Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Breath Easy..er

I won't rehash the whole history of Moon's breathing problems, but since I am planning on running him a bit this year, I need to formulate an effective program to attempt to prevent what happened to him that last winter in AZ from happening again. I really feel that Moon's bleeding problem in the end was simply another symptom that his already compromised respiratory system was struggling and not something that was going on for along time. Of course, now that he actually did progress to bleeding, the chances of him bleeding again are significantly higher.

I know the 2 biggest culprits for setting Moon's respiratory system off are; alfalfa and dust. Heat is a bit of a factor, but moreso when coupled with dry conditions (dust). The heat does not bother him nearly as much when there is some humidity and dust is not a factor. Eliminating alfalfa from his diet has been an easy enough fix. No alfalfa hay and no supplements that have an alfalfa base. I do have some alfalfa growing in my pasture, but the green plant does not seem to affect him, so I'm safe there. Dust is a little harder to control. Although I think having an irrigated pasture for him to live in now will make a big difference. The irrigated part is just as importance than the pasture part because in the past, even when Moon was on dryland pasture, once it got hot and dry he would get a cough. Again with the dust problem.

There are 2 external products that I have decided to use and a 3rd I wished I could afford, but can't right now. The first and easiest is using the Nasal Flair strips regularly. Mostly for competition, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to also use them when doing any work that requires Moon to exert himself, such as sprint days or rigorous hill work. Studies show that at low speeds the Nasal Flairs only improve breathing by 25-30%, but at high speeds they improve breathing and reduce bleeding by as much as 50%. That is pretty significant. The second product is a nebulizer. I am going with the Equi-Resp model. I have talked to people who use them and have been told that they have seen significant improvement in their confirmed bleeders. One lady told me that it has helped enough that they were able to take their bleeder off of Lasix.

The third product I'd like to get, although I can't afford to right now is a hay steamer. If I thought that I'd ever be able to go down the road with Moon again or when I have another horse ready to go down the road on, I'd make that more of a priority, but I'll be staying pretty close to home this year with all of my horses. Even if I do decide to hit a rodeo or two, it will only be one or two day trips.

That brings me to the final phase of protecting Moon's sensitive respiratory system and that is supplements. This is where things got really confusing. I've tried numerous supplements on Moon over the years, but I was never really sure about what I was doing. I was just dumping recommended supplements into his feed with only a vague idea of what they were supposed to do. There was a couple that I know helped and some I know didn't. In the end, I had totally lost track of what I was doing. I've spent hours and hours looking for and reading the labels of dozens and dozens of supplements that purport to help the respiratory system. The more I looked the more I realized how lost I was. Just like joint supplements, respiratory supplements all seem to have similar ingredients, just in varying compounds. I decided that if I was going to be able to make better choices about the supplements I wanted to try, I had better do a little research on what exactly those ingredients were supposed to accomplish. I wrote pages and pages of notes about individual ingredients, but I was still having a difficult time figuring out exactly how they would fit together to help Moon's respiratory system. I just kept researching and reading until I happened on a little gem. A snipet out of some holistic vet book that broke it all down and suddenly it made sense.

To Be Continued!!

8 comments:

Crystal said...

That's me too on the supplement thing there are so many and so many seem similar but just a bit different. Luckily I don't have a horse that needs special supplements yet but Im still interested to hear what you found.

I've never heard of a hay steamer, what is it? When I worked at the jumping barn they soaked all thier hay, not sure why no horses seems to have respiratory issues except one (he was on a inhaler even) but when he left they still did, just looked like soggy gross stuff to me but the horses ate it fine.

cdncowgirl said...

Darn you and your cliff hangers! ;)

Have you ever thought about making your own hay steamer? There are some fairly easy looking (and inexpensive) DIYs out there for them.

Shirley said...

Ok we are waiting with bated breath to hear; pun intended :0)

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Lisa-I did not know that there were DIY's out there. I will look into that. Thanks!!

Crystal - A steamer actually steams the hay and kills mold/pollen spores and significantly reduces dust in the hay, without affecting nutritional quality. Thoroughly wetting hay washes off dust also, so it's a good preventative to dust cough, but isn't going to kill mold or pollen spores. If a horse will eat wet hay, it's not a bad method (although messy). Moon cannot abide wet hay, so I gave up on that with him.

Ashley {The North Carolina Cowgirl} said...

I have a horse with breathing issues as well. I tired multiple things including soaking the hay, keeping her out all the time, watering down feed, multiple supplements and finally finally I gave in after hearing good things from a lot of people and bought Oxy-Max by Oxygen.

Girl, it works! It's expensive but it truly works. I can't believe how much better Rumors breathing is now. I was so worried I was going to have to stop barrel racing her but now it's like she has no problems!

Andrea -Mustang Saga said...

Reading this reminded me of an article I read recently that claimed riding without a bit might help with race horses who bleed. Something about them needing to close their mouths with a good tight seal. They can't do that with a bit, apparently. Of course the article was written by Dr. Cook, who invented the bitless bridle, but I thought it sounded worth doing some studies on. I hope you find a good solution for Moon. :)

Andrea -Mustang Saga said...

Reading this reminded me of an article I read recently that claimed riding without a bit might help with race horses who bleed. Something about them needing to close their mouths with a good tight seal. They can't do that with a bit, apparently. Of course the article was written by Dr. Cook, who invented the bitless bridle, but I thought it sounded worth doing some studies on. I hope you find a good solution for Moon. :)

sara said...

I also utilize Flair strips and the Equi-Resp for my bleeder. I have definitely seen an improvement in his breathing since getting the Equi-resp, although I have yet to take him off Lasix. Having seen him bleed, I'm pretty paranoid to run him without it although I do hope to get to that point this summer. After reading a few articles about the importance of breezing, I have totally changed my daily routine with him, which I'm certain has helped. Supplements confuse me, so very much looking forward to what you've found.