Page 76 - December 2020

VETERINARY VIEWS
STRATEGIES TO REDUCE DUST PARTICULATES AND AIRWAY IRRITANTS
During barn cleaning, turn horses outside to decrease dust exposure.
Store hay away from horses.
Use the least dusty bedding possible, such as clean straw, wood shavings, peat, or paper bedding products.
For arenas adjacent to stalls, water the arena to decrease dust.
Airway inflammation can impact performance, particularly of a horse engaged in high-speed sports, like racing.
STRATEGIES TO REDUCE DUST PARTICULATES AND AIRWAY IRRITANTS Practical strategies can minimize the amount of dust inhaled by horses into the airways:
• Soak dusty hay in water to decrease the
amount of dust the horse breathes in when
eating. Feed outside when possible.
• Dampen barn aisles, especially during
sweeping.
• During barn cleaning, turn horses outside
to decrease their dust exposure. Particulates
remain elevated up to 1 - 2 hours after cleaning.
• Use the least dusty bedding possible, such as
clean straw, wood shavings, peat, or paper
bedding products.
• Refrain from storing hay overhead or in
adjacent stalls as movement of hay aerosolizes
dust and particulates.
• For arenas adjacent to stalls, water the arena
to decrease dust.
• Keep the barn well ventilated. Open
windows and doors as much as possible. Ammonia is ls also a prime offender to a
horse’s airways, particularly when confined to a stall in a closed or heated barn. Ammonia fumes result from urine that soaks into bedding. Methods to reduce the presence of ammonia are similar to strategies employed to minimize dust, with a few other twists:
• Clean stalls once or twice daily to remove all urine-soaked bedding, and strip stalls at least weekly.
• Remove horses from stalls while cleaning to minimize exposure to ammonia gases that are stirred up with raking and pitching of bedding
• Provide good drainage in stalls and aisle ways to facilitate exit of urine. Clean under mats regularly.
• Use highly absorbent bedding materials, like paper or wood shavings rather than straw.
• Mix an ammonia-neutralizing product with
clean bedding.
To combat dust or ammonia irritants, provide excellent barn ventilation, avoid closing up a barn when possible, and use ceiling fans and open doors and windows
to allow refreshment of air. Consult with a barn architect to assess barn ventilation and make every possible improvement. A barn design that allows ridge ventilation with either louvered cupolas or vents promotes passive movement of air flow and requires no motorized equipment to move the air. Exhaust of air through ridge vents is best facilitated when coupled with soffit screens where the walls intersect the roof – air then moves in at the soffit level and out at the ridge vents.
The best strategy, of course, is to house horses outside whenever possible to promote a clean air environment.
PERSISTENT INFLAMMATION
It is often thought by owners that horse turn out during the day helps settle down airway inflammation, and then it’s okay to bring the horse back into a stall at night. This is a common misperception: When horses experience a bout of equine asthma, the symptoms last beyond the time of direct exposure to the offending agent(s) – on average up to 15 1/2 days.
A horse in remission from asthma that is turned out to pasture where there is no dust or airborne antigen exposure can see those improvements undone after one night in a dusty barn.
Even when turning the horse back out to pasture again, the exacerbation of severe signs of asthmatic airway obstruction may last for days.
In a nutshell, just a portion of the day spent in stabling is enough to perpetuate respiratory problems.
Equine asthma is recognized sooner in racehorses because of the need to use every ounce of their respiratory reserve to perform.
74 SPEEDHORSE December 2020