The Nose Knows

You arrive at the barn to find your horse with a snotty nose. Do you clean him up and ride him anyway? Call your veterinarian for an emergency visit? Or do you decide to take the day off and see what your horse looks like the next morning?

The answer isn’t simple. The cause of your horse’s nasal discharge can range from something as simple as a little dust irritation to as serious as a life-threatening pneumonia.

Here, I’ll give you the tools you need to determine what to do when you find your horse with a nasal discharge. First, I’ll tell exactly what mucous is. Next, I’ll explain how to evaluate your horse’s discharge by giving you five questions to answer about its nature. I’ll describe what each answer likely means about your horse’s condition and recommend an action step.

Finally, I’ll outline five common snotty-nose scenarios. For each scenario, I’ll give you the most likely cause of the discharge, whether it’s an emergency, and a recommended action plan. Along the way, I’ll tell you about a different reason for nasal discharge that looks alarming but is usually easily