choke prevention???

[butterfly f]

hi, my horse has been living out all summer and now i've started bringing him in, the first thing he does is stuff his face on hay and within a couple of minutes he has choke.
he has been doing it almost every day. normally after 10 minutes or so of walking him round, syringing water down his throat and encouraging him to swallow, he manages to cough it up. then he is fine.
he never did this last winter.
anyone know how best to try and prevent it? i am moving him onto haylage, do you think that would help?
if anyone has any tips on how to prevent it i'd really appreciate it.
thanks in advance
x

 

[GTs]

I would chat to your vet about getting your horse scoped, there could be damage from the first time it happened, which is causing it to reoccure. They will scope him, have a look, and if there is damage he will be starved for a while, to give it time to heel.

I just think it is unlikely that you are going to get it everyday, if it has never happened before.

 

[SSM]

Get his teeth checked asap!

 

[Thistle]

try soaking the hay, but def get dentist.

 

[sojeph]

Get the dentist out. He may not be chewing his food properly due to a sharp tooth or something similar.

 

[Dougie]

dont syringe things into his mouth you have no way of knowing whether its going into his food pipe or his wind pipe

 

[butterfly f]

he had dentist about a month ago so his teeth shouldnt be a problem.
syringing water into his mouth is quite a standard way of treating choke, and it works.
might be worth getting him scoped. thanks for that
x

 

[ginniebee]

I'd try and find the smallest holed hay net I could, and also give feeds very wet, you could try putting a large stone in feed bucket that way your horse would have to take his time eating round it. Choke is an absolute nightmare, I had a tb mare who was prone to it, as she got very stressed in the stable, In the end i found that tipping her very well soaked feed on to a pile of hay on the floor in her paddock the safest way to feed her. I also stayed with her until feed all gone, just too darn risky to leave her. But i would get yours scoped just to be on the safe side.

 

[Clodagh]

Mine choked last night, it was scary! I think the grass has gone off and shes hungrier. I chucked her hay over the fence like usual, went to the car, came back and she was choking really badly. She even lay down, it was very scary. In the end a big glob came out and she started eating the hay again, as I frantically tried to clear it up so she couldn't. She seems fine this morning, but I shall definately wet her hay now, shes coming in at night from tomorrow.
Question was: Is it OK to hunt her this evening? Choking shouldn't damage their wind should it? She seems right as rain and I checked her several times overnight to be sure.

 

[butterfly f]

yeah the wind should be fine. i would ride as normal but just keep an eye on the horse. if it seems at all abnormal obviously stop.
i had a horse once that choked quite majorly the morning of an event. however she got over it and looked absolutely fine. so took her anyway and she was 100% no wind problems at all.
good luck

re:my choking horse, have put him on haylage and been a bit more careful and fingers crossed he isnt having so much problem. if it starts re-occuring i will get vet to scope him.

xxx

 

[Clodagh]

Thank you!

I did hunt her, and she was a bit huffy puffy but I think I am just being neurotic! We did loads of cantering, the going was bottomless and its only her 5th time, so still very exciting.

 

[mostfunintown]

my mare did this 2 winters ago. I had her scope and they couldn't find anything but advised me to only feed seriously sloppy food e.g sloppy sugarbeat or bran. Over time i started making it a bit thicker and gradualy it got better. Full turn out was the best option for her as grass was never a problem. Although now she rarely has any problems-mayby once or twice in a couple of months. Sorry can't help anymore as I know its terrifying to deal with.

 

[mostfunintown]

ps I still hunt my mare