We are often asked why our inhalation masks are open at the top and not sealed, because "a lot of inhalant would escape there".
Horses that need to inhale usually experience shortness of breath due to mucus in the bronchi and/or swollen and inflamed airways. At Pegasalt we are convinced that inhalation with an open mask is much more comfortable for horses.
With an open mask there is no lack of oxygen when inhaling and therefore the horse is not afraid of suffocating. The horses breathe in a similar way as without a mask, since enough oxygen still reaches the lungs during inhalation. We have often observed that horses with closed masks, or with masks that require them to breathe against a resistance, breathe less deeply, but tend to breathe faster and shallower. However, it is important that the horses breathe in slowly and deeply so that the inhalant also reaches the lower airways. Horses with equine asthma in particular suffer from the fact that they find it difficult to exhale due to the narrowed airways. If you now also have to exhale against resistance (closed mask), this is particularly difficult for you and leads to panic attacks. Since the output of all our devices can be individually regulated, hardly any inhalant is "lost", so that enough aerosol always reaches the lungs.
