This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Mouth, Esophagus, and Liver » Choke: Esophageal Obstruction »
  Discussion on Horse choked tonight and HA saved me!
Author Message
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008 - 8:22 pm:

I have a retired standardbred on a farm quite a far distance from my house. About 5:30pm tonight I got a phone call from the guy that owns the farm he is boarded at who told me my horse was acting funny and he wasn't sure what was wrong. This horse had choked about 5 months ago and so when I described the symptoms he said he was making a funny noise ( gurgling) and just standing next to the side of his run in shed. He did not seem to be in any out right distress just being very quiet and obviously not eating.

I told him to pull his grain and leave his hay and I would be there as soon as I could.

When I got there, he was very quiet, saliva coming out of his nose and he was coughing. The last time this horse choked by the time I got there a friend of mine was trying to get mineral oil down his throat which I did not think was such a great idea, in fact I think it made the choke worse just added more stuff to what the poor horse already was dealing with.

So tonight I just left him alone head down and went home to check out HA advice on choke. Looks like I did the right thing. I called the barn Owner back and he told me he was walking around and seemed much more comfortable although there was still some stuff coming out of his nose, he did not seem to be coughing as much. I wish I had known this the last time he did this it could have saved me a large vet bill and 7 days of IV and IM antibiotics.

Thanks for all the good advice and a great article Dr. O. I will be changing his feeding arrangements. I like the idea of a trough feeder that way he can't get too much into his mouth at one time! he does attack his food like it was his last meal.

Rachelle
Member:
scooter

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008 - 11:07 pm:

Rachelle I'm not sure but from what I know about choke, if your horse is still having a nasal discharge I'd be keeping a careful watch on him, he may still have a blockage. I also would make sure he didn't have any hay tonight, the choke can cause a temporary swelling/or irritated spot making him more prone to choke again. My old mare used to do this until I started watering down her "grain".

She learned to not panic, and act comfortable, but that didn't mean her choke was over. Vet said only soft food for awhile and some anti-inflammatories for the irritation.

Hope your old guy is doing fine and I'm wrong!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008 - 8:57 am:

Thanks Rachelle,
With a continued discharge DianeE's advice is good. Be sure to check his appetite has returned and that the horses respiration and temperature is normal. I have expanded the article a bit to include more on monitoring and after care.
DrO
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Thursday, Dec 18, 2008 - 6:45 am:

Diane and Dr. O,

The BO kept in contact with me all day yesterday and kept giving me better and better reports. The nasal discharge had stopped, he was not coughing and had drunk some water. So, it appears the worst is over. After I raced yesterday, I went up to see him and he was grazing was not in any discomfort and the BO said he acted like he was acting like his old self. It seemed that what caused this was he had been getting his feed spread out over the top of his hay so he couldn't act like a glutton, because it was raining ( and they didn't want to go out in the field to spread the feed over the hay) they dumped his feed into his feed tub where he grabbed too much at one time thus resulting in the choke.

I am racing again today and will go and check on him when I get done.

Never a dull moment!
Thanks
Rachelle
Member:
ekaufman

Posted on Thursday, Dec 18, 2008 - 1:46 pm:

Hi Rachelle,

Great news on your old one. I had a retired horse prone to choke on his pelleted feed, and I would just soak it before feeding it. Maybe the BO would be willing to set it up a feeding in advance and just add some water?

Good luck with him.
New Member:
trnnbrn

Posted on Thursday, Dec 18, 2008 - 7:23 pm:

What a great thread! Especially when it has a good ending! I have always wanted to know more on choke as I have an old man in the barn too. I keep finding such great articles here!
Member:
gailkin

Posted on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 - 2:19 pm:

I had a horse choke on literally a small fist full of alfalfa hay which he gobbled in one bite and it stuck in his throat. It is really a horrible experience to have all that saliva foaming out of his nose. I can't imagine why your friend would add mineral oil to an already blocked esophagus. Anyway, I am glad your horse is fine and mine was after about an hour of standing there with him as he tried to swallow and cough and shivered and shook at times. The additional thing to watch out for is that sometimes horses aspirate fluid from the choke into the lungs and that is why they may be put on antibiotics, etc. Since it seems that both of our horses were just fine after the scary incident, we were lucky, but others may want to keep a watchful eye out for possible complications. I hope neither of us ever has to deal with this problem again.
Gail
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC