Georgina Bloomberg is a well-known and long-time advocate of horse welfare. Her receipt of the 2019 EQUUS Foundation Humanitarian Award is the latest acknowledgement of the many good works the international Grand Prix rider and daughter of presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has done for horses and other creatures in need.

Her current and retired competition horses enjoy more fortunate circumstances than those Georgina is famous for helping, but she’s equally determined to help them feel good and thrive. When she and her team noticed that a few of her show jumpers occasionally had a random cough, they wisely didn’t dismiss it.

Even random and sporadic coughing in a horse can be an early indicator of Inflammatory Airway Disease. Multiple studies indicate IAD affects a surprisingly high percent of active sport horses – as high as 88% according to a recent three-year study of 730 horses published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

“We have had a horse or two develop a cough from time to time over the years,” Georgina says. “Stopping a horse from coughing is not always an easy thing to obtain.” Since putting her horses on Haygain steamed hay last fall, the coughs went away.

The only good thing about coughing in a horse is that it may turn more attention to equine respiratory health. “That’s not widely talked about unless an issue arises,” comments Georgina. “We believe being proactive toward our horses’ respiratory health is far better than waiting for that problem to arise. Haygain has played a crucial role in this.”

In the Haygain process, high temperature steam is evenly distributed through hay in a thermally-sealed chest. Temperatures that rise as high as 212*F kill fungi, bacteria and mold found in even top-quality hays. Steaming also reduces 99% of the breathable dust particles found in hay. Because respirable irritants of any kind are the major cause and exacerbator of Inflammatory Airway Disease, Haygain steaming is key to preventing and managing this common and often undiagnosed condition.