My horse had Choke last night :(

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ellieplatt

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My poor boy had choke last night, which resorted in me calling the vet out and checking him every 4hours..

Got up the yard around 3 ish yesterday and they were all in - which i wasn't please about as it was such a lovely day! Got there to find out my friend had kindly mucked out + put my hay nets up + put his dinner in his box for me, which i was grateful for as i wasn't sure if i'd be back from my day outing in time to put him to bed. Popped by head over stable door and he was stood there cofing and choking from where his dinner was soaked enough and he'd gluped it down far to quick. Also his normal day to day rewteen( MAYJOR SP! ), as he normally comes in get's hooves done, rugs changed, groomed, then in box, then i mixed his dinner up. I was massaging his neck and trying to make him drink for about 1 and half hour's and it really was'nt going down
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YO came up and gave me a hand, and he was no better after cofing up mewcus and it all coming out his nose
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it was just so horrible to watch, he kept spazuming and dropping his neck. We rang the vet after 2hours and he did tell us he shld clear it himself and to ring back in 30min. He did just get worse and after ten minutes we rang him back. Luckily it only took him about 20 minutes to reach us! After giving him a pain killer + muscel relaxer he was alot better! I left abotu 25min after the vet left, and he had started eating away at his bed, which the vet said he'd do, so gave him a handfull of soaked hay. Bless him, he just looked so exausted and tiered! Left the yard at 7 then was checked at 9 and 11 then i went up at 6.30 to check him. Luckily he was really happy and hungry! Whatever was stuck had totally cleared! Kept him in eating some breakie and hay, then he escaped from his box and took himself to his paddock! ahhaa! Bless him!

He's an old boy that will be turning 22 this year, and he's choked 3 times now! Once last year and twice this year, I do slop he's feed's up and im now going to give him soaked hay not hayledge. Anyone elses horses prone to choke? What should i be feeding him on to help him?

Thanks
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Oh, that must have been terrifying! So glad he's okay now. I've heard that adding good quality chopped straw to their feed can slow them down a bit and stop them from hoovering it down so fast, but I don't know how true that is.
 
Hi, your poor thing, what a night. I have had 3 of my horses choke at various times over the years for different reasons, one was greedy and scoffed 2 quickly, one was very old and her teeth let her down and the last one was a young horse who had teeth done the previous day and must have been sore. Sometimes it clears fairly easily and other times its really blocked, sounds like this is what happened to you. Its quite frightening and horrible to see them struggling isn't it.

I turn mine out as much as possible after a choke because they are less likely to choke on grass than anything else. Their oesophagus can be constricted for a couple of days due to inflammation after a bad choke so its best to be extra careful for 24 hours. Soaking the hay and feeding from small hole hay net helps and make any hard feed like soup for a few days. Hope he recovers quickly and you have a quieter night tonight!
 
Oh is so scary when they choke
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I would change him to something like Fast Fibre. Its nice and sloppy and very tasty...or so my 6 think
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Are his teeth ok? It may be that he is not chewing his food properly..maybe worth a check if you haven't already
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My boy had choke about 18 mths ago and I had to have him tubed by the vet. It was horrible to watch him like that , and very frightening !

Fingers crossed he has not had a repetition of it!
 
My pony got it a couple of times after bolting her feed when I first got her although I never had to ring the vet out as it did clear within 20min of massaging and some serious walking about (dunno why my 14yr old mind told me to that but worked each time). Or is this not choke?

I started putting a small football in her feed so she had to move it about and couldnt bolt it
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My mare chokes sometimes, luckily not that bad but its scary. She also makes a noise in fast work so I asume she has a baggy palate or something. Luckily she has always self cleared but it is scary and horrible to watch.
 
My lad gets Choke a couple of times a year. We've had to put the vet on standby a couple of times, but so far have always managed to clear it ourselves before calling him.
It's very scary, so the main thing is to keep calm as you want the horse to relax. I lead him around, encouraging him to stretch his neck down. I also massage his throat where the lump of food is (this is what the vet recommended) so far, this has fixed it every time.
 
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