Equus will be publishing my article on Equine Epistaxis

Several years ago, Blessi experienced a spontaneous nose bleed or equine epistaxis.  He was dripping gouts of blood from both nostrils.  Even though there was no swelling and Blessi seemed to be in no discomfort, I called the veterinarian.  He described several conditions that could be causing the bleeding that ranged from a foreign body in the nasal passage to Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage, to Guttural Pouch Fungal Infection, etc.

Dr. Weeks ran an endoscope up Blessi's nasal passage to find he was bleeding from the sigmoid area.  Best diagnosis was that Blessi had had some sort of stupid pasture accident and was bleeding internally due to blunt force trauma of some sort (not a horse kick since there was no swelling around the head).  The vet was not too worried and the bleeding slowed down and stopped in a few days with no further treatment.



I wrote up what I learned about equine epistaxis in a Case Study to help other horse owners.  Equus magazine informed me yesterday that they will be publishing my article in some future edition.

Poor Blessi!  You should have seen the expression on his face when Dr. Weeks ran a 16 inch endoscope up the nasal passage.  Blessi was surprised for the first few seconds but then settled down to see if there was a carrot reward involved in the process.