my horse keeps choking on haylage

charliehands

charliehands

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I'm after some advice please! two days running now my horse has choked itself when eating haylage and i dont know what i can do to stop her. She managed to sort herself out both times but it was a scary couple of minutes! she just starts to make a gagging noise and then coughs the haylage back out.

both times she was tied up on the yard when it happend. the first time she was eating it out of the net which is a standard small holed net (i gave her a net because she was tied up waiting for the farrier and she figets when tied for a while so i thought it would occupy her) and today she was hoovering what she had dropped up off the floor when it happened.

as far as i am aware she hasnt done this when in the stable, but then i wouldn't know as I'm obviously only there for a small amount of the time when she's in!

just wondering if there's anything that I can do the minimise the chances of her doing this!
 
my yearling had choke bad 2 weeks ago. Vet job Sunday night.
He said it can take a while for the inflammation to go if they have something stuck, he also said sometimes if a horse eats very long grass it can cause choke. Is your particular haylage bale long stemmed!!
Maybe try another bale just incase & really pull the haylage apart to seperate it before putting it in net.
 
Sometimes Farmers have what is called a 'Double Chop' on the big round bailers. Meaning instead of just picking it up rolling and wrapping it, it double chop's, this is mainly done for Cattle either in bales or for silage clamps. Horses being fed double chopped haylege tend to choke on it as its easier to scoff down quickly.
 
Have you just started feeding it or has she been on it for a while? We found the last couple of years my older pony (26) and my youngster (now 3) have both had some mild choking incidents at the beginning of winter when we have started feeding them hay. Although they are fine at any times in the summer when they have a haynet if being prepared for a who or travelling in the wagon.

We feed hay off the floor in the winter though and it seems it's the initial excitement of the hay being put put and the pair of them both being pigs! ha ha

Actually, thinking back, my pony used to choke a fair bit when i first got him (18 years ago) when he ate hay. I think maybe because he hoovers down his food a bit and also he is quite a stressy soul as well. He has never had any severe choke that required a vet visit although one time I thought he was going to die (well, he was dong the "I am going to die" type act) as he was almost throwing himself on the floor!!! Usually he's pretty calm about it but it's pretty gross when it all comes out via mouth and nostrils!

I also feel with hay or feed that it'sll soften pretty quick so isn't too much of an issue and they sort it themselves. It's just not nice to watch!
 
not to sound rude but is she getting enough to eat in general? Reason I ask is we had a horse on the yard who wasnt getting enough to eat (grass was bare, not fed hay/haylege to compensate) and one of the girls tied her to the yard to groom her, gave her an armful of haylege on the ground and she basically just gorged herself, and ended up with choke :(
 
I know a horse that does this regularly and she has a sort of enlarged "pouch" in her throat which, according to the vet, makes her more likely to do it - you can feel it with your fingers. I'm sure there is a proper name for it but I can't remember it at present.
She is greedy and the only reliable method we've found is trickle netting/double netting so that she can't get too much at once and never feeding her from the floor.
 
they have just moved into their winter paddocks (sunday) which are full off grass so she has pigged out for the last few days. This also means that they are coming in at night now so it is just recently that she has started having it although she has been having the occasional net when coming in and being groomed etc. during the summer.

as for the haylage it is long like hay but it is not proper haylage from what i've been told, more like good quality hay, it's made by the yard owner rather than a branded one.

i do soak her tea at night anyway but she has never had a problem when eating that but it is something that I will continue to do
 
nikicb said:
I have a cat that does that too. Stuffs his face the it all comes back again. Lovely. :rolleyes:

Hope you get to the bottom of the problem OP. x
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thanks! haha yes my dog used to do it as well! changed her onto chudleys classic as it has bigger pieces so she can't stuff her face as easily!
anyone would think my animals are trying to kill themselves!
 
charliehands said:
i do soak her tea at night anyway but she has never had a problem when eating that but it is something that I will continue to do
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The idea of feeding hard feed first, hay second is that the horses initial hunger will be sated by the feed, prior to starting on the hay/haylage - and therefore less likely to stuff their face, and choke.
 
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