Inflammatory airway diseases from mild IAD to severe equine asthma represent a welfare spectrum requiring integrated management addressing both inflammation and environmental cause.
The spectrum from IAD to severe equine asthma represents a continuum of airway welfare harm that requires proportionate intervention. Horses with IAD may appear clinically normal at rest and even in light work — they are competing and training with reduced airway capacity and chronic low-grade inflammation that causes discomfort and impairs performance. The welfare problem is that IAD horses are often pushed harder in training to achieve performance that is limited by occult airway disease, rather than having the disease investigated and treated. Cytology-guided treatment allows precise matching of intervention to inflammatory type — a neutrophilic pattern responds differently from a mast-cell pattern. Combined environmental management — eliminating dust exposure — with targeted pharmacological treatment achieves the best outcomes for airway welfare.