Heavey Horse

[Vonrommel]

Does anyone have any experience dealing with/treating a heavey horse? We will make a visit to the vet again tomorrow but in the meantime I wanted to solicit info from those who may have dealt with this before. Suggestions on treatment, or old time remedies, for C.O.P.D./R.A.O/heavey horses is what I'm looking for.

The vet has been telling us the horse has severe allergies and I'm not buying it anymore. He labors to breathe and often coughs repeatedly and I can't take it anymore. After being on a different farm and turned out to pasture for the last 4 months he's lost weight and became worse. The horse has been this way for approximately 4 years. He appeared to be getting better for the past two years, gaining weight and no coughing. This summer has been heck on him and the worst I’ve seen him to date. The vet was positive that the barn was the cause and we needed to get him out of it but it apparently is not.

We have a 2:00 appt. tomorrow to see what a different vet has to say. I'm just soliciting info to see if anyone has had any luck handling a horse with similar problems.

[RayGubernat]

vonrommel -

I do not have personal experience with this issue, but a friend did. he had a standardbred with a cough after exercise. After consuliting with a couple he tried a preparation called Cough Free which I believe the vet recommended. I think it has capsaicin in it, as well as other herbs. Anyway, it took about a year but the cough went away. completely.

The way he explained it to me(I assume the vet expalined it to him this way) was the inflammation in the lungs was there and was getting aggravated by seasonal change, exercise...whatever and a horse's lungs are so massive that it just takes a lot of time for them to heal completely, especially when you are using them... which you have to do to keep them healthy and fit.

RayG

[shags]

We had a bad heavey horse, and now have another with a mild case. My vet says there are two kinds of heaves - inside heaves and outside heaves. It depends what kind of allergen sets the horse off. We had one of each; the one was worse indoors, the other gets worse when outdoors in hot and humid weather.
The vet told us the worst things for 'inside' heaves are hay storage above the stall, and ammonia build up in the barn. Keep the barn clean and dry, and plenty airy. When the 'outside heaves' horse gets to coughing, he stays in more (we have a large loafing shed-type set up)'
A friend has a horse that suddenly came down with severe heaves, and had a couple of terrible episodes. His vet put him on albuterol and it helped a lot. For the past couple of years, the horse has been doing much better without the meds. It seems like his body adjusted to whatever set him off. However, the owners don't use him much in the fall, when the severe attacks took place. This horse had a work-up at the vet school, and the specialist there said he probably got sensitized to mold in the stall and/or a bad batch of hay.

[Vonrommel]

Thanks for the replys. At least the vet visit today was a conformation that he is truely heavey, COPD, RAO, or what ever you want to call it these days. We will start a treatment of ventipulmin syrup tomorrow as our 1st full dosage and see how he does after 5 days, if no improvement we will double the dose and give another 5 days. I've read some positive results on the net about ventipulmin so I am crossing my fingers. He's a sound horse otherwise, a little choppy for my taste but he got me through the beginners stages the 1st 4 or 5 years of field trialing and I am thankful to him for being the horse he once was. I just hate to see him suffer and wish he could live a healthy life. I have another awesome horse that I can use so I'm not concerned with riding him now but I'd like to get him back into shape so he can ride too. I have did all the things I can do with the barn, pasture to eliminate dust/mold so hopefully with time he will come around.

I've heard a lot of things to try from the old timers around here too. If the ventipulmin treatment doesn't work out we will try those other home-made remedies as a last resort. Some of them are a little far fetched though!

Thanks once again for the replys.

[Dobe]

I am fortunate to have never owned a heavey horse, but my vet has one. He uses the ventipulmin as well along with an immune boosting supplement called Transfer Factor. Be forewarned, it is extremely pricey! It is also dusty and you will need to wet it down with your feed.
Now, in over 30 years I have never had a sick horse until this year. My beloved Jazz had pneumonia. We used the two products mentioned above along with 2x daily antibiotic shots and 15 pills. He made an unbelievable recovery in about a month.
During that time I also changed him over to sweet feed(Omolene 500) and spirulina powder from Horsetech(20-40 grams a day). I found a product I like better than the Transfer Factor and it is cheaper and not dusty. It is called Show & Go and is made by Animal Naturals. You can get it directly from them or from Jeffers. Just call or email the company directly if you want to try before you buy! The horses like the taste and it really works. I am not one to go for "miracles" in pail but I have seen such an improvement in the horses since starting this feeding program. They are on 24 hour turnout, too.

[Vonrommel]

Thanks for the info Dobe.

As an upadate ,the the heavey horse is a non-responder to Ventipulmin. We've put him back on Dexamethasone for a few days and an antibiotic to clear up any secondary infections that may or may not be present. I have some herbal stuff coming and that will be the last thing to try for this horse unfortunately. If he doesn't respond he'll be going to the sale to be sold as horse meat, glue, or whatever! The next purchase I make to cure this problem will be another horse!

[Dobe]

Jeff, it sounds like from your posts that this horse has given you some good years of service. If the vets think he is beyond help and will never be able to have any quality of life, have him killed at home. You can even have them use a captive bolt(or a bullet) if you want to send the meat somewhere for human or animal use. If he is still serviceably sound, you could donate him to a hippotherapy program.

He put up with you when you were just learning to ride which is never an easy task for any horse. Just a thought because I think you are pretty attached to this horse. Sending him down the road may be harder than it sounds.

If you want to try free samples of the products I am using, go to www.an-nat.com for Show & Go and www.horsetech.com for spirulina. Both of these companies send generous samples that will allow you a couple of weeks to a month to see if it works. It may be worth two emails just to see.
Good luck to both of you whatever you decide.

[Vonrommel]

I ended up putting the heavey horse down this past Saturday, as bad as I hated to, he was overdue. He had lost approximately 200-250 lbs in a short period and was deteriorating fast. He had all the medication that the vets had thought to try and did not respond to any. I hope none of you are ever in this same situation as it is not a pleasant one. The horse is not suffering anymore so I am positive we did the right thing!

I am now in the market for a new horse. I need an older horse,7 to 15 year old, gelding, smooth, thick necked, round body, easy keeper that will leave the pack willingly and around 16 to 16.2 hands tall. If anyone has an older scout horse or a clients horse that may fill the bill, please contact me at jntguy@hotmail.com.