New equine nasal strip could aid breathing
— -- MINNEAPOLIS -- Winning by a nose could take on a whole new meaning with a nasal strip developed to ease the breathing of horses during racing and performing.
CNS Inc., which has sold close to 1 billion Breathe Right nasal strips to open up nasal passages of everyone from NFL players to snoring spouses, goes to market this month with its Flair equine nasal strip.
"It's not going to turn every horse into a Secretariat," said Daniel Cohen, CNS chairman and chief executive, "but a product such as this will help the horse perform to its maximum ability."
Because a horse breathes only through its nose, the soft outer nasal passage tissue can close when the animal inhales hard during strenuous exercise. The patented, drug-free strip is attached over the horse's nasal passages, where it is held in place by a special adhesive. The strip's spring-like action holds the nostrils open so the horse doesn't have to struggle for breath.
"Horses expend tremendous energy and effort simply to breathe during highly competitive events," Cohen said. "Because the strip reduces the work of breathing, horses experience less physical stress during and after heavy exercise."
Clinical trials at Kansas State University also indicated the strips can reduce pulmonary hemorrhage induced by exercise, a condition for which horses commonly are given the drug Lasix before races.
Further tests would be needed to determine whether using the strips would have any effect on the need for Lasix, Cohen said.
"Lasix reduces blood pressure. Flair works to reduce the pressure swings in the lungs. As a result, the two may work synergistically. But that's speculation at this point," he said.
In addition to the clinical trials, the strips have been tested at private training facilities and in workouts at pari-mutuel tracks.
"It's been used in breezes, the harder workouts that they do every week or so for racehorses, but not in any races," Cohen said.
The nasal strip has been ruled equipment by regulators in California, Kentucky and Florida and can be used in races, Cohen said.
"We've shown it to New York and they're evaluating it right now. We will be presenting it to many other states shortly. We're hopeful that they will find it also to be equipment," he said.
Co-inventor Ed Blach, a veterinarian in Roswell, N.M., said the idea of adapting the nasal strip to help horses "was one of those 3 o'clock in the morning sit-up inspirations. It came out of experience from practice, watching horses perform on the track and on tread mills in exercise drills."
Blach said he and Jim Chiapetta of Minneapolis, the other inventor, went through many prototypes before getting it right. While the horse anatomy is quite different from the human anatomy, the function of the strips is similar.
"We started with creating something that would fit the horse's face" using what CNS had learned about human breathing and modifying it, Blach said.
"The actual act of breathing is a bit different. A horse cannot breathe through its mouth. But the bottom line is they have a lot of similarities," Blach said.
The strip for humans looks like a small Band-Aid over the bridge of the nose. The nasal strip for horses is much larger -- about 4 by 6 inches -- but is "light as a feather" and does not distract the horses, he said.
"Comments we've gotten from trainers and jockeys is that the horse relaxed, seemed more focused on what they're doing. It tends to let them do what they do best because they don't have to fight to get air," Blach said.
