A very bad day (horses)

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The Vet was here this morning for Rabies and Coggins for the horses, and to check our older gelding. Star has moderate to advanced COPD, he has to be retired to pasture. He'll be on medication for the rest of his life. Kady and I are very upset as Star is a very special horse. He's not in any distress now but this is the beginning of the end, there's no cure for COPD all we can do is make him comfortable.

Stacy Rohan in Windsor, NY

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), April 12, 2001

Answers

Stacy, sorry to hear about the horse. Ours are pretty special to us, too, even though the farrier thinks one older mare should be put in a can! She's great with kids, was ridden a lot by the people who gave her to us, and she loves cows! Every time she hears the cows up the road, she runs to the fence, thinking she gets to work. Her hoof was split completely up to the coronet band years ago, and that hoof is at an unnatural angle, but it doesn't stop her from running, and running FAST. She will live out her life with us. Good luck with your guy. Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), April 12, 2001.

Oh, Stacy, don't throw in the towel yet! I've been through two MAJOR cases of COPD (or heaves, if you prefer the old term), and it isn't always the end of the world. My two old mares lived years with it, and I've known friends horses with it to do the same.

It does cut down on their activity level, and of course, none of us gets out of this life alive. SOMEthing will be the death of us all, but in the case of my old horses, Spot and Speedy, they lived over a decade with the disease. Management is the key.

I went about removing oats and alfalfa from their diets first of all. Those two have been implicated in aggravating COPD conditions. You may already have him on an oral steroid, prednisone, which is the most commonly prescribed treatment. (I've been on them too when I nearly checked out with a respiratory problem) It tastes very bitter, but some horses will eat it anyway if you mix it into their grain portion, if they're greedy and non-fussy eaters.

Chances are, this is the same gelding you said was the fussy one who doesn't even like corn oil in his food? Speedy was like that. I had to crush the pills (A little single-serve electric coffee bean grinder is GREAT for this!) and mixed them with peanut butter, honey, and a little water to the right consistancy to load it into an oral dose syringe (use an old washed out dewormer tube -- bigger the better -- if you don't have one. I save the oral aspirin tubes for this purpose, they're great.). You'll have to experiment til you know your proportions, but you're trying to make it the same as oral dewormer is. Load the tube with it from the syringe end (just pull it out, it'll go back in later), with a finger over the dosing end or it'll run out. When you have it all in the tube, reinsert the plunger, but don't apply pressure. You want it stopped off, but the trapped air inside will spray it out unless you turn it over, allow the air inside to rise and escape the nozzle, then gently push the plunger in to take up the empty space. It does take some doing, but it is the easiest method of delivery that I found.

Then you administer it as you would oral dewormer, in the corner of the mouth. The peanut butter makes it stick in, the honey counteracts the bitterness some (not entirely, but it's better than straight). I initially got an argument on this stuff daily, but I soon got a routine established using left hand wound through halter and fingers holding over eye ridge, controlling her head, and right hand to administer the medicine. She got used to it and we could do it pretty fast and with minimal fuss. Even I eventually got used to the taste of them and stopped taking them with crackers.

Spot was a Shetland Pony, diagnosed by my vet at that time as the worst case of heaves she'd ever heard. You could find a black pony at night in the pasture an acre away just listening for the wheeze. She was on prednisone for a year almost, with a couple of time outs to rest her system, but she and Speedy both tolerated it well, and after switching her diet to all grass hay and no alfalfa or oats, and altho she was stabled she had two windows in her stall that I left open at least a crack in all but the worst of weather (i.e. -40 F) for circulation. The COPD never went away, but it dramatically lessened so much that my vet asked for details about what I'd done with her to give to other cliens. Her belly wall still lifted some, her nostrils still flared some, and she had a habitual cough that she HAD to give every time you lead her outside or inside, didn't matter which. But she lived pretty comfortably with it for nearly 20 years before she died of a broken pelvis. Speedy died of congestive heart failure, nothing at all to do with the COPD. Spot was 32, and Speedy was 36.

Not to make light of Star's troubles, I have seen other horses that don't respond as well, but it is worth the try! On the other hand, even if he has to live outside, if you have the room for his own paddock, and can build him a nice shelter (a 3-sided shed with overhang would be great) out there and maybe blanket him as needed in worst weather, it will probably keep him from progressing as fast, and may indeed halt if from progressing further. Additionally, the extra room to move around in keeps the older horses far more limber as old age conspires to stiffen them up. Another horse keeper I've seen has a shed for his outside horses built on runners (shaped wood, with metal on bottom like old fashioned log sledges) and 2 big eyebolts screwed into the frame so he can drag it off with his pickup to another area of the field when it's getting too muddy inside and around it (altho there are some pasture products that you can put down to stop this, earth anchoring fabrics and grids).

I'm sorry for your and Star's troubles, it's not a fun disease to have to deal with all the time, but you may be surprised at how well he will do on medication and change of diet and scenery. Star is just a fortunate horse to have an owner who cares enough to make the effort. Best luck to you all.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), April 12, 2001.


Okay, my sister insists that I let it be known that SHE owned Speedy and not me. I'm still the one who did all the medicating. ;-P

She also wanted to know if I didn't think that pouring boiling water over the hay was a good idea anymore. Truth to tell, I just forgot about it along with everything else.

Another thing to do to decrease chances and/or severity of heaves is to either soak the horse's hay in water for 8 hours before feeding it (this causes the dust to be washed off and the mold spores to swell large enough that they cannot pass through the nasal membranes). Many of the big TB and eventing stables in the UK use this method to prevent heaves.

My own take on that was to offer my horses their hay in an old bathtub full of water during the summer months so that they could fish it out and it would be cleaned (Fill with clean water, break up the hay flakes and push them under the water, maybe scrub them up and down a couple times in the water first. Drain tub after each feeding), and in the cold months to put it in a hay net and pour a large 1 gallon tea kettle of hot water over the hay to dampen it down. It washed the dust off well, and as far as mold goes, I think it probably inactivated a lot of the mold spores with the heat. Let it cool a bit and hang the net up to feed.

It cuts the nutritional value of the hay somewhat, but I think it is more important to get rid of the dust and mold pollutants than worry about nutritive value at this point.

You may want to think about feeding Equine Senior to Star as well. I am not sure if it contains oats or not, I suspect that it does, oats being a traditional horse feed, but I also suspect that in the pelletizing and adding oil and molasses to it, that it would lessen the amount of dust that would come with any oat products. I am not sure about any possible allergic component of the oat itself that may be a contributing factor, since I cut out Spot's oats before they ever came out with Equine Senior, although I did give it to her years later when she was in her late 20's and had no trouble adding it to her diet then, after I'd long since quit using the prednisone on her.

There. I hope that's everything.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), April 12, 2001.


Thanks Julie. I have dealt with COPD (heaves) before but not in a very special guy like Star. There was a retired TB (huge field hunter) at a boarding barn I used to manage that had it worse than Star-he had to have inhalation therapy. Star's one of those horses that won't handle retirement well. He actually enjoys to work-every picture we have of him running a pattern his ears are pricked and you can almost see him smile. There are two pictures of him and Kady on the Countryside Friends picture page. He worked harder for Kady than he ever did for his prior owner (not just me talking here many people have told me that) He took off across the pasture while Dr. Wendy was here and she was surprised that he could run like that in the condition he's in now. I know in my heart that I knew he was this bad but didn't want to admit it even to myself-it progressed quite quickly over the winter. He was at State Fair last September in fine fiddle. We've been soaking his hay- completely covering it in a new muck bucket for 30 minutes (30 minute soaks are what the Vets have been recommending), but I didn't soak his outdoor hay. Now all the outdoor hay has to be soaked-Emer and Poohs too so Star can't get into the dry hay. I use the haynet method too, with an eye hook above the muck bucket to let the water drain out. I don't use a haynet in the stalls tho, I witnessed an extremely ugly hanging death (it was a weanling) when I was a kid, so I've never used a haynet when I couldn't be around all the time. I do use them at shows. I've also never heard of a correlation between oats/alfalfa and COPD but there is an allergy factor so if the horse was allergic it could certainly excerbate the condition. I'm going to feed Blue Seal Equine Sr. the pellets are actually larger round balls that are heat extruded and easier to digest. Much easier to soak too, Star doesn't drink enough water so we have to very careful of choke. I've soaking everything very well. He'll eat beet pulp so I'll be working him up to 2-4 quarts of that a day too that way, between the complete Sr feed and the beet pulp I can almost eliminate hay-at least in the summer.

Star starts on Prednisone on Monday (the Vet was out of it and the shipment will be in soon) and Albuterol at the same time. The Pred will be a 50 mg push for 5 days then a taper. I was on Pred too-Yuck nasty stuff. Yup, he's a fuss so I'll using a modified drench like you do. I use a very large syringe to squirt the medicine in his mouth. He may eat the Albuterol if I mix it with the beet pulp and add pancake syrup (he has a sweet tooth)and it's a small amount.

Unfortunately, I can't keep him outside all night yet. It's still too cold and wet in Upstate NY. I won't leave a blanketed horse unattended outside-especially Star he detests blankets. I'm going to slowly move feeding times to 7am and 7pm to maximize the time he's outside. They'll all be outside overnight by June. I left both barn doors open a crack last night to provide some cross ventilation.

I'm doing better today--yesterday was just a shocker. We'll manage, and keep him comfortable. Thanks for all your help Julie, I appreciate it.

Stacy Rohan in Windsor, NY

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), April 13, 2001.


This is great information! I am still in the learning stages of horse- keeping, and I have a couple questions about this topic. 1. Is heaves something they get just from breathing dust/mold, or is it contracted in other ways? 2. Is all dusty hay dangerous? 3. Is breathing distress the first symptom? 4. Is soaking the hay a good idea for all horses, or just those with this problem? Do they like wet hay? I will print out this whole page for future reference. Thanks.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), April 13, 2001.


Hi Shannon,

Two of the best books on horse care are: "The Horse" by J. Warren Evans and "UC Davis Book of Horses" edited by Mordecai Siegal. "The Horse" is expensive. I bought a used copy through Barnes and Noble on line. There are two printings buy the latest one. I also own the "Horse Owner's Guide to Lameness" by Ted S. Stashak. This book is also very expensive it's based on a Vet text book but "geared down" for lay people. Cherry Hill (yup, that's really her name) has excellent books also.

My answers (I'm not a Vet) to your questions, would be:

1) COPD (heaves, broken wind, heavey, touched in the wind-I've heard all of these terms used to describe COPD)is thought to be at least excerbated by allergies to something, such as: mold, dust, etc. Dusty and/or moldy hay is certainly something that can trigger the onset of COPD. It's something in a horses genetic makeup too because two horses can live in the same enviroment one develops COPD and the other doesn't. Star didn't have the greatest living enviroment when he was younger-he lived on the hay the prior owner's dairy cows wouldn't eat. Moldy or dusty bedding is a factor too.

2) In my humble opinion, all dusty hay is dangerous unless completely soaked to remove the dust and allergens. I wasn't soaking the outdoor hay, and I should have been. It wasn't dusty hay that I was feeding either but by Star's symptoms the outside hay should have been soaked. I knew better.

3)The beginning symptoms of COPD are insidious. A horse can't tell you he's having problems breathing coming off a barrel run, or whatever. So, coughing is one of the first symptoms. In the beginning, the horse only shows symptoms in the winter (while it's on hay) and show's marked improvement during the summer (while on grass). As the disease progresses there will flaring of the nostrils, marked deep breathing, a "heave" line toward the tail end of the ribcage, a barrel chest from trying to force air into the lungs, and cyanosis (color change of the gums is the easiest way of checking to see if a horse is cyanotic). Many horses will lose weight, they have to chose to eat or breathe. Star will never get to this point, he'll be put down and buried under the oak tree in the pasture.

4) Most horses aren't fussy. I had a 16.3 hand chestnut warmblood gelding a few years ago that would eat *anything*. He took a piece of pizza out of my niece's hand and ate it before anyone could stop him. I had an Arabian gelding that would almost stand on his head to get at salt and vinegar potato chips. My barrel mare when I was a kid loved watermelon. Star didn't like many treats when he first came to live with us 3 years ago but he does love Poptarts, especially brown sugar cinnamon. So, it depends on the horse. When I first started soaking Star's hay he looked at me like I was nuts but he does eat it.

If you include horses in your animal sanctuary you will run into horses with advanced COPD. It's not an easy disease to treat, the horse's performance is effected, and management of the disease is time consuming and can be expensive. Many people dump them rather than care for them, many end up in meat trucks on the way to Canada. Which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing...I'd rather have them die quickly than a lingering death of starvation or congestive heart failure. That's just my opinion and I've been bashed for it before...

Stacy Rohan in Windsor, NY

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), April 13, 2001.


Just a note about COPD, in case anyone is wondering, it stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease. Pulmonary means involving the lungs. People can get COPD also (greatest cause is smoking but there are others).

Stacy, I HATE the idea of horses for food, since I love them so much, but what I hate the MOST about that is the horrible, horrible way they're treated -- the neglect that makes many of them into candidates for slaughter, the terrible trucking conditions all jammed together and often travelling with injuries such as broken legs, and the rough and terrifying treatment when they arrive at the slaughterhouse. Callous greed causes those conditions.

I'm not saying you condone these things, Stacy, because I can tell you don't. Just commenting on how they end up there.

-- Joy F (So.Central Wisconsin) (CatFlunky@excite.com), April 13, 2001.


I hate the very same issues, Julie. You're right on the greed end of it too.

Stacy Rohan in Windsor, NY

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), April 13, 2001.


Back on the COPD (slaughter is a whole 'nother issue), don't forget other online sources of info. The Univeristy of Kentucky has equine info (new) and so do some other universities. I type in the particular problem and let the search engine do the rest. The Haynet Website has many listing for horse health. The books sound good. It's always good to get other peoples' opinions because there are so many books out there and some of them are really not worth the money.

-- T. Burnash (burnash@gisco.net), April 18, 2001.

Do you have a address for the U of K information regarding COPD? I put "equine COPD University of Kentucky" in at Google and didn't bring up anything more current than 1997. I'd like to read more on newer treatments.

After the feed change-beet pulp, slowly adding Vintage Sr., soaking his hay inside and out, plus two does of Albuterol and one of Prednisone Star is breathing much easier. I'm quite impressed with his improvement. I think we may be able to lightly trail ride him after the course of Prednisone and Albuterol. Time will tell...but I'm cautiously optimistic. His can chasing days are over though.

Stacy Rohan in Windsor, NY where it's COLD!

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), April 18, 2001.



From the Merck Veterinary Manual

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Heaves, Chronic Alveolar Emphysema)

Most horses improve dramatically if the respiratory environment is improved. e.g., the horse is turned permanently out of doors, or all straw and hay is removed from the stable environment. Dust free stable management involves using paper or wood chips for bedding [that doesn't sound comfortable, does it!] and soaked hay. Affected horses should be kept in as dust free an environment as possible for the rest of their lives.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), April 19, 2001.


Thanks Rogo, but I was doing all those things except soaking his outdoor hay. I think it's the meds--Albuterol and Prednisone. Albuterol is a bronchodilator, and Prednisone is cortacosteriod.

He's actually *eating* his meds, at least for now. I dissolved the Albuterol in warm water along with his Vintage Sr. and the Prednisone is finely crushed and mixed with applesauce then mixed in the beet pulp. I've got my fingers crossed.

Stacy Rohan in Windsor, NY where it's 20 degrees!!!

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), April 19, 2001.


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