choke

[June Scheunemann & Mike Bernsdorf <equineent@lakefield.net>]

We've only had one horse have a slight bout of choke here but,
it wasn't a nice thing to see.....Trash was being a piggy and
wholfed down the chafe from some hay we had just put in the
barn.....We managed to dislodge it before the vet came so had a
great outcome.  However we have a friend that ended up putting
down a beautiful yearling withthe trouble this poor boy had
going back to the first case of choke.  Did your vet put your
horse on antibiotics???  That is real important !!!  The
inflamed throat is prime canidate for infection (which was what
happened with friend's yearling...infection at this site got to
be really bad and the scar tissue formed a stricture in the
throat so this boy ended up with a problem of constant choke due
to the stricture).  The grain;  even wet is probably irritating
his throat along with the hay....if you can try coating his
throat with a honey and lemon mixture....cool soothing.  I use
my grandma's recipe for cough medicine and the stuff is
wonderful for sore throats on people and horses plus it tastes
good.  Hope this helps some.

june (it'really depressing here..cloudy, rainy and muddyin other
words the only riding is in the indoor......argh!!!)