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Hello Val,
Several years ago my 18yo enduro horse started coughing a little, 
then more, then when he ran around the pen he started sticking his 
head out and really hacking so I had him scoped to check for 
something stuck in his throat. Nothing but red and irritated from 
coughing. Vet gave me some meds??? they did nothing, still coughing. 
The hay looked fine and the other 2 horses were fine, no coughing. I 
still decided to get totally different hay and wet it down some to 
reduce the dust. After a week the coughing was almost gone and after 
3 weeks it was gone and I quit wetting the hay. IMHO there was 
something in the hay. All 3 had been eating hay from the same squeeze 
for 3-4 months before whatever it was built up in the 18yo and he 
started coughing. Totally different hay stopped the coughing.
Don Huston

At 07:30 PM 8/7/2007 Tuesday, you wrote:
> One of my horses hasn't been "doing right" recently...just not 
> "with" the program...and coughing some too.  Have had the vet out 
> and all they're doing is treating symptoms and we really don't know 
> what is truly going on with him.  He coughs and acts like he has a 
> sore throat when eating the coarser hay so he is on our better hay 
> for the time being, although I'm starting to give him some handfuls 
> of the regular coarser hay again.  Vet did do bloodwork and found he 
> is a bit anemic...5.6 vs the normal of 6.5 to 12.
>
> I've had fecal checks done on the herd and only the boarded horse 
> has a moderate load (per the vet) of round worms...which we'll be 
> treating the whole herd for so it doesn't pass around.  The others 
> tested negative...although I've read that not all worms show up on 
> fecal tests.
>
> The vet has also been boosting his immune system with Equistim or 
> whatever...he gets his third (and final) dose on Friday.  I haven't 
> seen much improvement overall, although he's not coughing much at 
> all anymore, but he may be having occasional coughing when I'm not 
> around.  On Monday he had at least one coughing fit that I'm aware 
> of.  He is also finishing up a container of Tucoprim as well.  Why 
> the vet feels he needs all this is beyond me...they say they don't 
> know why he's like this...although they said his lungs sounded better?
>
> I'd like to worm him along with the rest of the herd but would that 
> be too much stress on his system??
>
> This is, or was, a healthy 9 year old horse.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions or whatever?  Vets??
>
> Thanks,
> Val

Don Huston at cox dot net
SanDiego, Calif  



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