Bad behavior and white nasal discharge!

[lrequine]

Hey folks,

This morning me and my Dad went out for a ride with our two, and mine played up an awful lot, it was a very stressful hack (he's a 6yo slow maturing warmblood, so often may aswell be a 3yo in some cases). It doesn't happen often, but he was a real pain in the arse, launching forwards, jogging everywhere etc.

His mouth isn't brilliant at the moment, it has only just healed up from mouth cuts which happen a lot, but I'm not being hard with my hands and still he insists on throwing me around, jogging, halts and counts etc. He's in a loose ring, mullen mouth bit with a roller and bit guards, is it possible that the roller or guards are annoying him? Anybody else having/had a similar issue? I spoke to his previous owner who bred him, knowing him very well her gut feeling is that he's just having his 6yo teenage phase. He especially hates me schooling him out on hacks, but behaves better at home in the field.

So anyway after this stressful hack, I worked him hard in the field to burn so much of this energy of his, and after untacking him I noticed a lovely white discharge running from only one of his nostrils and I started to panic a little, because that's what I do! However I went out an hour later just to check on him and make sure he was himself which he seemed to be, and he seemed to have passed all the white discharge, with just a little translucent stuff still there, but not really running. So I guess my main question for this is, do horses produce this white nasal discharge after a stressful period, and at a particular time of year? We did go past some rapeseed fields on the ride as well, is it an allergy? Though to my knowledge, he didn't suffer with one last year.

Having spoke to a few friends today, the mixed views seemed to consist of allergies, colic (if it gets worse or he seems 'off'), or even that his bad mouth/playing up and nasal discharge are all linked.

Any more enlightening opinions would be much appreciated, thanks folks.

[Wagtail]

A nasal discharge out of one nostril often means a tooth abscess. Coupled with his head tossing etc, it would all make sense. Have the dentist to him and/or the vet. Also, if he is getting mouth cuts, then the bit/bridle combination is not suitable for him.

[Dubsie]

Sounds allergy type discharge to me - one of ours when it was dry and dusty started coughing a lot and during exercise had a white runny nose, vet disgnosed allergy and prescribed powdered ventolin, soak everything and hay on the floor not in a net. Then it rained, so all the dust has gone, and he's stopped coughing, stopped the discharge.

[rafty]

My old horse was the same age as yours when he started playing up when being ridden, head tossing, and had the cuts in the corners of his mouth. When the dentist came out it was because he needed to have his wolf teeth out.