Experts advise: When it comes to respiratory illness, save the gambling for Vegas. Be aware of the major respiratory diseases that horses are susceptible to at each point of their lives and use preventive measures, both with management and vaccination, to head them off.

Foals: Rhodococcus equi

Rhodococcus equi is an intracellular bacterium found in soil and air. Overall, it is the most important cause of pneumonia in foals 3 to 20 months old: R. equi is estimated to be the third-leading cause of illness and the second most common cause of death in foals, as Steeve Giguère, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, professor of veterinary medicine and the Marguerite Thomas Hodgson chair in equine studies at the University of Georgia's Department of Large Animal Medicine, reported at the 2009 World Equine Veterinary Association (WEVA) Congress. Pneumonia due to R. equi is expensive to treat and requires long-term therapy