My horse was chewing on my dressage whip for a minute and accidentally swallowed the decorative end (maybe a large round Swarovski crystal or metal circle, I never look at the end so I can’t remember what it looked like). It wasn’t that large but now I’m terrified of it causing an obstruction! My husband says it is no way big enough to do so but I’m still scared. The vet hasn’t responded to my call yet. Have you ever had a horse swallow something like this and what was your experience?
I expect they all eat the occasional pebble and do fine.
I’ve known of horses who have eaten carrot bags…not the same thing, but it went through just fine. Fingers crossed!
If it is relatively smooth, I’d anticipate that it should pass without issue. If it were a sharp object I’d be more concerned. I knew a mare who sucked a college graduation ring off of her owner’s finger. Despite monitoring her outputs the ring was never recovered but she suffered no ill effect.
I had a colicking horse and we xrayed stomach to look for sand – found a horseshoe nail. Vet was not concerned. When he recovered, we xrayed stomach again - nail gone!
If she passes it, how long would that probably take? Does anyone know?
It takes a couple of days usually for food to work it’s way through.
I guess this is a good reminded to all of us why we shouldn’t let horses nibble gear!
I think your horse will be just fine. Their digestive tract is big and wide, and there is a huge volume of hay going through. They are designed to deal with the occasional nondigestible bit of pasture detritus like pebbles, bits of wood, fragments of binder twine and of course zip lock baggies full of baby carrots.
In this matter I think they are sturdier than cats and dogs that can have life threatening consequences from swallowing string or other rubbish.
Horse digestion is more fragile in some other ways but I think it’s probably better designed for handling crud off the ground than carnivores
Also they have super strong stomach acid. I watched for that ziplock baggie for several days and saw no evidence of it in the paddock poop. It is possible she completely digested it.
My spotted mini donk has eaten 20" of a plastic measuring tape, an entire tube of ivermectin apple flavored wormer, the top to a Durasole bottle, and countless plastic grocery bags that have blown into my pasture (the bags all passed in his manure, but never saw the other things come through). Never even a bellyache from any of them. I swear he’s part goat.
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In the mid 90’s a horse swallowed my pager. It was a small one, but still. Vet just said keep an eye on it, and nothing ever happened. No idea if it ever came out, we never found it. He lived to a ripe old age.
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Did you dial it?
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I remember at my daughter’s pony club camp a halflinger swallowed a capri sun juice pouch, straw and all. Thankfully no problems passing.
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LOL. Yep. Never found it.
I think it will be alright. Fingers crossed!
