Conference noted::equitation

    Is it dusty at all?  As of late it has been really dry in our area.
    Another possibility might be an allergy...this is the toughest year
    that I have seen for myself and I once had a horse that developed a
    cough in allergy season.
    What is the feed like...hay and grain both?  Is it dusty?  Maybe you
    need to dampen it.  The cough may not appear while the animal is eating
    but later when it is asked to do something.
    
    Good luck...let us know what happens.
    

    When my horse first developed heaves I talked to my vet a lot about
    coughing.  She said that some horses (not necessarily those with
    heaves) will consistently cough a couple of times when they are
    first asked to trot.  It's just something they do and doesn't
    necessarily mean that they are sick.  It's more like a habit. They
    cough a couple of times and then that's it.
    
    Does your horse have any other symptoms--like a running nose.  Does he
    have to push the air out of his lungs (rather than just allowing it to
    go out on its own)?  Horses with heaves have to push the air out
    because they've lost the elasticity in their lungs.  If your horse has
    no other symptoms and only coughs once or twice he may be just one of
    those that my vet described.  If that's the case it shouldn't be a
    problem. 
    
    Good luck,
    Andrea
    

    
    Regarding the dusty questions, it is a little dusty but not much.  We
    ride in an indoor ring that does get dampened done.  As to other
    symptoms there aren't any.  We can walk and canter and she doesn't seem
    to cough like when we trot and it's more than a couple of coughs but
    after a few minutes she's fine.  As to being unconditioned she's a lot
    better than when I got her, she (Fantacy) has lost a couple hundred
    pounds and now looks like a horse but she should be conditioned some
    more.  I can tell she is getting a little sick of ring work because
    somedays she's as stubborn as a mule.  I think she'll be thrilled to
    come home and be able to come and go as she pleases again, but for a 
    little while longer she only gets turned out for a couple hours.
    I'll see how it goes for a while and when the allergy season is gone
    if her coughs not I'll call the vet.
    
    Thanks for responses
    Cindy

    I had an Appy pony once that did exactly what you discribed. He
    only coughed in the summer, in the winter it went away but each
    spring he would start until the snow fell again. Three different
    vets looked at him and couldn't find anything even with blood tests.
    All we could guess is he had a mild allergy to something, and we
    just warmed him up real good before the shows and he did fine. One
    vet tried Glytussin on him for 2 months but it did not help much
    plus he hated the taste.
    
    Sandy
    

    
    My morgan/QH cross does the same,  winter or summer. I have
    tried isolating it down to his living conditions but nothing came
    of it, so we live with it. This only happens during the very first 
    trot. A few coughs and it's over for the remainder of the ride, 
    and we are riding hard too.  I've also noticed it only happens when 
    he has a day off. If I ride daily, he's fine. Give him one day off, 
    trot and cough, and on-ward we go.
                                        
    At first I thought he was playing games with me because we would
    start trotting, he would cough and I would instantly return to the
    walk for a while (can't blame him for trying to get out of working).
    Now, after just talking to the vet, we believe he is building up a 
    little fluid in the lungs from just sitting around thoughs days off.  
    Hasn't gotten worse, never completely goes away. Doesn't affect
    perfomance so I'm not to worried right yet.
                                                       
    
    

    I have a show hunter that does the same thing. At the beginning
    of the workout he coughs a couple of times then he stops. No runny
    nose or heavy type of behaviour and absolutely no wind problems.
    I think mine does it just out of habit. (He also likes to do it
    after I've completed a course in the show ring. Sometimes I know
    it costs me a ribbon!)