Management Key to Preventing Heaves in Horses

Heaves is a severe form of bronchitis/bronchiolitis. The airway passages of a horse with heaves are so obstructed by inflammation, mucus, and bronchial muscle contraction (bronchospasm) that the animal has difficulty breathing even at rest.
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Heaves (also called recurrent airway obstruction) is a severe form of bronchitis/bronchiolitis. The airway passages of a horse with heaves are so obstructed by inflammation, mucus, and bronchial muscle contraction (bronchospasm) that the animal has difficulty breathing even at rest. At the end of each exhalation, the horse pushes so hard with its abdominal muscles that with chronic overuse, these muscles enlarge and form a "heave line" that runs diagonally from the point of the hip forward to the lower edge of the ribs.

 

Horses with heaves first show signs when they are around eight years old. Signs include coughing and exercise intolerance and are more likely first observed when the affected horse is in closed environments such as a stable. The cough persists, and after one to two years the horse may show difficult breathing at rest. If the condition is untreated and management of the horse is not changed, airway obstruction becomes more severe and breathing becomes progressively more difficult. An affected horse loses weight because it cannot eat sufficient food when gasping for air and because it uses lots of muscular energy in the effort to breathe

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