Protecting your Horse from Respiratory Disease

Here are five quick tips to help keep respiratory diseases out of your herd.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Although respiratory diseases are rarely fatal, they are costly for the performance horse. A general rule of thumb is one week off for every day the horse is running a fever—often costing you weeks of training and showing time. Here are some quick tips to help keep respiratory disease out of your barn. 

1. Biosecurity—Show grounds and racetracks can be an ideal environment for viruses and bacteria due to the high volume of horses that move in and out of them. You can help protect your horse by taking a few simple measures to help minimize his contact with these viruses and bacteria:

  • Disinfect your stall prior to using it. Mild antibacterial soap/disinfectants and warm water will kill most harmful viruses and bacteria that can affect your horse. Be sure to clean the walls, doors, bars, and floors—anywhere his nose and mouth can touch.

  • Avoid nose-to-nose contact with other horses. One of the ways respiratory diseases, such as equine influenza virus and equine herpesvirus, are transmitted is from nose-to-nose contact.

  • Do not share equipment with other horses without properly disinfecting. This includes bits, brushes, buckets, hoses, etc.

2. Vaccinate regularly—Keep your performance horse, and any horses he comes in contact with, on a regular vaccination schedule.

  • Have your horse properly vaccinated by a veterinarian at least two weeks prior to the start of your show season.

  • Talk with your veterinarian about an appropriate vaccination booster schedule. Most performance horses will need to be vaccinated for respiratory diseases such as equine influenza and equine herpesvirus at least bi-annually.

3. Adequate ventilation—It is important to provide adequate ventilation during transport, as well as at home. Ammonia (from urine) and dust can irritate the horse’s respiratory system, making them more susceptible to disease. Keep your barn and arena well-ventilated with clean, natural air, and do your best to remove wet bedding and dust daily. When you are traveling, the same principles apply—dust and ammonia in the trailer can irritate your horse’s trachea, bronchi, and lungs and create what some call “shipping fever.” To help avoid this, consider letting your horse out of the trailer in a safe, secure location to breathe fresh air and move naturally every three to five hours during a long trip

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Earl Gaughan, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, is an equine technical services veterinarian with Merck Animal Health. He graduated from the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine and completed a residency in large animal surgery at Cornell University. Gaughan is a board-certified surgeon and has been in private equine practice in Maryland and Colorado. Additionally, he’s served as professor of equine surgery at Kansas State University, Auburn University, and the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. He has been active in the leadership of the North American Veterinary Conference and the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Gaughan is an equine technical services veterinarian for Merck Animal Health.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
439 votes · 439 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!