Welcome to EN’s Product Review series! Who doesn’t love shopping… especially when the object of your search is new gear for yourself or your horse? As an enthusiast of all products equine, I LOVE trying out new gear. Which is why I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to try out products, so that I may share my many adventures with all of you! Please join me as I narrate my personal journey of trying out all of the products featured. While I will make no recommendations, I hope that you simply have fun and find entertainment while reading about my many adventures of trying new products, and that hearing about my personal experiences might help give you factors to consider when you are on your own quest for new gear!
Omega Alpha Equine Logo on Respi-Free bottle
Being a conscientious horse owner (or more accurately, I’d say I’m overly kinda-sort of obsessive with all things related to my horses’ health), I like to keep tabs on pretty much every little detail about my geldings. Since I am fortunate enough to be able to keep my horses at home on my small farm, I feel like I am pretty darn in tune with their routine and individual idiosyncrasies. I’ve learned a lot since I’ve stopped boarding–mainly that every horse is an individual, and they each have their own version of “normal” in terms of their habits and vitals. For example, one of my geldings, Mark, will spike a high fever every time he gets an abscess. The first time this happened, it was interesting for my vet to diagnose, since this does not really follow the typical pattern of a foot abscess. Normal for the average horse? Definitely not. Normal for Mark? Yup.
So over time, I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know what “normal” looks like for each of my horses. My youngest gelding in training is my boy Rufus. I was lucky enough to acquire him as a yearling, so that I’ve been able to watch him grow, and see his own individual personality develop. He is not without his own quirks though. Something that I’ve noticed is that he is an all-around sensitive horse. One of the ways that this manifests itself seems to be that he can develop a cough, depending on different environmental factors. There are two things that I’ve noticed that can be contributing factors: 1) His ‘wet spot’ area in his stall – Rufus keeps a very tidy stall; particularly he uses one corner for manure, and another corner for his urine – it smells extremely strong, and I have to strip it daily, and treat the are to try to eliminate the ammonia smell as much as possible, and 2) Dust in his alfalfa – I feed a majority of quality first cut grass hay, with some alfalfa to add variety and provide a treat for the boys; sometimes, a bale of alfalfa will be on the dusty side, and I wet it down to feed in this case.
Bottle of Respi-Free, awaiting use!
Even with the steps that I take to minimize the impact of the ‘wet spot’ in his stall and the occasionally dusty alfalfa, Rufus will still get coughing spells. I’ve always hated that, and want to make sure he stays in absolute top health; after all, I hope that he’s got a bright future ahead as an event horse, and I’d love nothing more for us to have many years together. So, when I had the chance to try Respi-Free from Omega Alpha Equine recently, I was definitely excited to see what the product could do for Rufus. I’ve already heard a lot of good things about Omega Alpha Equine products; particularly on the Horse Radio Network show ‘Horses in the Morning’ (I’m a big fan of the show!).
Before trying Respi-Free, I wasn’t really sure what else to do for Rufus, in terms of maintaining his respiratory health. I’ve felt uneasy with his coughing spells, but did not really know how else to try to help him. So again, when I had the chance to try Respi-Free came up, I thought that Rufus would make a good candidate to try the product on. I made sure to read through the instructions for use on the bottle of Respi-Free, and opened it up. When I did, I sniffed the bottle, and was pleasantly surprised; to my senses, I smelled what I thought was a combination of menthol and throat spray. The aroma was on the strong side, but pleasant, in my opinion. I went ahead and measured some out in a dosing syringe within the recommended range (this is meant to be administered orally). When it came out, the liquid was a darker brown in color.
Measuring out some Respi-Free for Rufus–notice the brown coloring
The couple of days prior to administering the first dose of Respi-Free, I did notice Rufus having some of his coughing spells (particularly after he started munching on some of his wetted down alfalfa). Rufus is always a pretty good patient, so he did allow me to administer the dose of Respi-Free orally. I could tell that he was not particularly fond of the taste of the Respi-Free (he made a bit of a funny face, and tried to spit some of it out). What I did notice though, was that after I started Rufus on Respi-Free, I did not observe him having a coughing spell. After the first day, I continued to give him a daily dose of Respi-Free for maintenance, and noticed the absence of coughing continued! As a test, I stopped Respi-Free for a couple of days; on the second day with no Respi-Free, I heard Rufus cough while he was eating his alfalfa in his stall. Since then, I’ve returned to using Respi-Free for Rufus, and the coughing has subsided again.
So let’s recap–me? I’m super into paying attention to each and every little detail about my horses. In the case of Rufus, one of his little quirks has been his tendency to have coughing spells. Since I’ve started Rufus on Respi-Free, I’ve personally been very pleased with the fact that he has stopped having said coughing spells. Even though Rufus isn’t a super fan of the taste of the Respi-Free, he still behaves well enough for me, and allows me to administer it to him; and it does seem to make a noticeable difference for him. I plan to continue to administer Respi-Free to Rufus, in order to address his coughing spells. Respi-Free from Omega Alpha Equine is available in both one-liter and one-gallon sizes.
Go Respiratory Health. Go Omega Alpha Equine. Go Eventing.
