I had a rescue that came with strangles. I also couldn’t see a vet, and his breathing was becoming very labored. I’ll explain what I did although I don’t know whether there may be a better way to handle it. I was working with what I had on hand in quantities for a large animal and my limited knowledge of the disease.

I gave him a lot of turmeric to decrease inflammation enough that he could still drink and breath easier. Then I gave him lots of echinacea to boost his immune system. He had such a bad case that I thought I might lose him, so in a desperate effort to hit it, I gave him fresh garlic. I know that garlic is not recommended for them as over time it can cause anemia, but it was what I had that I thought may be able to give him the boost he needed to get through. I also soaked rags in hot water and placed over the acute sites to bring circulation (although that did increase the inflammation in that area a little it seemed). He did recover quite nicely and I hope yours does too!

Yeah, it sounds like Joelle, your horse had a more intense case for sure. Most sights recommend hot packs and not treating with antibiotics unless it’s bad because they will not develop the antibodies as well for the next time they are around the bacteria. Isolation and not exchanging any equipment with other horses is recommended as well. It can live for up to 6 weeks on moist areas.  If you do treat with something, I’d go with doc’s bug buster formula, immune stim. and lymph node formula but the latter may be difficult to get the horse to take as it has cayenne pepper in it and can be a bit stimulating! I couldn’t get my dog to take it easily and had to put it in a pill. Having said that, I have tried giving things to horses and it aint easy! But the other stuff may be able to make a past and syringe in. I don’t think you have to worry too much about garlic and anemia because that happens when there is a higher dose and longer usage, so GARLIC YEAH! Go for it!

Also, if you wanted to go the antibiotics route, you might be able to just call your vet and tell him what is going on and just go pick up a script. Worth a try if you think it is that bad.