Gone down the wrong way?

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bex1984

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My pony was frantically tucking into his little haynet today while I was grooming him when all of a sudden he went quiet, wobbled slightly and then sort of started coughing in a weird way, like some of his hay had gone down the wrong way or something. It was a bit scary
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I untied him and and he stretched down to the floor, did a big cough and then looked happy and started scoffing hay again like nothing had happened
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Tacked him up and started off gently but he was fine, worked him as normal with no problems.

Any idea what happened?
 
It was quite scary, was just about to shout for help when he went completely back to normal. He's just so hungry atm, he was really pigging down his hay as fast as possible
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Just to clarify, horse's food does not 'go down the wrong way' as the oesophagus & trachea are not connected - a horse will not pull food into his lungs in the way that a human does sometimes.

What has probably happened is he has not chewed his food correctly & had a small obstruction - sometimes this leads to full on choke, but looks like in your case not. Thank goodness!
 

You basically can't really! Perhaps soak the hay, and use nets with smaller holes so he can't be as much of a pig.

If he does get full blown choke, most of the time it clears up by itself (it is more common than you think) - in the worst case a vet will come out & give a muscle relaxant so that tehy can swallow again freely. (it's a bit like asthma in that the panic of not being able to wallow causes the oesophagus to constrict.).

Make sure all the feed you give him is moist and chopped up well & don't feed carrots chopped up as 'rounds' infact they are better whole.

Hope that helps - but don't worry too much - he may never get it again.
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