Choke and 2010 hay?

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mrsbt

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So last week my mare came in and while i went to get the tack i left her with a haynet (as usual) but it was a larger holed one to normal. When i got back she had got hay stuck and needed the vet to come out and clear it.
Then 2 days later my yearling did the same thing but not so bad so managed to massage his throat to get it shifted.

Yearling then does the same thing again today!
Both of them are on fields with more grass than they had a couple of months ago and i've never had this problem feeding hay with them before. In future they are both going to have to have small holed nets for their hay.

Now the only thing thats different is my hay, its this years hay and shorter than anything i've had before, just wondering if anyone else had an issue with this years hay?
 
Could be that the hay isnt really hay yet,ie its too young,is very tasty and they are guzzling it. Orm, are they hungry,ie not enough grass? so they are eating it too quickly.
You could try putting it into haylege nets to slow them down.
 
I would prefer them to be in fields with more grass but there's much more than they had before and not really desperately hungry.
I think they are just guzzling the hay down, our old retired mare isnt having any issues (touch wood).
I usually use haylege nets but felt mean and gave a bigger holed net! Wont do that again, and means the yearling will have to have one as he usually has his hay on the floor. Unfortunately with all last years hay gone we've only got this years hay to feed.

At least they arent in much at the moment so they wont need to be fed any hay on a regular basis just yet.
 
Thats a little worrying! Do you think it is because the hay is good quality (apparently this year it is all quality not quantity!), and the horses are stuffing it in??

My 3 yr old has a tendency to choke if I dont soak his food well enough, so I think I will have to be careful if the hay is causing an issue!!
 
i would damp it and double net to slow them down .my mare does this with haylage and its purely because its so good and shes too greedy and shes frightened me too many times.
 
Mare on the yard is doing the same. Owner is soaking it first and that has resolved the problem. It may be a combination of she is hungry - little grass left and it is very tasty and therefore stuffing it down too fast.

Mine have hay every evening in the field and I have not had any problems but they are probably not as hungry as they have their substantial Simple Systems feed first and are eating the hay sensibly.
 
I did wonder if soaking would help so will do that if they are in.
Interesting to know i'm not the only one that's had this happen. It is very frightening when it happens, lets hope thats the end of it!
 
Do any of you 'choke' people know if it can be linked to COPD - my horse keeps hoovering up 'dropped' hay off the yard and getting choke, last year she was diagnosed with mild copd, wondred if a) It is linked or b) needs teeth doing (possibly)
 
I think it is tasty hay! Our hoover went mad for it and choked, we soak it well now and (touch wood) have had no further probs. Re the COPD bit, our copd mare has no probs with choke, it is just the other one is a real pig - she has no other health issues though is more prone to choke.
 
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