It can be difficult to figure out where snot is coming from due to the complicated anatomy of horses' skulls. The horse has two main sinus cavities (frontal and maxillary) in the head, as well as several smaller ones. They also have a guttural pouch which connects the ears to the nose and mouth, helping to regulate air pressure and cooling blood to the brain during intense exercise. It is a complex and intertwined system.
When you first discover the snot, take note of a few things:
What colour is it?
Does it come from one or both nostrils?
Does it have an odour?
Is there also an odour in the mouth?
Does your horse have a fever?
Are lymph nodes swollen? Are they super swollen?
Is he/she lethargic?
Have an appetite?
Has your horse been exposed to any other new horses out, or has a new horse been brought in?
These will help you figure out the likely cause.
Common Causes of Nasal Discharge
The common causes of nasal discharge include strangles, sinus infections, tooth problems, and guttural pouch infections. Or it could just be pollen, or dusty hay/stable bedding. We recently changed chaff because it was just too dusty. It was making us sneeze too.
Bilateral (both nostrils) usually occurs when the source of the mucus is inside the head such as strangles and guttural pouch infections. Unilateral discharge (one nostril) occurs when the mucus comes from the opening in the nasal passage, such as with a sinus infection, or a tooth root problem.
1. Clear or cloudy snot is usually an irritant like dust, pollen or ammonia (urine in a stable). It's usually temporary and not a big deal. Horses are usually still alert and active. Read more about managing your environment for better respiratory health here.
2. Viral infections cause clear to whitish discharge, while bacterial infections may lead to thicker, yellow or green mucus. Additional symptoms like fever, coughing, and reduced appetite often accompany respiratory infections.
3. When tooth infections spread to the sinus cavities, horses usually have thick and foul-smelling snot, often appearing from one nostril only. If your horse's breath smells bad, our recommendation is to call a dentist. Equine dentists manage equine dental health all day every day, as opposed to vets doing dental work, when they are generalists.
4. Ethmoid hematoma is a mass inside the nasal passage, it usually has bloody discharge on one side, often with snoring sounds.
5. Guttural pouch empyema is a bacterial infection that affects the guttural pouches. This condition occurs when bacteria, such as Streptococcus, enter the pouches and cause a buildup of pus. The resulting nasal discharge is usually thick, yellow, and foul-smelling.
Horses with guttural pouch empyema may also have swollen lymph nodes, difficulty swallowing, or a high fever.
6. Strangles leads to thick, yellow or green nasal discharge, often accompanied by very swollen lymph nodes under the jaw.
In severe cases, abscesses form and drain, releasing pus, accompanied by fever, loss of appetite, and difficulty swallowing. Most horses in Australia have been vaccinated against strangles. These days antibiotics are not recommended.
Unless a horse is having complications, it is best not to treat with antibiotics. A recent study showed that horses that were treated with antibiotics had a lower titer against the bacteria, which may reduce their chance of developing a strong immune response that can then prevent re-infection, according to Dr. Gruntman.
Follow the link for more info. Antibiotics also decrease gut flora which serve important roles in overall health. Horses generally recover, but you can support their immune response with nutrition.
It's important to isolate because it's quite contagious. As with any other contagious illness, thoroughly clean feed and water troughs and avoid using the same equipment amongst sick and well horses.
7. Esophageal obstruction (Choke) Choke in horses is when food becomes lodged in the esophagus, causing nasal discharge. It often happens with pelleted feed that swells in the throat. We encourage you to dampen feed before feeding, and even make a mash if your horse is older.
When food gets stuck, saliva and food particles back up and exit through the nostrils. This discharge is usually frothy and may contain food bits.
We’ve had many incidence of choke over the years. We have found it can be quickly resolved using a hose to add water over the tongue (put the hose in the mouth, and then take it out). Do this at intervals until the horse stops showing symptoms, or alternatively use a large syringe to dose water over the tongue. It should resolve in about 10 -15 minutes. Even if you do decide to call a vet you can do this while you wait for them to arrive. You might find you can call off the visit.
EIPH, also known as “bleeding,” occurs in horses after intense exercise when blood vessels in the lungs rupture.
This condition causes small amounts of blood to enter the airways and sometimes exit through the nostrils.
Horses prone to EIPH may show bloody nasal discharge following strenuous activities. It is very common in OTTBs. This will be ongoing, so if you have taken on an OTTB that is a ‘bleeder’ you can rule out a post-race performance career, however they can make a great trail riding mount (the same goes for bowed tendons).
If your heart is set on a performance discipline we would encourage you to move that horse on. The more we can get OTTBs to forever homes where the expectations of the owners match the limitations of that particular horse the better.
In all these cases, having a horse with a robust immune function well help them overcome their snot issues. All Sound Advice Trace Mixes help support immune function.
It's difficult to show horse owners the advantages of Trace Mixes in the short-term. The benefit of Trace Mixes are in the myriad illnesses and conditions that your horses don't get.
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