Weird reaction - anyone seen it before?

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Scruff

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A few days ago I put my mare Star in my friend's stable to tack up, as mine is full of hay at the moment. As I was brushing her, she stretched her neck out and there was tension in her throat - it looked almost like she was choking, or trying to cough. She alternated for a couple of minutes between this and trying to eat...

As she was eating, and showed no further signs of discomfort, I assumed she'd maybe got a bit of hay stuck in a tooth or something. She appeared to have recovered completely outside, so I took her out for a ride, and she was absolutely fine (about 40 minutes of light schooling), and checked her frequently afterwards, with no signs of anything.

The day after, I tacked her up tied up outside, rode, no problems at all.

The day after that, I put her in the same stable again, and within a couple of minutes (the time it took for me to tie up another horse) the kids on the yard yelled to me to come, and she was doing the same thing, only this time, she was going down on her knees as well, looking really distressed. She got up and went down a couple of times, only as far as her knees, kind of straining all the time with this weird choking/coughing thing. I grabbed her headcollar and took her straight outside, and immediately she was fine. It seems to only happen while she's inside this particular stable.

Star is 4, otherwise very healthy and was checked over by the vet on the 11th of this month. I don't know if other horses have had the same reaction in the same stable.

Any ideas anyone??
 
Has the stable had anything happen to it lately? Like has it been painted recently or been cleaned with disinfectant etc.?

Sounds bloody odd! Personally I would power wash the entire stable before putting another horse in. Otherwise I wouldn't brush the horse in the stable as maybe its a respiratory thing (ie. is the stable airy enough?) but then the vet probably would have picked up on any problems. Very odd!
 
The stable is identical to mine (it's the one next door), and she's never had problems in my stable, so I'm guessing the airiness is not a problem. The whole yard uses the same disinfectant, and I know she has no reaction to that.

The only thing I can think of is that the corridor outside the stables was scored with an angle grinder a couple of weeks ago, so there is a possibility of there being some concrete dust around, as I don't know if the girl whose stable it is has scrubbed it or not. I did my stable and the corridor outside the next day, so that could be a difference.

I know concrete dust can be nasty stuff, but what in it could cause such a reaction? I've googled it, and everything I can find mentions weeks or months of exposure before an effect is noticed, and everything mentioned is bronchial, rather than causing an instant, but non-coughing reaction in the throat...

(The reason I didn't mention this dust straight away was that I didn't want to get hung up on it, and miss something else that someone might be able to tell me about) - I have spoken to vet and others on the yard, no-one seems to have a clue. No-one has seen anything quite like it before.

I think I have to cautiously assume that that's what it was, and just keep monitoring my girl really carefully just in case.
 
I don't THINK it was choke, I could be wrong of course, but it was one thing that occurred to me and I did look it up - having read several descriptions on the net, they don't seem to fit what was happening.

There was no discharge or saliva from either nostrils or mouth. She was nibbling odd strands of hay rather than gulping down half-chewed lumps, and I was with her throughout the first episode. Prior to coming in, she had nothing but grass for over 12 hours previously.

Obviously the second episode I walked away from her, so couldn't say what happened in the intervening minute, but she has no hard feed at all, no carrots/apples etc and does not tend to gorge on her hay.

Her teeth were checked and floated 3 months ago, and the EDT was happy with her then, she is booked in again for December.

Of course it could possibly have been a slight episode that just cleared itself spontaneously, and happened to coincide with me taking her out of the stable on both occasions. In any case, she is being checked and monitored as much as is possible, and everyone on the yard is keeping an eye on her.
 
You mention that the horse had been out at grass for the last 12 hrs on one occasion, (sorry can not remember what the situation was 2nd time) BUT when horses are out grazing you have no real idea what goes in there mouth. It has happened to one of mine that was put in a relatively bare paddock for a couple of hours a day. She was a real pig, as she was a good doer & a pony I was careful because of Laminitis. The little beggar used to go foraging under the hedgse etc & tried to eat anything ( even things fallen from trees in the Autumn) The result was choke. Fortunately for her it was more partial & did soften & get swallowed after 24 hrs. But hey horses are a menace.
 
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