Briefly. She ate soaked hay pellets for a bit—choked.
Tried hay cubes for a few days as a supplemental this year, and she choked pretty badly. In my experience with other horses, I don’t find that things that need to be soaked do well with horses that choke.
Me three or four? My mare went through a phase before her chest widened out where she repeatedly choked. All relatively mild and usually she was choking on hay. Not any kind of pellet or hard feed. Sometimes she would get to the point of green stuff coming out her nose but not until the 15-20 minute mark of the episode. But that didn’t always happen. Usually it was blank eyes and lots of lip curling. Sometimes she would lay down and stretch her neck back toward her butt.
She was scoped to check for strictures or ulcers and none was found. She has always been a fast eater and at this time was out on sparse pasture so I would supplement her with a bit of hay when I brought her in while I was grooming. She was eating too fast. I wonder how many times the mini-choke happened during feeding time when I wasn’t there? I’m sure she didn’t eat any slower. Thankfully as she grew and her chest widened out, the choke stopped.
I suspect my horse was getting a big bolus of hay stuck deep in the chest. I have a small hiatal hernia and sometimes that happens to me…it is miserable.
I don’t know if this has anything to your mare but I concur with Simkie that it might be something deep in the chest? Edited to add…since you said she chokes on pellets and cubes have they checked her esophageal and gastric motility? Maybe her peristalsis (ability to move food down the pipe) is deficient?
My sympathies. I hate things you can’t find the answer too, especially when the horse is painful.
Susan
5 Likes
I know she has no ulcers but have you tried giving gastroguard or nexium for a few weeks? The nexium is cheap and easy to give.
They do need to be soaked to soup and with no dry or intact bits, and that not only takes some time, but requires attention.
I knew a friesian with megaesophagus that was maintained this way, so it is entirely possible, and recommend for horses that choke.
That she’s choked repeatedly really does suggest this might be the issue.
9 Likes
And then there’s the exception to the rule. Mine does best on well dampened beet pulp shreds. Soup gets inhaled. Literally. As she slurps it up she goes snorkelling and inhales some. Too dry and she chokes. Super fun.
Horses are SO frustrating. “Maybe I’ll try this.” Horse, “Yeah, no not that either. GET BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD AND NO, I’M NOT GIVING YOU ANY HINTS. WORK IT OUT BY YOURSELF!”
As Joni Mitchell said, “Laughing and crying, you know it’s the same damn thing.” 
12 Likes
So you call her Goldilocks, right?
I’ve heard of feeding horses that try this sort of thing in a huge, wide, shallow pan, like one of those short water troughs, so they can’t “snorkel.” Something to keep in your back pocket in case the damp beet pulp ever stops working for her!
1 Like
What kind of hay do you feed? My friend had a mare that did not tolerate alfalfa, it would cause colic symptoms. the problem seemed worse when winter came and they were on full hay/ I hope you find a solution. Maybe checkout some of the alfalfa intolerance studies if that is the hay you are using.
2 Likes
Cracked me up!!! So true!!
6 Likes
I have considered the shallow trough option and am most definitely keeping it in my back pocket.
Your guess is as good as mine with this horse, I can see this being choke but there seems to be a seasonal component here. What would cause choke to be seasonal?
Hay vs pasture. Horses that choke often do better on growing grass rather than a pile of hay. Moisture content, how much they chew at once and probably even feeding meals can all impact a choker.
That friesian I knew with megaesophagus couldn’t do any hay at all but didn’t have a problem with short pasture. He would totally present as seasonal, too, if in the field on grass during the warmer months and fed hay over the colder ones!
5 Likes
so is the answer soaking or turning to sprouting greens? I remember I have seen those contraptions that create fresh greens year round. (naturally that would open up other issues)
Or is it allergies?
Yeah, there are a few things that are usually “safe” for horses that choke. This page has a few little graphics about it if you scroll down. It’s definitely a management thing, but they can do well.
3 Likes
What dosage do you give?
I am a bit wary of adding right now, as she has become outrageously picky, quite suddenly.
My only hang up here is that we started offering hay when we noticed the cribbing in mid to late August. We wanted her to eat some thing, as we noticed she wasn’t grazing as frequently, and we didn’t want her literally eating her shed.
Orchard grass.
Thank you for this comment. And thank you to everyone, really— Sorry if I missed you in this forum’s weird layout system. But this comment gave me something to think about.
1 Like
She is always fed in a rubber pan/bowl out in her field.
1 Like
This gave me something to think about. She has a huge chest and it sticks out, kind of oddly. I joke that she has a keel. I’m going to reach out to local vet to see if we should x-ray or ultrasound that area. Might reach out to Bolton and see if they have some kind of motility test for that area. Worth a shot.
5 Likes
4; they need to eat 3 a day for the correct dosage so I give one extra just in case he looses one angrily glaring at the wall. I might give 5 if I was treating a particularly large horse. The medication is very safe; IIRC there basically is no unsafe dose. I order mine in bulk on Amazon. They have no smell and I’ve never seen a horse turn their nose up at them.
1 Like
