COPD
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Related Problems: Head Shaking, Allergic Cough, Broken Wind
Causes
Air bourne particles of pollen (especially oil seed rape),dust (especially straw bedding), mould spores (on hay and some feed grains), pollutants (fertilisers, pesticides & car fumes), chemicals (in paper & wood shaving bedding) and too many others to mention. Once a horse has become sensitised to one cause they are more likely to add others as time goes by. It can be likened to asthma in humans and the treatments are similar. In addition some cases can be caused by a virus and yet others are due to mineral imbalance.
Treatment
Your vet will prescribe Ventipulmin to keep airways open, Sputolosin to break down mucus, Steroids like prednisolone and Anti-allergics like Sodium chromoglycate.
You can help enormously by trying to keep your horse well away from the well known causes if at all possible. To assist with this a nose net can be used to filter the air breathed and is particularly useful when riding out as it can be attached to the bridle. In the field attached to a head collar it will also restrict grazing which will have to be taken into account when deciding how much hay to feed.
Hay should always be soaked in water for a little while and drained before feeding to reduce the dust and choose bedding with care and regard to the main causes above. Sprinkling bedding with water and taking the horse outside before mucking out etc. also helps. In fact keeping horses outside for as much as possible (except in the oil seed rape season) can be of great benefit. Feeding hay and hard feed in containers at ground level can also help by keeping the sinuses well drained (this is the natural way horses feed in the wild)