whats wrong with my horse?!?!?!? coughing... gas....?

Question

My horse has been coughing and at the same time she coughs she farts and its not like a once in a while little cough she like coughs repeatedly sometimes so fast it doesn't seem like she even has time to breathe i rode her yesturday when she was outside eating grass all day and she coughed like the whole time and it scares me. today i kept her in and fed her hay and she didn't cough at all. is there something wrong with the grass when it goes through her systems none of my 5 other horses are doing this. please only answer this if u know horses and thank you so much

Answer 1

Look around the pasture where she was eating. See if there are any plants that don't look like normal grass and if it looks like she's bit some of it. It could be as simple as her being allergic to a plant, or it could be that there are plants growing in there that could be making her sick. If you can, get a vet to check her out. You don't want to take chances with your horse's health. Also, a vet may be able to give you an idea about the sorts of plants that could give her problems.

Answer 2

You may want to see a Vet. There many things this can be. Sometimes it just grass seeds or something that make a horse cough. But, sometimes it may be more serious, like a respiratory infection.
If, you know how to take her Temperature. A cough with fever, sneezing, noisy breathing and a nasal/eye discharge may be a "Contagious" respiratory disease and the other horses may get it.
The best way to take Temp is use a rectal thermometer. Digital is fine. Lubricate with Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline). Raise the tail and slowly stick it in about 2-3 inches. Wait about 3 minutes and see what reading you get.
Adults are about 99.5-100 degrees F or 37.5-37.8 C
Foals are about 99-102 F or 37.2-38.9 C if you ever need to know.
Anything higher you need to see a vet for sure and I think you should at least call and ask what he/she thinks about the cough.

Answer 3

Horses can develop an allergic response to allergens (fungal spores and grass pollen) in the grass - it's a form of heaves (inflammatory airway disease), which is normally associated with musty hay, but has now been found to occur, also, as a result of being kept on pasture. It's become common in northeaster US, and shows up in humid climates in the summer months, and the symptoms are exactly as you've described. It's important to have it checked out by your vet ASAP, as damage to the lungs can become permanent, and pneumonia can develop secondary to this allergic response. The vet may come out and scope your horse, and may do a trans tracheal wash. I went through this last year at this time, and unfortunately the mare ended up developing bacterial pneumonia, which she then passed on to our yearling. The pneumonia was really persistent in the mare, and it took forever for her to get over it. And cost a small fortune. No one could figure out (including the vet) how she'd caught pneumonia. After I did some research, I guessed that she had summer pasture associated IAD, and had developed pneumonia secondary to the inflammation - aspiration pneumonia, as she really coughed a lot when eating her grain. So this year, the first time I heard her cough, I ran to the feed store and bought some Histall, and probiotics, started her on it immediately (mixed with applesauce in a dose syringe) and took her off the grain completely. The vet came out the next day, and agreed with my deduction, ;-) and we started her on Dexamethasone and SMZ (as the dex supresses the immune system). She stopped coughing. We nipped it in the bud, this time. By September last year, the conditions were a lot drier, and the clinical signs of the IAD didn't reapear until just recently, which was exactly to the week when the symptoms had started last year. Well, a very long-winded answer, but I wanted to help you avoid what we went through, if, indeed, this is your horse's problem. Hope it helps. PS It's very important that you take her temp several times a day, to make sure an infection isn't brewing. Don't start her on any meds until a vet checks her out. If she is getting hay, soak it for at least 10 minutes before feeding - I mean SOAK it in a tub, don't just spray it with a hose. PPS I've never like round bales for horses, as they become moldy too quickly. Fine for cows, not good for horses. No, do not water down the round bale, as this will only encourage mold. I'd take her away from the round bale immediately. You really do need to have a vet check her out. Yeah, horses are expensive.

Answer 4

Do you ever see your horse doing this when she isn't being ridden or is it just when she is being ridden? I would soon think, no allergies, just one of a couple of other harmless things. One could be that when you put a bit in a horse's mouth, it causes (or should) extra saliva to form, to keep the mouth moist,..she could be inhaling that saliva, and creating the urge to cough...coughing and farting go togethet..now, the other thing that is probably happening is that while you are exercising her, her lungs are cleaning out and that also causes a certain amount of harmless coughing, and if you continue to lightly exercise until she quits, she will probably quit altogether. You've probably heard the race track term, "blowing a horse out" during regular exercising? That means that the horse is either long trotted or galloped full throttle until he begins the cleaning out cough, then slowed down until he clears out his lungs...this is done regularly for just that purpose...try this and I think that your coughing problem will cease...and of course, it that end ceases, the other end will too, right?

Answer 5

She could be suffering from choke, she could have esophageal ulcers, or an allergy. These are causes of shotgun coughing. I'd get the vet out tomorrow if it isn't better and see if he can scope her. Keep her in tonight just to be on the safe side. That she doesn't cough over the hay, though, tends to make me think it isn't an inflammation or ulcers in her throat, but there may be something in the field causing an allergic reaction.

Answer 6

My human patients do this alllllll the time and no holds bar either!! :)

What you are describing is something my donkey went through (in public no doubt) at a huge show.

He inhaled his sawdust bedding and went into a coughing/farting fit. It lasted for about 1.5hrs and dang near caused a vet visit because I was so worried.

Its equivalent to when 'something goes down the wrong pipe' in humans, its exactly what happened to your horse.

If your horse is fine today, I wouldn't worry, but if it happens again, I would definately have it evaluated by a vet. That has never happened again to my donkey.

Answer 7

have you asked your vet????? questions like this i feel are best answered by the experts!!! your vet would know your horse best (besides you) if you have a regular vet than call him/her and ask. it could be something as simple as an allergy or something else sooooo just call and ask!!! as for the farts if she is coughing that much and that hard that would cause her to push out the air at the same time, horses are very gassy anyways so the added pressure of the coughing and ya know...... good luck darlin and make that call to your vet!!!!

Answer 8

She could be allergic to the grass, weeds, trees or something. If it is only when she is outside it could very likely be allergies.
Good Luck! Hope your horse gets better.

Answer 9

Your horse is probably alergected to grass or even her system isn't strong enough to digest grass. but, you also should mostly take her to the vet instead of writing this on here by the time you wrote this you could of been calling the vet or taking her to the vet.

Answer 10

probably an allergy call the vet