Caring for Horse Breathing Problems

There are any number of horse breathing problems that can be contracted; these include things like asthma and allergies amongst others. To many people, their horse is a member of their family so they ensure that their horse’s health is their top priority. In some cases a vet will be required to provide the proper level of horse care; there are some things you can do however to help in the event of your horse developing any breathing problems.

Prevention of Horse Breathing Problems

 

•    It can be just as effective to provide an environment that may help prevent horse breathing problems in the first place. Doing things such as brushing the horse outside, providing him with low dust floors (for instance, the types that are made from rubber), making sure the stables have good ventilation and leaving the horse outside while you much out the stalls.

•    Try and keep your horse away from any large amounts of hay or dusty straw. Making sure the horse has plenty of clean drinking water may help to avoid the onset of any horse breathing problems. Similarly, moistening the hay for roughly ten minutes may have a positive effect on the horse’s health.

•    In the summer and if the weather is good, let your horse live out in the pasture all the time. Encouraging the horse to feed with his head down will help to keep the lungs clear and living in the pasture facilitates this. Using haylage instead of hay and feeding the horse a bran mash will keep up its fibre levels which are essential to the horse’s health.

Caring for Horse Breathing Problems

 

•    Sometimes horse breathing problems are contracted and there is nothing that can be done to prevent them. The first step to providing effective horse care is to contact your vet, they will be able to advise you and maybe provide some injections to help ease the horse’s breathing problems.

•    Various remedies can help improve the horse’s health such as food supplements, an inhaler, or bronchodilator or by adding an antihistamine to the horse’s food. Many people recommend acupuncture to help relieve horse breathing problems, especially heaves. There are professionals that can provide this service.

Tips & Advice

 

•    It is best to contact a vet should you notice any horse breathing problems. Many vets agree that there is no cure for most of the horse’s breathing problems but effective horse care can reduce their problems dramatically.

•    Symptoms of serious horse breathing problems include: coughing, gasping for breath, wheezing, fever, nasal discharge and a shortness of breath. If this is the case you should contact your vet to provide appropriate horse care.

•    There may be places such as vet schools in your local area that could offer you simple advice about your horse’s health and providing appropriate horse care.