used to cough frequently so the vet told me to give him root vegetables. Carrots helped alot in reducing his coughing.

Interesting! How do root vegetables help with coughing?

chawley; Thanks for the tip, I looooove Finish Line stuff. :)

[mysandi]

Interesting! How do root vegetables help with coughing?

chawley; Thanks for the tip, I looooove Finish Line stuff. :)

I don't have a clue how root vegetables help with coughing, but it worked in my case, to the point where he just coughed once in a while. However, I did have a vet check him first to rule out any illness or allergies.