Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) aka Heaves

Poor Chance, my sensitive 22 year old Arabian was diagnosed with COPD this spring.  He was coughing a lot this winter and spring; and not just a little cough.  A labored, violent, knocks a loud fart out of him that echos through my neighborhood kinda fart. So we had the vet out to float his teeth hoping that was the issue; I was worried that he wasn't chewing well and could choke.  He needed the dental work but after a few weeks he still was having some issues.  I contacted them again so they gave us some Ventipulmin syrup to see if that was effective.  We had him on that for about 14 days.  He improved and seemed good for a little while, an occasional cough but nothing as regular and violent as before.

Then he got to coughing more and more; so one more trip from the vet and a final diagnosis....COPD, aka Heaves. I'm still learning a lot about what this is and how it affects him.

The Ventipulmin helps but eventually horses can develop a resistance to the drug and at $150 for a two week course it's a bit pricey. Environmental conditions are what seem to be the triggers for most horses.  The hay this past year was not the best but sometimes you can't help that.  One way to help with this is steaming the hay.  For thousands of dollars you can buy a great steamer for your hay bales but who wants to spend that when were are tons of options for DIY below $200.  My husband immediately went online to find the supplies and ordered them so we could make a steamer.  

We are working on making better substrate around the barn, so the dusty dry clay that kicks up when we don't have a swamp out back will be curbed.  He's been here for four years, so I really don't thing it's environmental, we haven't had big changes.  The hay isn't necessarily the cause, Dani is not having issues, it's just some horses develop it from what I'm reading.  He's 22 and not a 10 year old so this diagnosis to me is just part of the aging process.

I have done some research on some supplements to help with mucus and inflammatory maintenance of the pulmonary system and one of the best recommended supplements was Heave HO.  Just the name alone makes we want to buy it!  It's $68 for a months worth and that is much better than keeping him on the Ventipulmin.  If he has acute occurrences we have the ability to give him that medication for a couple weeks as needed.

With summer time coming to an end I'm glad to report he's done really well on grass and his supplement.  When there have been weeks I've had them on the dry hay, he hasn't had too many issues.  I'll report once we start steaming hay this fall, here's hoping we don't hear any coughs from the old man!

Evil Humidity and Heat

 I hate summer.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a heat person.  I like the 70s or cooler.  50 degrees or 40 degrees, particularly dry cold, I barely need a jacket.  I hate North Carolina summers.  

There are thing that are nice about it though.  Frogs. Bees. Dragonflies. Fireflies. "Free" horse forage. Beaches.

Funny that the first few things I mention are critter related, and mainly insect related.  Hahaha.  I think for horses, summers are also the least favorite season.  It's hot, there are flies, and even when the human rinses them will nice cool water the huge horse flies seem to b-line for their haunches.

I haven't ridden in a ridiculously long time and summer certainly never helps the matter.  I don't like being outside in the summer but I have to in order to mow our pastures, care for the horses or inspect the bees. When I'm done with all the outdoor chores I just want to retreat into the nice cool inside and take a cool shower to rid myself of the dirt and sweat.  

I often have the though that I should wake up early and do some riding before the heat comes but that never seems to happen.

My poor horses sweat so much when it's 70 percent humidity and 90 degrees or more.  I wish I could bring them inside. They have full water troughs that are not exactly chilled water which sucks but they do have the cool barn and two fans that blow everyday....an electric bill I"m more than willing to pay.  The deserve it.  

Some days I go outside to care for them and see they are crusted with salt from all the sweat.  How miserable.  I hose them off often and I think they really enjoy that cooling effect, though I think a water heater could help so the water isn't so darn cold on their tender areas!

I've been assessing the areas around the barn as to where the most logical place would be to build a washrack where Dani and Chance don't end up standing in mud every time I hose them off.  In the barnyard I've found a location that appears to be an optimal place though I will need to build up the area with leftover Chapel Hill gravel I have from the barn mud project.  

I purchased a 10 x 12 mat from stall savers.  It's permeable and will work nicely as a wash rack ground cover.  I used it today in the area of question, no substrate there yet so eventually a puddle formed during the second horse bath. It worked pretty nicely and I think it shows promise that I can get this set up with little effort.  

Both horses loved the bath and afterwards seemed to be much less itchy.  I hate itchy ponies!  The only thing that makes me so mad about giving them a water rinse is that it seems to attract the biggest horseflies.  I try to smack the flies but they are too fast.  I have to spray the horses down with fly spray after the rinse which is a bummer.  And of course they both end up rolling in the dirt while still damp but the bath was certainly not for vanity.

Luckily we are in August and that means September and then October follows which means a little bit cooler temperatures.  I would love to get out of the 90s into the lower 80s.  That would be fantastic!  I'm sure Dani and Chance agree!