Every spring, Plato started coughing. As the weather became warmer and drier, his coughing became more frequent and his breathing more difficult. The symptoms continued throughout summer and into autumn, while during the winter he was usually comfortable again. Seeing him struggle to breathe was difficult. We could hear him coughing, we knew the nebulization helped him, and we wanted to do more for him than we could.

After veterinary examination, Plato was diagnosed with mild equine asthma. He started on medication and, once his condition was stable, we switched to maintenance with 0.9% saline nebulization.

Using positive reinforcement, I taught Plato to happily wear his Flexineb mask.  He wasn’t restrained or forced. He chose to participate, and together we even practiced breathing exercises to encourage deep, relaxed breaths while he had his nose in the mask.

It worked beautifully.

The only problem was that Plato could only nebulize when I was there.

Some nights I could still hear him coughing from the house. Every time I heard him, I found myself wondering… What if Plato could choose when to inhale a saline solution? Whenever he felt he needed it. As often as he wanted. For as long as he chose.

That simple question became the start of one of my favourite Equithink projects.