Hi, Renee.
My mini gelding has collapsed trachea and there are some things one can do.
Clenbuteral liquid by mouth 1 cc twice a day
Steam hay. I have wallpaper steamer and I connect to a plastic tote and cut a snug hole in the side. rinse hay first ten mins, drain for five, plug in steamer and let steam 20-30 mins according to amount of hay. try to use soft hay such as orchard to reduce clog in esopheagus. stemmy hay like timothy, alfalfa are not preferable.
Steaming hay verses wetting hay makes a big difference.
vacuum barn as best you can everywhere -- walls, ceiling, etc. or water down walls occasionally or steam clean. many horse supply stores sell products to kill fungii and bacteria you spray on walls especially if you are traveling
if the mini gets overweight or laminic problems, get a grazing muzzle so mini can eat like half compared to when not wearing it. i got the soft muzzle and even though the mini size is too big, i had the saddle shop take it in two inches and i installed a breakaway feature as muzzles can be dangerous unsupervised. first couple times he used it he rubbed on fence and got stuck.
if it is very hot out, i bring mine in the heat of the day and have a heavy duty fan mounted. mine is black and i live in florida. he loves that fan. last year i attached a mister and even though it's a little bit of a mess, he loves that too.
my mini was diagnosed three years ago and was stable with following precautions but with no rx but got worse last year. after i saw clenbuterol oral was not really cutting it, i am in the process of rigging up a nebulizer.
top of the line is 1400, a contour mask alone is 400. i got a 1.9amp nebulizer with high flow medicine cup and use a human hard plastic apnea mask and put over one nostril and kinda rig it up to the halter or you can hold it. human mask must be hard plastic, as human soft nebulizer mask collapses around edges. some people use the milk jug retrofitted.
i start out with equisilver per vet's recommendation to see if that helps. equisilver is a natural product that sort of attaches to bacteria and irritants in the lungs and trachea tube. at some point i will switch to clenbuteral in the medicine cup.
NEVER USE AN INHALER OR RESPIRATORY RX WITH STEROIDS. causes laminitis. something to do with the way minis metabolize steroids. same with bute can be dangerous. i always use bantamine for any need that comes in paste.
sorry this is long but I want to share this knowledge which i have learned myself as it is a process of trying different things to see what works for you.
barbie, a frequent poster here had the father of my boy and I am certain this is genetic although vets are not certain.
some of you may have seen articles online about 'magnificent the mini' but there are no updates. i contacted the vet directly who performed the procedure on him and after two years the owners put him down due to the continuing issue of scar tissue procedures. once i spoke with him, i nixed any idea of surgery. i realize my pony will not live to his normal life expectancy but i will do anything i can on my end to delay that.
amy