Go Cowgirl RN Blog

Guest post:  Stephanie Yeh

Reyacita, my 5-year-old mustang mare, came to me more than a year ago with a pretty good case of horse heaves. Since I adopted her during the winter, I had to feed her hay. Unfortunately, she couldn’t eat hay without heaving. She developed a heave line, breathed heavy, and had this horrible rattle in her throat or chest.

I turned her out to pasture, fed her soaked feed, and gave her an herbal supplement called Eleviv. That seemed to take care of the problem until the grass returned in the spring.

Horse Heaves – The Problem that Wouldn’t Go Away
Only, the problem didn’t really go away. Whenever I tacked up Reyacita or tried to do any training with her, she would start to rattle when she breathed. The rattle was so loud that people could hear it all the way across the arena. But the rattle wasn’t a straight case of COPD, it was a case of nerves.

Reyacita is a Metal horse personality, and this type of horse likes, no needs, to know exactly her job description. Unless and until she knows that, she’s concerned that whatever we are about to do might be a surprise. This type of horse HATES surprises. They LOVE routine and doing their job well.

So all spring and summer, Reyacita rattled until I actually got into the saddle, and we started on some familiar training exercises. As soon as we started doing something familiar, she stopped rattling. Then she would spend a few minutes with her head down coughing up this giant green loogie that looked like some sort of science experiment. After that, no rattle, no heaves, no COPD.

If I wanted to introduce a new horse training element, then I had to do it after we did some exercises with which she was already comfortable. Otherwise the rattle would kick into high gear.

Giving Reyacita 2-4 capsules of Eleviv about 30 minutes before I tacked her up helped quite a bit, but didn’t totally eliminate the rattle. That rattle continued to puzzle me because it seemed to have more to do with what was going in her head (or with her nerves) than with anything physical.

Horse Heaves: Where it Starts with Reyacita
With Reyacita, the horse heaves start in her head, meaning she rattles when she feels nervous or uncertain about something. I checked in with my vet, and it turns out that, when nervous, Metal horse personality types often suck their tongues into the back of the mouth against the soft palate. This sucking action can cause a pool of saliva to gather back there, irritating the soft palate … and causing that horrible rattling sound!

The reason the Eleviv helps to lessen the rattle is because it helps Reyacita feel more secure and less nervous about her situation. But it never totally got rid of the rattle. So I got curious about how to alleviate that problem.

My vet, Dr. Madalyn Ward, suggested I reach up under Reyacita’s jawbone and do a slight adjustment on the hyoid bone. The first time I did this, Reyacita was standing at the trailer, tacked up, and rattling away as usual. I adjusted her hyoid bone, and an interesting thing happened. She dropped her head, coughed a few times, and popped out this oogie-green-loogie. Then she licked and chewed for about 3 minutes, and shook herself.

The rattling had stopped! Wow!

The rattling didn’t start again until I led her away from the trailer. She wasn’t sure about the day’s training agenda so she started rattling again. I adjust her hyoid bone again, she coughed, and stopped rattling. That first day, I had to adjust her hyoid bone about 6 times during our training session. But it got to be so familiar that she would stop rattling almost as soon as I touched her hyoid bone.

The second and third days, she rattled progressively less and less. I’m excited to see what happens as I continue to practice this adjustment on her. It is obviously very soothing to her, and she feels reassured when I do it.

Horse Heaves: Confirming My Suspicions
Almost everyone who hears Reyacita rattle becomes mildly alarmed and immediately asks me whether she has a lung condition. They also want to know what I am doing to treat the condition. I tell them about the Eleviv, of course, but because she still rattles when nervous, even with the Eleviv, some people insist that I should put her on some lung herbs or even drugs for lung conditions.

The problem is that the rattling is actually in her throat … and the horse heaves start in her brain, not her lungs.

I decided to test this out by doing a horse training session that looked like this

1. Tie to trailer, feed 4 capsules of Eleviv. Stand for 30 minutes to allow the Eleviv to take effect. (rattling)
2. Load into trailer, drive 10 miles to a friend’s arena.
3. Unload at arena and tack up (rattling)
4. Walk into arena and stand next to RoboSteer (no rattling)
5. Walk around perimeter of arena (rattling)
6. Begin doing familiar stretching and warm-up circles at walk, trot, and lope (no rattling).
7. Finish circles and walk around arena on loose rein (rattling).
8. Stand in the heeler’s box in the roping area (no rattling).
9. Walk out to center of arena and stand while talking to friend (rattling).
10. Lope fast circles (no rattling).

I don’t know if you can see a pattern here, but it was as clear as day to me that Reyacita’s horse heaves show up whenever she is uncertain about her job. Any familiar exercise or landmark, like the RoboSteer or loping circles, makes her feel secure. When she is secure, she doesn’t suck her tongue into her mouth or rattle.

On the flip side of the coin, any unfamiliar action or location is cause for insecurity, and hence rattling. For example, standing next to the RoboSteer is OK because that matches her job description of “chase the steer.” Standing and chatting with my friend while standing in the center of the arena matches nothing in her job description, so she begins to rattle.

But the true test, for me, was the fact that she never rattled or ran out of air when we loped fast circles. If Reyacita truly had a lung condition like COPD or asthma, then she would have limited lung function. However, she is as happy as clam when loping circles and never short of breath. She also doesn’t rattle when she lopes. Also, I have tried several lung herbal tonics on her, all to no avail. They made absolutely no difference whatsoever!

Conclusion? Reyacita’s condition is ALL IN HER HEAD!

At least, it starts there. The Eleviv is her saving grace because it ensures that she can eat hay without heaving, whether I’m watching over her or not. But when it comes to horse training, I’m realizing that until Reyacita totally trusts me AND fully learns all facets of “her job” she’ll probably continue rattle, on and off, for a while.

I’ll continue to give her Eleviv and adjust her hyoid bone. I do repetitive tasks with her, and incorporate ever more new tasks to her job description until she feels comfortable. At this point, I’m sure her rattling will disappear forever.

Is This True of All Horses?
Could lessons learned from Reyacita be applied to all horses with heaves or COPD. No. But the lessons could be adapted. For instance, if a horse has COPD, you might try to figure why the horse has COPD. Is the cause mental, emotional, or purely physical? Once you figure out the cause, then you can develop a horse health care and horse training regimen to address the problem. But if you don’t address the cause, you probably can’t do more than palliate the symptoms.

Do you agree?

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Protect your horses immune system

Keeping your horses immune system healthy and functioning properly is always an issue when traveling to a show or camp grounds that have a constant stream of horses traveling through. To protect your horse’s immune system from respiratory tract infections, allergies, and other possible irritants, consider adding Simplexity Health Essentials or Equilite’s Equinacea to your horse’s daily regimen.  Both of these support your horse’s immune system and lungs, which can be stressed while traveling.

Keep your horse calm

Show nerves, a new environment, constant noise and lights, and travel can all make horses flighty and nervous.  To keep your horse calm when away from home, consider feeding Valerian Free Relax Blend. For horses who may tip into their “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system, two to four capsules of the herbal supplement Eleviv can be useful to help them cope with stress, and stay in an open and willing frame of mind.

Protect against wear and tear

Competition and travel can both be hard on a horse’s bones, tendons, and ligaments. To protect against wear and tear, consider adding antioxidants and natural anti-inflammatory supplements to your horse’s diet during show season. Good antioxidants include Coenzyme Q10 and concentrated wheat sprouts from Simplexity Health, blue-green algae and Citrus C/Q from Equilite or  Xango juice. These antioxidant sources help protect against cellular damage and work to enhance healing and connective tissue construction. These supplements also provide horses with the nutrients they need to support their respiratory system and immune system.

Provide digestive support

Many horses stop eating when stressed, or eat but don’t digest their food well. This poor digestion can lead to ulcers, colic, and other digestive discomforts that can interfere with performance. To support your horse’s digestion during travel or at shows, consider adding
products that soothe and coat the stomach, such as Stomach Soother, SUCCEED or slippery elm plus aloe vera.

To replenish the beneficial gut bacteria which can be destroyed by stress or when your horse drinks chlorinated water, feed Simplexity Health’s Acidophlius and Bifidus, or PreProbiotics from Equilite. As a side benefit, these probiotics also produce vitamin B, which can keep your horse calm and relaxed.

Keep older horses going

If you have an older horse who is perfectly capable of competing, but needs a little support for his joints, now is the time consider injecting affected joints with Adequan or Legend.

Adequan is recommended for the intramuscular treatment of non-infectious degenerative and/or traumatic joint dysfunction and associated lameness of the carpal and hock joints in horses. Legend is indicated in the treatment of joint dysfunction of the knee or fetlock in horses due to non-infectious arthritis. Both will support older horses who are still competing but need extra joint support.  You can also consider a feed-through supplement like Cosequin ASU.

Prepare your first aid kit

You never know what might happen when you combine horses and travel and head into the competition season. For a horse show first aid kit, I like to include at least the following:

Homeopathic Remedies
- Nux Vomica and Chamomile (for digestive issues)
- Arnica, Rhus Tox. and Hypericum (for overworked bodies and nerve
issues)
- Apis and Pulsatilla (for allergies, insect bites, and swelling)
For a full homeopathic first aid kit, go HERE.

Topical Salves and Ointments
- Sore No More (for overworked muscles and joints)
- Draw Solution (for topical wounds or injuries, or wrapping joints)
- HyperCal (for topical wounds)

Stress-Reducing Products
- Eleviv (for coping healthily with stress)
- Fastrack Paste (for digestive upsets and nervousness)
-SUCCEED (for ulcer flare-ups)

Hopefully these tips will help you prepare for traveling with your horse, whether to a competition or a trail ride. Keeping your horse healthy is one of the primary ingredients for a successful show season, and doing just a bit of preparation beforehand can save you a lot of headaches down the road.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.  Feel free to contact me regarding any of these supplements, or go to http://www.holistichorsekeeping.com

Guest post by Madalyn Ward, DVM

Cushings disease in horses sounds ominous enough, but when you hear insulin resistance you really begin to wonder what dreaded disease your horse has come down with now.

Visions of daily insulin shots came to my mind; I’m a registered nurse and have given my share of insulin injections.  I was lucky this time, it was caught early enough that laminitis had not developed.  As I found out, insulin injections aren’t necessary for Cushings disease in horses anyway, changing the diet and the drug pergolide usually works well.

It turns out the horse in question actually has insulin resistance rather than Cushings.   In south central Texas we have Mesquite trees, and I have an over abundance of them on my place.  They drop a bean that is high in sugar and protein, and the horses eat them like candy.  Last summer we were in a severe drought, and my horses stayed fat and shiny on mesquite beans.   I take care of my brother’s horse Dice, he’s 16 hands and an “easy keeper”, or so I thought.   All my horses are barefoot, and I was learning how to trim my own horses last fall when I first noticed the early warning signs of laminitis.

Dice had feet that my old farrier always bragged on, but I began to see a brittle flaking on the outer wall of his hooves.  I meant to ask my vet about it, just didn’t for a couple of months.  I finally found a new farrier in January, and her comments on Dice’s feet sent me to the phone to ask Madalyn Ward about laminitis, insulin resistance and Cushings disease in horses.

Cushings disease in horses, laminitis and insulin resistance in horses are closely related.  Talking with Madalyn and my new farrier, we decided that the mesquite beans had triggered insulin resistance, and that dietary changes were in order to avoid laminitis.  There are horses that are more prone to this and Dice fit that bill.  He is an easy keeper, has a cresty neck, a large, broad hip with fat pones over the top of his hip, and gets ridden only once or twice a year.   There also was a lot of heat in his feet in January.

Madalyn had me start him on Simplexity Essentials, Magnesium and Eleviv.  I also changed him to a low starch, extruded grain that is 95% digestible.  The Essentials have blue-green algae and probiotics in them, and the Eleviv balances the metabolic system.  The Magnesium was added as these horses tend to be deficient in this mineral.

I am happy to report that in Feburary all signs of impending laminitis was gone and the brittleness in the hoof wall is better.  I feel blessed to have caught it early, and to have access to a vet that understands how a horses nutritional needs affect his overall well being.  Left untreated insulin resistance can progress to Cushings disease in horses and further lead to severe complications and even death.  Dice is still fat and happy, but when the mesquite trees start dropping their beans Dice will not be allowed any access to them.

For more information on Cushings Disease, Laminitis or Insulin resistance in horses take a look at Madalyn’s website www.holistichorsekeeping.com.  She has articles there and even an E-book on Insulin resistance.  I would love to have feedback and your comments or stories.  If you want info on any of the products mentioned above, please contact me.