Summary: Impairment of gas exchange and arterial oxygenation during general anaesthesia and recumbency of the horse are a common and well-known problem. Often these alterations are poorly responsive to intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) and increasing levels of supplemental oxygen. Over the last decades the understanding of the underlying pathophysiology developed more and more, recognizing that a decrease in functional residual capacity (FRC), lung collapse and atelectasis, and ultimately ventilation/perfusion mismatch lead to poor oxygenation. Accordingly, new ventilation strategies arose over the course of time including alveolar recruitment manoeuvres (ARMs) and positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP). In 1992 Burkhard Lachmann presented his idea of an 'open lung' concept using high peak inspiratory pressures to reopen atelectatic lung regions followed by sufficiently high PEEP to keep the recruited lung areas open. In equine anaesthesia, early attempts with continuous positive pressure in spontaneously breathing horses yielded rather disappointing results. In combination with IPPV the use of PEEP resulted in unreliable improvements in the partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood (PaO 2 ). Once the pre-treatment with an ARM prior to PEEP was introduced, improvement in PaO 2 could be seen to be more reliable. Despite these promising results, there is a risk of adverse effects with the use of PEEP and ARM in horses due to the high pressures that are necessary to achieve an effect. A reduction in cardiac output proportional to the increase in intrathoracic pressure has been observed and may compromise peripheral blood flow as well as gastrointestinal perfusion once a certain pressure threshold is reached. Similar, an increase in right to left shunt due to forcing blood into already collapsed lung areas can compromise the desired effect. Finally, early signs of ventilator induced lung injury have been detected in horses and it remains to be seen how future ventilation strategies will succeed in finding the optimal balance for each individual horse. This review presents the development and use of ARMs and PEEP in horses and its potential effect and side effects.