Wind-broke horse

[Cara]

We usually have enough pasture year round for the horses, but we do have leafy alfalfa and Strategy for any horses that are being kept penned. If I leave him turned out as much as possible, and soak any alfalfa he has, should that be ok? He has quite the grass belly from just grazing for the past few years.

I did wonder what my father in law had got me into when I first saw the horse. He couldn't remember what the horse's name was, but thought it was Bucky... and he's no buckskin. He looks crazed because the whites of his eyes always show, and the sight of that in our truck headlights didn't help! He's 16hh and probably every bit of 1350lbs. His tail was broken at some point and is crooked, and his coat is so thick and curly he looks like a mammoth. What he lacks in looks he makes up for in personality though

And his name is Dunny not Bucky! He's the most willing, patient horse i've ridden in a long time. Hopefully my mare will take note!

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
Losing the grass belly would help a lot

any extra weight can affect his breathing, works the same as an overweight individual with COPD.

He might soak his own, my horse used to soak his own hay in water before eating LOL.

 

[patandchickens]

Of course other people may have different nomenclature, but to me there is a difference between heaves and broken wind, and yours sounds much more like heaves (which is also quite a lot more common, and in fact I don't think I've ever personally seen a horse broken in the wind that wasn't off the track).

The advice you've gotten in previous posts is good. Keep him outside 24/7/365, be really picky about the hay you feed him and soak anything at ALL suspicious, try to get him gently and slowly a little fitter but don't ride him hard enough to make him wheeze. Keep a close eye on him; heaves is often exacerbated by allergies, most commonly to grass pollen in late spring and early summer but summer dust or winter hay-mold (even if you can't detect it yourself) can bother some horses too.

Next time the vet is out for some other purpose, it would be good to spend fifty bucks having him check the horse over to a) characterize what state his heaves is in, because if he has a bad patch at some time in the future it will be easier to treat if the vet has already had some contact with the horse (there are inhalers, steroids etc that can be used on a temporary basis to get past times when the horse has serious trouble breathing); and b) to make sure the horse's heart is ok as well.

P.S. an Australian might find the name Dunny rather amusing, as it refers to, er, a loo

Congrats on the new horse,

Pat, with a mildly heavey horse (retired for other reasons) who's been almost 100% fine since we bought this place and he can now live totally outside.

 

[Cara]

I was just glad I didn't have a red dun named Bucky LOL

I'm not sure whether what he's done so far would be classed as wheezing; his breathing gets loud, but he doesn't seem to struggle for breath. He gets puffed out easier than most, although I suppose for his age it doesn't seem much worse than any other old horse.

According to the last owner it was brought on by one of their cowboys 'riding him like an ATV', and he hasn't been right since. He's an old ranch horse.

I'll have the vet take a look at him next time he's here. This may be an irrational fear, but i'm scared of him collapsing out from under me, although he hasn't acted like he might.


PS Pat I forgot to tell you about that bay gelding I asked you to look at. They'd neglected to mention until we showed up that he was petrified of men. By the time the fence at the other end of the pasture had him shut down, I decided we probably weren't a good match

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yeah but it could be that he was getting heavey and they continued riding him hard despite it, which would LOOK like hard riding brought it on. Tough to tell.

PS Pat I forgot to tell you about that bay gelding I asked you to look at. They'd neglected to mention until we showed up that he was petrified of men. By the time the fence at the other end of the pasture had him shut down, I decided we probably weren't a good match

Ah, I'd wondered what you ended up deciding about that. Isn't that annoying? It's like there's always One Secret Question that you would have to have thought to ask about a horse for sale, like 'is he afraid of men?', 'is he narcoleptic?', 'is he berzerkly frightened of white ponies?', etc. The joy of horse shopping

Anyhow, hope this one works out for you -- if you are ok with light riding and giving the horse time off during bad weeks or months, a heavey horse can often continue to be useful and happy for some considerable while. And at least he's getting well taken care of

Have fun, good luck,

Pat​