Horses face multiple respiratory conditions beyond asthma including viral diseases, strangles, and exercise-induced hemorrhage. Prevention and management protect health and welfare.
Respiratory disease causes significant welfare compromise in horses through breathing difficulty, pain from lymph node abscesses in strangles, and reduced exercise tolerance. Strangles is particularly welfare-significant: horses develop painful submandibular abscesses, often have difficulty swallowing, and recovery takes weeks even with appropriate treatment. The stigma around strangles reporting means outbreaks are sometimes concealed, allowing spread that increases the total welfare burden. Vaccination programs for influenza and herpesvirus reduce disease incidence in populations where compliance is high. Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage causes blood accumulation in the airways during intense exercise — the welfare implications and whether affected horses should continue competing are subjects of ongoing debate.