Mare with Heaves

[rwbwfarm]

I have a 9 yr old Spotted Saddle Horse mare that I got from a rescue in May. She didn't show any signs of heaves until the heat really started mid-June (we're in NY). We're trying everything as natural as possible before we go the steroid route. Cough Free did nothing for her so I put her on Hilton Herbs Freeway Gold which got her to about 90% normal. After a few weeks, I also added MSM & she was pretty much 100%. Then after about 2 weeks of that, she started again. She's now on just SmartPak Smart Breathe (has MSM in it) & doing a little better (about 85%) but I can't figure out what triggered it again. She hates her hay soaked but we do our own so I'm awful picky about what they all get. I moved her to the more open stall & she also has a fan. They get Sentinel LT for their grain & she also gets Omegatin. She was in bad shape (skin & bones) when they got her & she has come a ways but has more to gain. I'm afraid she'll lose weight even though she gets free-choice hay during the day (they come in) and some grass at night. I keep everything as dust-free as possible. She's not really labored but I didn't know if anyone had any other suggestions. Thanks - Jenn

 

[currycomb]

a stall is the worst place for a heavey horse. outside on grass is usually the best treatment. the bedding is dusty, the other horses moving around can create enough dust to trigger an attack. i was given a very bad mare with heaves years ago. put her outside on pasture (so.illinois, so green grass for the summer). she fattened up, got pregnant and did very well. also had a hackney pony cart gelding, was heavey because previous owner fed old round bales. after a few monthe on green grass, reduced problems, no additives or drugs. good luck with yours

 

[goodhors]

We had one with allergies. Not bad the first year, only one attack. As time went on though,
he got more sensitized to other things in our area, so more attacks. He sounded like a big old
freight train coming down the aisle, just whistling!! He was fairly easy to deal with, once he
understood the procedure. But it sure wasn't cheap.

He was part of those old studies where
the breathing mask was developed, so you could get his inhaler to work. Trying to get the inhaler
meds up his nostril without the mask was pretty futile. However when his nostril was open enough
to stick my whole hand and arm into, he was getting too much unmedicated air for inhaler to work.
With the mask on, we had about 45 seconds to get the inhaler going before horse thought we were
trying to kill him by totally cutting off ALL his air. So you did the squirts, then quick count to 5, pulled
off the mask so he could try breathing on his own, while meds kicked in to calm his body down.

THEN we did the steroids for about 15 days weaning him off to normal. Worked until the NEXT attack.

As mentioned, he got progressively worse, until there was no "down time" between sessions. You would
just get him off the steroids and he would have another allergy attack. Steriods were doing bad things
to his body and skin, when we decided to put him down. He wasn't having any fun, no quality of life anymore.
Really sad, he had a great mind, otherwise was totally sound, super-well trained for all kinds of things.

He was eating wet beet-pulp in larger quantities, with his small amount of daily grain mxed in. Knowing more
now, I would have added wetted hay cubes to the wet beet pulp for better helping his digestive system. Chopped
hay in cubes is really needed for the roughage inside the animal. He looked GREAT on just good grazing and
the wet beet pulp diet, we gave him what he would clean up in a couple hours. He was outside at night because
the flies here are terrible during daytimes. We kept the dust down as much as possible, but sure not 100% in
a horse barn.

Do not feed beet pulp dry, either in shreds or pellets, big chance of choke. Feeds that say they have beet pulp are
using a TINY amount, mixed with other things. Feeding straight beet pulp means it NEEDS to be fed wet. The
shreds will be ready quicker, but are more expensive here, so I use the beet pellets that take longer to be ready.
I mix equal water and shreds, ready in about 30 minutes. While using the pellets takes about 3 parts water
to 1 part pellets to swell up fully over a couple hours. Check for lumpy pellets in the mix, ready when lumps are gone.
Hot water makes them ready a little quicker. I am always amazed at how much beet pulp will "fluff up" after water is added.


Wet beet pulp is an amazing feed, does lots of good things without much bad. I feed PLAIN beet pulp, no real reason
to pay for added molasses when animals eat it well without. My animals do NOT need the extra sugar either. Though
the beet pulp is from sugar beets, there really is no sugar left in there. You can taste it yourself, not a sweet feed. My
animals all like eating it, though oddly the "piggy" horse was slow to start. I just gave a handful in the grain daily, and
started adding more when she cleaned it up. Took a couple weeks for her to get used to it, but then she ate it find. Some
of ours don't like their beet pulp sloppy, so they get the drained top of the bucket. Other horses don't care about how it "feels",
eat drier or sloppy beet pulp just fine. Lick out the mangers!!

Your mare may not care for the FEEL of wet hay, will take her getting used to it. I am real careful with that, because any wet stuff
will ferment and go bad in summer heat quite fast. I throw away any left over wet beet pulp/grain, they get fresh stuff the next
day. You can smell when it goes bad, yucky. Wet hay is not so smelly, but still going bad fast.

Hope this is a bit helpful. Breathing problems just seem to escalate quickly. Hope the herbs work for her, they were not common
when we had our horse so I didn't try them. I have not seen a lot of long-term success with various over-the-counter horse breathing
additives. Helps as you say, a little bit easier for a little while, then useless. Have you had a Vet workup on her? Maybe scoping to see
how much damage is in her lungs? Something in her previous life could have damaged her lungs so badly so her time left is short, you
will be better prepared. Heaves in horses were pretty common locally with building the little indoor arenas with stalls opening into it. Horse
could not escape the dust, dried manure and dirt constantly in the air with riding in the arena. Now folks build the stalls in an ajoining building,
close the arena doors.

 

[rwbwfarm]

We unfortunately don't have enough land to have her on grass all the time so I put her and my gelding out in movable paddocks for a few hrs AM/PM before going out in the 'dry lot' for the night. Her stall is half walls other than two full size doors which I keep one open but half blocked off. She does get alot of air flow esp with the fan. I try to keep minimal shavings in there to help with the dust.

I'm debating about adding the beet pulp to also help with her weight. Trying things slow with her to see what works. Her breathing isn't noticeable to a non-horse person but it's still off . I don't know if giving her just MSM at night (she gets the Smart Breathe in the AM) would help or not.

I have had the vet out but no scoping yet - will see how she progresses per vet. Hopefully with her being so young there isn't alot of damage.

Thanks for the help!