advice please, phlegm

[The Flying Irishman]

hi, hope some of you knowledgeable people out there can give me some advice!!! I have acquired a 10 year old tb gelding, most mornings when i go to turn him out i notice some thick white phlegm outside his stable door. when I exercise him and start to trot he coughs and then is fine. His previous owner says that it is nothing to worry about but I'm not sure. Any advice would be much appreciated as can;t afford to have him scoped by the vet :rolleyes:

[Gabrielle]

Just a quick note, as in work, it may be COPD. Does he have hay or laylage? Unless he has a cold, flu etc. Get it checked! :(

[The Flying Irishman]

he has hay which I soak, his bedding is straw. May sound a bit thick but what is copd

[nutkin]

My horse suffers in the same way too. I wouldn't say he was copd in a bad way but he coughs on the start of exercise and is then fine. Do you have to keep him stabled because it would be better if he could live out. If you must keep him stabled then I would not use straw as the dust will make him worse.A better option would be either dust extracted shavings or paper and maybe rubber matting underneath. Copd can be anything from a mild cough on exercise to visible heaving when breathing. Basically it is like human asthma in the horse I guess.With my gelding he lives out. He did have no access to hay in the field and came in to eat soaked hay but as he wasn't getting enough hay he started windsucking so I had to put him out in the field with hay which sadly due to it being a round bale can not be soaked. I have had to become resigned to the fact that it is either the cough or the windsucking and as the cough is only mild I prefer to put up with that and a happy horse rather than a stressed windsucker.

[The Flying Irishman]

thanks for that Nutkin. Was thinking he may be better living out as he displays no cough until morning when he has been stabled all night. He doesn't heave just a quick cough and a bit mucus then he's fine. He eats well, maintains his weight and after the initial cough at the start of any exercise he's fine. Want to start competing with him in showjumping though, do you think his cough might affect his ability. Love him to bits and don't want to cause any unecessary damage to his health.

[nutkin]

I wouldn't be worried about his cough affecting him showjumping. My horse can clear a 4ft course with ease. He has also previously been an eventer so if he can do it then I'm sure your horse can jump too.

[The Flying Irishman]

Well in that case... Showjumping world here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cvb]

COPD = Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
now tends to be called
RAO = Recurrent Airways Obstruction (I think !)

White discharge tends to be allergic reaction, green or yellow infection (generalisation).

What's the straw like ? (that is his bedding).

An allergic reaction can be managed - but having gunk in your lungs will have an impact on their efficiency. Less efficient lungs mean less oxygen in blood to muscles - so will fatigue faster etc.

So it does have an impact. The problem is you might not see it until damage is being done (when the lungs start to struggle so you get the "heave line" which is classic sign of COPD).

[The Flying Irishman]

Straw is a tad dusty, would he be better on shavings or should I dampen his straw? Doesn't heave at this stage and this morning there was no gunk at all, although on giving him his morning polo he did cough!

[cvb]

ours are on shavings. (and rubber mats as it happens - we have one (age 33) who has quite severe COPD but its been under management for at least 15 years !)

You could dampen the straw - but I think this will get rid of dust rather than fungal spores. You might try it as a first step if swapping to shavings is going to be a big deal. We also make sure we put beds down quite a while before the horses come in, even with shavings.

The theory behind soaking hay is that the fungal spores "grow" so they are too big and the horse can filter them out. I thinm current theory is for a quick soak, not hours.

Our chap is definately sensitive to fungal spores and not just dust. We tried him on hemp for a while (is dust free) but he got worse so we swapped back.

Also if you leave any bedding (hemp, shavings etc) for too long it will start to grow stuff. A nextdoor neighbour at one yard had big shavings banks - when she left we moved one of ours into that stable so cleaned it out. The banks had clearly not been moved for some time and were GREY with fungus :eek:

So your management of the bedding makes a big difference as well.

One final thing for COPD/RAO horses - the ammonia from urine will often affect them as well. So if the stable isn't draining the wee well, that may also have an effect.

[The Flying Irishman]

some interesting points CVB thanks. As it happens the horse next door is on shavings and its stable only gets thouroughly cleaned out once a year! Perhaps thats affecting Scoobie, also his stable does not drain well so I tend to leave the floor bare all day to try and dry it therefore I put his bedding down approx 15 mins before I bring him in. My other two horses are in a different block perhaps I might try swapping them round and see how he goes. :rolleyes: