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  Discussion on Shortness of breath during exercise
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 14, 2000 - 7:14 pm:

I own a 5 year old very healthy and strong gelding. (never had heaves, coughed or had respitory problems of any kind) He has spent the month of March at the trainers, fine tuning for upcoming shows this summer. At first, the trainer mentioned that he was very out of shape and had shortness of breath. She hoped it would lessen as time passed and he got in shape. He has been ridden 45 min/everyday for three weeks.
But no real change. She can't really school him properly because he has to have breaks. She says it is definately not heaves or an allergy. She feels it is related to nervousness or a tightening of the windpipe. She advised me to get Re-Coup, a suppliment to help this kind of thing. I wondered if anyone has had a similiar situation. And is this curable?
Thanks for your advice! Denise

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 15, 2000 - 12:55 am:

I've never heard of Re-Coup, but I would advise you to get the vet out to do an endoscopy of his airways. My mare had shortness of breath and after wracking our brains trying to figure it out, it turned out that she was not breathing out of one nostril. She had a large cyst blocking her sinus and causing shortness of breath.
There may be a medical reason for this, so please check it out.
BTW your guy is only 5 yrs.old, sounds like the trainer is working him a bit too hard for his age, JMO....even us humans get at least one day a week off to recuperate.....he sounds like a sweetie.
Keep us posted!!! and Good Luck!!

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 15, 2000 - 7:48 am:

Hello Denise,
I feel about the same as Angela, the diagnosis is unknown at this time and until a good exam has been done and a diagnosis made we cannot talk about cures.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 15, 2000 - 8:57 am:

Thanks Angela and Dr. O,
After posting my question, I did find great articles here on the site. I realize now that the possible problems are numerous. I will get a vet check.
Angela, what you mentioned about overworking did concern me a bit too. I talked with a friend that said that some horses can become roarers due to working them too hard, too fast. He is working in an arena that has very deep sand. In this short period of time, I don't think that kind of damage could occur though. I have heard it called "breaking wind". I just figured a horse would need to be run for hours at a time to cause damage. I wonder if some horses are more sensive than others. He is a very thick boned, large fella. 15.2 and 1,100 pounds. And you are right, a real sweetheart...my dream horse. :-) It's killing me that he is having this trouble.
Thanks for your help, so much.

Posted on Thursday, Mar 16, 2000 - 1:47 am:

Deep sand is extremely hard on a horses suspensories. I would be really cautious about deep footing, you are better off working in harder footing than soft, IMO.
It could be one of the causes of his distress.
Have you ever tried running in deep sand? You are winded in no time at all, yet if you run in firmer sand, ie: low tide, wet packed sand, you are able to run more, with less fatigue...just my two cents here...food for thought.
Let us know what the vet check turns up...
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