Seeking treatment for horses that bleed? It’s not about feeding more electrolytes. It’s about making them work properly!
When electrolyte balance deteriorates, horses begin to lose capillaries, known as capillary rarefaction. This loss of part of the circulatory system is well known in humans to cause blood pressure to rise. The increase in blood pressure caused by the capillary rarefaction is sufficient to burst the blood vessels in the lungs during exercise, known as EIPH. Equiwinner resets electrolyte balance and starts to work almost immediately. The ten-day treatment, combined with only walking exercise for a total of fifteen days, restores capillaries to prevent the extra high blood pressure causing EIPH in horses. The lung tissue usually has scars from previous bleeding, and without a course of Equiwinner, these scars will rupture, causing more bleeding. Smart electrolytes will allow the scars to fully heal over the period of fifteen days. Normal training can then be resumed with confidence.
Equiwinner patches contain natural balanced electrolytes and nothing goes into the body of the horse. Results can last the season or up to one full year. There are no side effects.
Watch: Kay Young, Nat’l Cowgirl Hall of Fame, talks about EIPH bleeding.
More about EIPH Bleeding:
What is the history? For over 300 years, horse riders have seen blood at the nostrils during or soon after performance work in a percentage of athletically trained horses. The condition has been named Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage or EIPH and affected horses are commonly known as “bleeders”. With the advent of the modern endoscope, a flexible fiber-optic instrument, it has become appreciated that bleeding, or EIPH in horses, can be seen in the windpipe from one hour to several days after the exertion. Recent research has used radio-active blood cells to track these blood leakages from the lungs. The important conclusions from these investigations are (a) many more horses are bleeding internally than just the ones seen with blood at the nostrils, (b) in racing, most horses bleed at least once or many times in their career, (c) the blood is coming from the lungs during fast work. It is known that more than half of all racehorses bleed during racing, and some researchers have stated up to one hundred percent. Bleeding is a common condition of racing horses and always has been.
What types of horses bleed? Most types of horses are susceptible to bleeding, Thoroughbred, Standardbred, Quarter horse, Thoroughbred cross and Arab horses. In addition to all kinds of racing, eventing, dressage, cross-country, showjumping and driving, bleeding has also been found in horses kept for lighter recreational use. Where a horse is in work only seasonally or at irregular intervals, EIPH bleeding can develop during periods of rest. When the horse is brought back into training, there is often unnoticed bleeding with distress and refusal for apparently unknown reasons. Bleeding is even known in heavy dray horses when they are asked for extra effort.
What causes EIPH bleeding? Bleeding in horses is now known with certainty to be caused by extra high blood pressure when the horse is under exertion. Normal blood pressure is the low resting to very high racing scale of blood pressure found in a free running wild horse, or a domesticated endurance horse, rising with exertion but not so high as to cause distress or bleeding. A healthy horse at rest has a pulse of 40 to 50 beats per minute, but rising to over 250 beats at maximum effort, accounting for the horse’s superb speed and acceleration. It is normal for blood pressure to rise during exertion in a healthy horse. This pressure is supported by veins inside the hoof which are compressed by the pressure on the digital cushion. Blood is thereby ‘pumped’ up the leg.
Why worry about bleeding? One consequence of bleeding is the formation of scar tissue. Clearly, over time, the oxygen exchange function of the lung may become reduced. Sometimes it is decided to euthanize “bleeding” horses. Researchers carrying out autopsy have seen signs of leakage from the lung capillaries. This is how the blood gets into the airway. The condition can become more severe if it continues for some years. It is obviously desirable to keep the lungs in good condition and racing fit for best performance from the horse.
Is there a positive test for EIPH bleeding? If bleeding is suspected the simple answer is to have the vet inspect the windpipe with an endoscope (known as ‘scoping), one or more hours after vigorous exercise. A vet ‘scoping horses is a familiar sight before race days in busy professional racing yards. There are other signs the horse owner can look out for. All horses have high blood pressure when running but, in a bleeder, it is slightly higher than normal. Inspection of the horse after a workout may show that the nostrils are a brighter red than normal. There may be redness or red lines at the side of the eyes. Extra pressure and bleeding may result in the horse stopping for no reason. For example, in show jumping, when the horse has done well over the first six jumps, then stops for no reason and starts to shake its head. This is typical behavior associated with extra high pressure. Racehorses rarely pull up as a result of the extra pressure, although they do sometimes. Racehorses will usually keep going, fueled by adrenaline and competition with the other horses, but they can be bleeding from the lungs all the way. Another sign to look for is a dull dry coat, caused by poor circulation in the skin.
Equiwinner starts to work almost immediately and, combined with only walking exercise for a total of fifteen days (see product instructions), restores capillaries to prevent the extra high blood pressure. The horse will have had lung tissue scars, caused by previous bleeding, and smart electrolytes will then allow the scars to fully heal. Normal training or competition can then be resumed with confidence.
Georges Bittar, competing on the US national show jumping circuit and internationally for Lebanon (30 years).
Update: Georges is now not only a father to Alyce and Amélie but also their coach as they now compete internationally at the Junior level. Georges has been using Equiwinner for 10 years so the daughters barely remember life without Equiwinner.
Equiwinner is a non-transdermal patch, an inert device. Nothing from the Equiwinner Patch enters the body of the horse so that the Equiwinner patch is safe to use in all competitive sport and racing and will not test positive.
Horses being treated for EIPH bleeding should not compete or race but should have walking exercise only for the ten days of treatment, and for a further five days. Then the horse can be gradually returned to normal training. This procedure ensures that existing scar tissue in the lungs can fully heal without being put under pressure. After using Equiwinner, the horse has healthy circulation and lungs, and the performance of the horse then increases.
Caution! Other cases of nose bleeding, such as injury, and particularly those cases not directly associated with exercise, may have a cause other than the normal bleeding condition described above and should be investigated by a competent person.
Nutrition can either help maintain proper electrolyte balance or it can completely unbalance electrolytes. For more information on nutrition, click here.
Frequently Asked Questions about EIPH Bleeding
Can diet, supplements, or electrolytes help with EIPH?
Diet and nutrition can support overall cardiovascular health, but EIPH persists in many horses because it is not caused by electrolyte deficiency. The problem is deteriorated balance leading to improper electrolyte function, capillary rarefaction, and elevated blood pressure during exertion; feeding more electrolytes or supplements typically does not reset this or restore capillaries.
Equiwinner takes a different approach: its unique patented smart cell signaling patch (containing only natural balanced electrolytes, with nothing absorbed) resets proper electrolyte transmission, restores lost capillaries, heals lung scars over the 15-day period (10 days treatment plus walking), and prevents bleeding by normalizing pressure. A single course often provides protection for the season or up to a full year, helping horses perform confidently in hard work without recurrence, even in cases with prior epistaxis or poor circulation signs like dull coats.
Is horse lung bleeding (EIPH) caused by the force of galloping?
There have been articles in veterinary journals including a theory that EIPH bleeding in horses occurs due to the force of impact transmitted through the forelimbs as they strike the ground. However, it is most unlikely that horses with such a weakness could have survived evolution, and there have never been reports of bleeding in wild horses.
EIPH in horses (exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage) is common not only in racehorses but also in dressage horses and even dray horses, where hoof impact is minimal. Some EIPH horses with high blood pressure may bleed even at a walk.
Now the cause of bleeding is known with certainty: extra-high blood pressure during exertion. A healthy horse at rest has a pulse of 40–50 beats per minute, but it can rise to over 250 at maximum effort. This surge in pressure, normally supported by veins in the hoof that pump blood upward, can disrupt lung capillaries.
Equiwinner patches help by improving circulation so the rise in blood pressure during strenuous work does not damage lung capillaries. This makes Equiwinner an effective option for the treatment for EIPH in horses.
How to take a horse's blood pressure?
Equus First Ltd., the developer of Equiwinner, measures horse blood pressure using a clinically validated electronic blood pressure meter — the same model used for humans. A specially sized inflatable cuff is wrapped around the base of the tail, the dock. This is the standard method for how to take a horse’s blood pressure safely and accurately.
There are very few recorded values for normal horse blood pressure, but findings show that resting systolic and diastolic readings are similar to humans, usually 120 over 80 or less. Some ponies may even have much lower values.
It is rare to find high blood pressure in horses at rest. When it does occur, these horses are often unwilling or unable to do more than walk, and they typically require immediate treatment with Equiwinner.
Blood pressure naturally rises during exercise or exertion. In a healthy horse, it should return to normal within about a minute after strenuous activity. If it takes longer, this suggests circulation is not optimal and may need support with Equiwinner patches.
Other signs of extra-high blood pressure include the lining of the nostrils turning bright red after exercise, and red patches or red lines appearing at the sides of the whites of the eyes.
We've come a long way since blood pressure was first tested on horses in 1733 by Rev. Stephen Hales.
