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  Discussion on Wind problem? Mouth breathing!
Author Message
New Member:
friggen

Posted on Monday, Jan 14, 2008 - 1:59 pm:

My horse have a problem when breathing under training, that happend only when he perform up to 100%..See this clip and turn the sound up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noHjrCgQgOo

Have anybody seen something like this? For me it feels like he have what they call dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP) or something similar.. I need help too prevent that happening, any suggestion?

The horse is an Norwegian cold blood trotter, 5 years of age with name Jesper
Member:
mike29az

Posted on Monday, Jan 14, 2008 - 3:03 pm:

Hi,
I have trotters as well, and from what you are describing and show on your tape I would guess the same thing - DDSP. Do you have the Cornell Collar over there? Definitely worth a try before surgery.......
Member:
dres

Posted on Monday, Jan 14, 2008 - 3:43 pm:

almost sounds like he is breathing thru his mouth/ panting like.. ?

On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 - 12:15 pm:

Hello jonas,
There are many possibilities and you should review the diagnosis of respiratory noise and DDSP. We have included information on the Cornell Collar that trotters mentions above. It does look like a promising treatment and has been used diagnostically. However as DDSP can be secondary to other problems of the pharynx, you still should have the horse scoped.
DrO
New Member:
friggen

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 - 7:00 pm:

thanks for your interest..he have been scoped on tredmill. The vet said everything looks normal..The open mouth breathing never happen on the tredmill, tried two times. The vet even desided to do tiefordward surgery.He was not better after that, i think maybe worse..
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 - 11:03 am:

Hmmm is it felt that the treadmill does not duplicate the 100% effort you mention above? Without a diagnosis of the cause of the noise it is difficult to make recommendations jonas. If you and your veterinarian feel strongly that the problem is DSSP you might try the collar, it can always be resold if it does not work.
DrO
Member:
mike29az

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 - 3:47 pm:

Oh that is too bad. Dr. O has good advice with the Cornell Collar. I also failed to mention a couple of other things that you may try thinking you probably already had tried them. I didn't notice a tongue tie or overcheck on the you tube video. You could try both of those (over check and tongue tie) first. If that doesn't work you can try tieing the tongue out. Sometimes just checking the head higher helps them breathe normally so they don't tuck their head down and cut off their air. Does he hog down on the bit or pull really hard causing him to choke (I wonder this seeing he did not have the problem on the treadmill)? If so, there are many different over check bits to help with this or even different regular bits (ie Springsteen snaffle) may work or even a "no choke" chin strap. Just some thoughts......hope you get him figured out.
New Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, May 26, 2008 - 7:35 pm:

Have you tried a Figure 8 head halter. I had a problem with a trotter I had in training, seemed to have a lot of ability but could not get past a 2:38 training mile without making a roaring sound when she pulled up after the mile. She also was not finishing her miles well. I tried just about everything from shooting glycerine down her throat, flair nasal strips, checking her head up, putting a crit davis overcheck bit on her to keep her from lugging down. I had her scoped at New Bolton and all was normal. She had me so frustrated I was almost ready to give her away. I had someone else train her while I watched and saw that her mouth was wide open even though she had a regular headhalter on to keep her mouth closed. I put the figure 8 on her and went another trip a Voila no noise! With this mare it was a combination of a Crit Davis and the figure 8 that solved the problem.
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