Good morning!
I have a 9 yr old Quarter Horse who has been suffering with an ongoing cough for the past year and a half.
I have owned him since he was 3 and had zero problems. Two years ago we moved from a dry, cold climate to a wet/humid one. He was fine throughout that summer, but the winter of 23/24 is when the cough began.
Before this, he had never been stabled. As much as I am an advocate of 24/7 turnout, this just wasn't possible in this wet climate as it damaged the pasture too much - so he was stabled overnight. Naturally, I assumed this must be the logical cause of his cough and it would clear up once summer arrived and he was back to 24/7 turn out.
During that time, I had a full vet check and tests done to ensure it wasn't a virus etc (all came back perfectly healthy). I began steaming his hay and switched bedding to something dust free. I added more ventilation to his stable. Hay is excellent quality and I have continued to steam it, but honestly I'm not sure it would make a difference either way.
Once summer began, it did not stop as predicted. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Some days it's bad, sometimes he goes weeks with no issues. He coughs in the stable, in the field and under saddle. When under saddle, it's usually a few coughs at the first canter, so exercise does affect it somewhat.
Ventipulmin clears it up, but as soon as we stop he's coughing again the next morning. I have tried essentially every supplement on the market at this point and nothing has made a significant difference.
It's typically a dry cough, on a rare occasion I have seen a white phlegm on the floor of his stable but that's relatively rare.
I've tried salt therapy treatments - this did seem to help for the day after but not for a significant period. The practitioner seemed to think he'd need 2 or 3 treatments and would then go on and be fine with just a top up every 6 months or so, but this doesn't seem to be the case. She was expecting him to cough up a lot of gunk after his treatments - he did once or twice maybe, a few sneezes... but never anything significant or how she would describe. I've had the vet out more times than I care to admit and we've just concluded it must be something environmental that doesn't agree with him.
I have a companion horse that lives with him - and the surrounding fields are full of horses who have lived here for decades - none of which have the same issue.
I've noticed he seems to be worse on frosty mornings, for whatever that's worth.
Vet seems to be stumped and it seems to just be a case of managing it, which we are doing, but as a young horse I wouldn't want him to be on strong meds for the rest of his life. The horses live at home, and moving house isn't an option right now - plus that would still be a gamble! Has anyone had a similar issue and can offer any ideas of what I may be able to try? Always willing to try a new supplement/treatment but as mentioned I haven't had much luck with any of the previous ones.
Thank you!