This
past season has been somewhat of a nightmare for a lot of jump trainers. The vets say this is due to the mild, damp
weather which is a breeding ground for moulds and spores. These moulds and spores then affect the airways
of the horses, producing excess mucus which restricts the breathing capacity of
the horses when under pressure. This
definitely affects racehorses more than any other horse as they are using lung
capacity to the full. It has been a
tricky thing to diagnose here at the yard as blood tests have always been
normal, nothing has coughed and the tracheal washes aren’t showing any sign of
infection but there has been more mucus, with them generally not finishing
their work as I would wish and not performing on the racecourse. Hopefully we have found the source and put
pay to this problem.
One of our vets said that about 20% of racehorses this season have been affected throughout the winter across most yards with the same problem as us and that it has just kept grumbling all the time from Autumn onwards. Our whole yard has been disinfected twice this season and we’ve taken out all the bedding each time. We have now changed our bedding to the more expensive, but tried and tested, Bedmax shavings: www.bedmaxshavings.com . Back along all the horses had a mini break of just trotting to give them time to get over it and they are all now back in full work. Headly’s Bridge ran at Newbury over a week ago in a Class 2 0-150 handicap chase where he came 5th (in ground not to his liking) so things are looking up. We have been able to turn them all out to get their heads down, get some fresh air and this has definitely helped.
Earlier in the season we bought a Haygain HG2000 hay steamer as it is very hard to find consistently clean hay without moulds, spores and dust particles. We had our hay tested after steaming and the results were really interesting. The good news was that the hay came out as clean as a whistle so we know it isn’t the forage causing problems. We like to feed all our horses ad lib hay and they consume around 7-10kg of hay a day. It is important to us for them to have forage 24 hours of the day and whilst haylage is generally cleaner (less dust etc.) than hay, it can cause other problems if fed ad lib. The Haygain steamer, whilst an expensive addition to the yard has been truly beneficial and to read all the benefits please visit their website: www.haygain.co.uk . The horses have certainly enjoyed the warm hay on chilly mornings and evenings!
One of our vets said that about 20% of racehorses this season have been affected throughout the winter across most yards with the same problem as us and that it has just kept grumbling all the time from Autumn onwards. Our whole yard has been disinfected twice this season and we’ve taken out all the bedding each time. We have now changed our bedding to the more expensive, but tried and tested, Bedmax shavings: www.bedmaxshavings.com . Back along all the horses had a mini break of just trotting to give them time to get over it and they are all now back in full work. Headly’s Bridge ran at Newbury over a week ago in a Class 2 0-150 handicap chase where he came 5th (in ground not to his liking) so things are looking up. We have been able to turn them all out to get their heads down, get some fresh air and this has definitely helped.
Earlier in the season we bought a Haygain HG2000 hay steamer as it is very hard to find consistently clean hay without moulds, spores and dust particles. We had our hay tested after steaming and the results were really interesting. The good news was that the hay came out as clean as a whistle so we know it isn’t the forage causing problems. We like to feed all our horses ad lib hay and they consume around 7-10kg of hay a day. It is important to us for them to have forage 24 hours of the day and whilst haylage is generally cleaner (less dust etc.) than hay, it can cause other problems if fed ad lib. The Haygain steamer, whilst an expensive addition to the yard has been truly beneficial and to read all the benefits please visit their website: www.haygain.co.uk . The horses have certainly enjoyed the warm hay on chilly mornings and evenings!
Our Haygain HB2000 hay steamer in action
No comments:
Post a Comment