Grass coming out of pony's nose.

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Helenabbey

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Hi,
I walked past a pony it the field with my dog yesterday. A while ago I saw this pony from a distance and thought it had a very bad cold. On closer inspection it has chewed up grass running down its nostrils, on to its forelegs, chest and subsequently anywhere it scratches itself is covered in green. Pony looks happy, relaxed and not in any discomfort. There was a lady also walking her dog and she was putting carrot peelings over the fence, I remarked that the pony looked unwell and she said, 'oh its always been like that.' What is wrong with it? Never seen anything like this before.
 
Any other observations? Pony elderly, field tidy or rough general appearance of feet, coat etc? Any signs of fresh water in clean buckets or trough or evidence of daily inspection? Grass down the nose is not normal and people tipping peelings in is also not a wonderful set up.
 
Pony is welsh sec A and very white which suggests not a youngster. decent condition, feet look like they have been done recently, other pony in field is also sec A, same condition, with no grass out of nose. Clean water, grass fenced paddock, couldnt see any ragwort etc. Normally I would be really horrified at the grass coming out of its nose, and want to tell someone/do something but as it seems to be quite well kept and pony, and happy, friendly and relaxed.
 
a horse where i work has grass coming down her nose this is because she had an operation on her throat think they call it hob day or tie back she carrys on a normal life just not very nice to see, the only other time i have seen this was a horse with grass sickness but if the pony is well i wouldn't of thought that was the case x
 
would sayprobably choke of some description but my horse has had a hobday and gets this when he is unfit but it improves with exercse.
 
Sounds unlikely to be choke if it has always been this way, and the horse was showing no signs of discomfort or dysphagia. One possibility is that it has a cleft palate. These are uncommon, and usually if large enough to allow oro-nasal passage of food, they cause enough problems that either repair or euthanasia must be carried out. Rarely, however, one does find a horse that has a cleft palate that allows passage of ingested material into the nose, without seeing any signs associated with it, and this may be the case here.
Another possibility is the horse could have an oral or nasal tumour, which could have destroyed either hard or soft palate, allowing food to travel into the nasal passages. I would find it unlikely that a tumour this extensive would not produce significant other clinical signs however.
 
I agree with alsiola..Could be cleft palate? Ugly but not life threatening unless worked hard and the horse inhales food...my friend's youngster has it and it's unfortunately sometimes inherited...
 
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