Choke

["D&M Arabians" <knever@eatel.net>]

A friend has a mare who can't eat alfalfa or grass hay.. because she chokes. She choked so bad the first two times she had projectile discharge {vomit} out of her nose and her mouth. She was scared to death and gasping for breath {so was I!}. The vet had to put tube into her throat and put water in the tube to help dislodge/drain out the stuff in her throat.

She did this twice before we took her off all hays, green rye grass or whatever fresh grass is ok, and she only gets a small amount of soupy grain.{ we weren't feeding pellets}

 But she loves to pick up pine cones, sticks and I have even had to pull a darned hay string that someone had missed out of her throat. So look to see if your choker likes to nibble on non-edible things.

We had one other mare do this but not as severely, {she is  super slooow eater and just continuously picks up grain as she chews... my guess she forgot to swallow a few times and wham.. too much at once/ possibly another horse run her off too and her food got stuck}

As a rule we give the horse[s] DMSO tabs to ward off any sinus infection. Plus the chance of infection in the lungs. So far we haven't had neumona or any infection with these mares choking. Before this I had never seen one do this. I had been told that horses couldn't vomit { and they can't }.. but it sure did look as if she had one to many that morning!!

The scar tissue she developed is most likely why she can't have hay anymore,  before hay wasn't a problem.

So good luck with your horse! And if it happens again try to stay calm, it will comfort your horse too.

Best wishes,

Debi & Knevermore {mom I wanna play with my little girl & the witch won't let meee!}