Environmental control to maintain stabled COPD horses in clinical remission: effects on pulmonary function.

The study investigated whether changes in bedding and feed could maintain stable health in horses with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It found that substituting hay with grass silage and using specific bedding types did not significantly affect the health of these horses over a period of six weeks.

Objective of the Study

• The study aimed to analyze whether replacing hay with grass silage and switching the bedding material for stabled horses with COPD could keep these horses in clinical remission (a state in which all or most symptoms of their disease have decreased or disappeared).

Procedure

• Horses were kept in a stable setting, and various changes were made to their environment.
• Grass silage replaced hay, and the bedding was made of wood shavings for a period (Period B). Wheat straw was later used as bedding for another period (Period C).
• The experiment spanned over six weeks for each period.

Experimental Measurements

• At the end of these different periods, the health condition of the horses was assessed by evaluating their mechanics of breathing and performing arterial blood analyses.
• These results were then compared to those taken while the horses were in a state of clinical remission following two months of being in a pasture (Period A).
• The pulmonary function of these COPD horses was also compared against healthy horses that had been placed in a hay environment for six weeks.

Findings

• The research found that there was no significant difference in the health measures between the three periods or when compared to the measures from healthy horses in a hay environment.
• However, it was noted that COPD horses that were placed in contact with hay in the same barn developed clinical signs of heaves, a rhythmic involuntary contraction of the diaphragm, and significant alterations in their pulmonary function within an average of 8 days.