The equine respiratory system can be a major cause of poor performance or premature retirement from competition. A proven way to support the health of the respiratory system is by reducing resistance to breathing at the nose so horses breathe easier. To understand why, recall that when exercising horses don’t breathe through their mouth like humans, they only breathe through their nose. This means that oxygen which is vital for working muscles is not available if breathing through the nose is impaired.
If you place your hand a few inches above your horse’s nostrils, you’ll feel a region that is unsupported by bone or cartilage that collapses inward when you press into it.
During intensive exercise, this tissue overlying the nasal passage collapses inward which reduces the diameter of the nasal passage, causing increased resistance of airflow to the lungs when air is needed most. In fact, during exercise over 80% of the resistance to inhaling air into the lungs occurs in the upper airway and over 50% of the upper airway resistance is caused by the nasal passages.
FLAIR® Equine Nasal Strips are clinically proven to support the tissue that collapse into the nasal passages so horses breathe easier during intensive exercise.
Breathing easier helps horses optimize their stride, reduce fatigue and conserve energy. At the gallop, horses take a single breath with each stride. A horse struggling to move air in and out of the lungs will shorten its stride or consume more energy when taking in air that otherwise could be used to power the skeletal muscles. In other words, anything that makes breathing difficult will impair stride and performance. It can cause anxiousness or loss of concentration, too.
Breathing easier also reduces the likelihood of exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage or “EIPH”. Scientific studies show that substantially all horses that work hard experience EIPH. However, less than 5% of horses ever show blood at the nostrils. The damage from repeated occurrences of EIPH is cumulative and can shorten a horse’s competitive career. EIPH occurs because the fragile membrane that separates the airways from the blood passing through the small capillaries in the lungs ruptures. This thin (1/100th the thickness of a human hair) membrane is highly efficient for oxygen and carbon dioxide transfer between the lungs and the blood. Its thinness makes it vulnerable to rupture when exposed to high blood pressures and enormous airway pressures that are generated in the lungs during intensive exercise.
Breathing easier is not only beneficial during exercise, but it’s also important during recovery after exercise. The quicker a horse recovers, the more energy it has for tomorrow.
FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips are clinically proven to make breathing easier for all horses that work hard. The Strips are also proven to reduce fatigue, conserve energy, quicken recovery, and protect from EIPH. The benefits of easier breathing are important for horses competing at all levels of training or competition. For more information, visit flairstrips.com/learn. You can also find them right here on EIE in our section on Thoroughbred Racing.
