Is this choke?

RubysGold

RubysGold

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Sorry the video is long, it took a while for her to do it.
Brought Roo in for a haynet (first time this year) and every mouthful she seemed to struggle to swallow, tucking her neck in, tensing it all up and occasionally groaning. She eventually stopped eating and stood at back of stable looking miserable.
She then went back and ate some more with more time inbetween each 'choke.' by the time I took this video I think she was more or less over it, was too panicky to get a vid at her best.
Just wanted to get a video to see if it is choke.
My 5 mins trip to give her a haynet turned into a 2 hour sit in stable, praying that she was ok and not going to get colic.
My friend said it may be just that she's not used to hay diet as she hasn't eaten hay all summer since they went out at end of winter.
I was going to keep her in so I could check she was toileting as normal and drinking etc, but my friend said not to keep her on hay as she may get worse on it.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Nickie
 
Hard to tell from the vid as you don't see anything much.

Was she coughing or gaging? Any foodstuff or saliva coming from her nose?

I would soak her hay in future and also put in small hole haynet, to slow her eating down.
 
It ended before I saw anything other than your ned shaking her head at intervals. But she seemed to be eating and swallowing quite happily, just something irritating her to make her shake her head occasionally. She could have a sore throat from swallowing something scratchy or a tooth problem that catches her every now and then. Didn't look like choke at all. You absolutely can't mistake choke. The horse will cough and choke and dribble half digested food out of his mouth and sometimes his nose too. The head will hang right down to the ground and the horse will get a desperate look in his eye as he stands there looking as if he's going to drop down dead any minute. Often, by the time you've run back to the car for your phone and rung the vets, the horse has recovered by himself. You can sometimes help a choking horse by gently rubbing the underside of the neck in slow deep strokes AWAY from his head, ie as if you were pushing the lump of food down towards his stomach. But don't try any other home made solutions as you can make things worse.
 
Like the others I can't see any obvious sign of choke on your video. I'm in the process of getting both physio and vet out to my horse as he too in last week has seemed uncomfortable and awkward sometimes when he's eating his hay or if he has a bigger sized treat. I'm either thinking he's sore in his poll/jaw as faint click I can hear occasionally when he chews (though not all the time) and also noticed that sometimes after big mouthful of long strands of hay he starts to look like he's got it stuck round his back teeth but then manages to sort it (sounded a bit like what your horse is doing). Or he's got sore gums due to a hook or spur on a tooth though they're not due til Nov but going to get them looked at early. He eats lots of brambles and thistles out of the hedge so I did also wonder if he's got a thorn embedded somewhere causing problems in a gum.
 
I disagree - from what you have described it sounds as though she was choking on the hay i.e finding it difficult to swallow it all the way down and tensing/arching her neck and groaning in an effort to dislodge it. Right at the end of the video she tenses it again as has probably got a bit more stuck. I agree with the others though, as she has not eaten any hay all summer, soak the hay and use a smaller holed haynet or a haylage net to stop her from putting so much in at once. You could get her teeth checked to make sure this is not the problem but I would say it was more a case of eating too much dry matter too quickly!
 
funnily enough my 4 yr old choked tonight. sweating kicking looking like he had an iron girder down his throat. talked to vet and loosed him in school in walk and trot for ten mins then back in his stable! warm but not sweating. 3 poos! and now wants food tho have taken his hay away for an hour or so. horrible to watch but most chokes have cleared by time vet gets there, unless its pouring down their nose, but at least its coming out without tubing them!!tried to look at vid but didnt see it choke!!mochadun sounds like you have some tmj presssure going on or bad hooks at the back! just been to check mine now and he thinks he is starving!!
 
Doesn't look like it to me. Mine got choke last year on hard feed and got over it himself within 30 mins. It was pouring out his nose. That'll learn me to always add chaff! Vet said not to panic, very rarely is intervention needed, and they have known Horses have it 48hrs and get over it themselves. Wet your hay if you are worried and she'll be fine either way. It's not like human choking !! If it ever persists a long time then obviously call the vet bur best prevention is bulk and moisture.
 
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