What was this?

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Footlights

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Ever since I got him he's always been a bit of a slow eater, and occasionally stops half was through for a few minutes and then starts again. I put him on Brewer's Yeast to see if that would help at all, and it seems to have made him a bit less stressy.

However, last night, he stopped after a few mouthfulls and just stood there, completely still. He didn't look very happy at all and then started gulping, you could see his tummy and neck move when he did this. I was worried about colic and choke, and decide to take him for a walk to see if it helped. While walking along he was pulling some strange faces and licking his lips lots too, after a short while he seemed much happier and was his usual self again and finished off the rest of his dinner.

Do you think this is ulcers, mild colic, or he just got something lodged?

I am worried it's going to happen again tonight. His feed was fairly sloppy so don't understand how something could have got lodged.
 
Thanks, it did panic me a bit.

If he has had a tie-back op, are there any other precautions I should take apart from making his feeds wet?
 
My late TB had the tie back op. When I got him he was about 400lbs underweight, a real skinny and sorry looking boy. The trainer I bought him from said he didn't eat much and was always skinny. I had my vet scope him and he found that the band was too tight. As a result whenever he put his head down to eat his epiglottis would pop up and the feed would end up in his nasal cavities, causing pain and infections. As a result he was very reluctant to eat hard feed. I had the vet remove the band and he became a foodaholic overnight. He put on heaps on condition and ended up a very healthy boy very quickly. The only downside was that he would roar if he was tired so no fast work for him. I also always would wet down his feed with molasses mixed with hot water as dry feed made him cough.
I had him for 15 years with no other problems after that.
 
Miss L Toe said:
Why would a tie back make him choke?
Click to expand...

A tie back is where the vocal chords are tied back out of the airway. Unfortunately this means taht they are also tied back out of the way of the oesophagus and the horse is more likely to breath in food and to regurgitate it back down its nose.

OP if your horse is an ex racer it's quite possible he has a tieback. You can't tell unless you scope them, the external scar is almost impossible to find on my horse.

Precautions are to always feed at ground level, damp (including the hay). Other than that there isn't much you can do except loosen or remove the band, but then your horse may not be able to breath, and some are very stressed by the laryngeal hemiplegia.
 
We used to own a horse who was prone to choke, it does sound very much like that's what was wrong. I always added a good dollop of oil to his feed as well as making sure it was quite wet. It is very scarey to see them struggling like that though xx
I used to keep a syringe on hand too, if he got choke I'd syringe oil down his throat and gently massage down his neck too xx
 
Thanks for your replies, since that scary incident I have been giving him very wet feeds and it hasn't happened since.

Great advice re oil. Did you just use normal oil such as vegetable oil?
 
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