26/06/2025
POSTING EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES!!! Long post, so bear with me! This mornings chores took a turn when my girl choked on her grain just a few bites in. This is NOT something I am a stranger to. I’ve dealt with choke more times that I wish to admit. I rarely call the vet in this situation, but at the end of the video you can see the point at which I gave up and realized it was time to intervene. The phone call was made and thank the stars she came out of it as soon as I hung up the phone!
For anyone who has not dealt with choke before, this is exactly a life threatening issue but it can certainly turn bad if you don’t know what to do! So here’s the best advice I can give from YEARS of dealing with choke.
1-remove any feed from in-front of them, and do not allow any grazing.
2- allow them to lower their head right down to allow them to cough properly.
3- DONT PANIC!!!
4- once resolved, do not allow instant feeding or grazing.
Believe it or not, a horse can still breath while choking, so there is no worry of suffocation. The danger comes when the choking doesn’t resolve in a timely manner and the horse cannot drink or eat for extended periods of time. In this case, my own intervention took place. Now….. this isn’t something I would necessarily recommend doing, as it can cause issues, however, like I said. This is FAR from the first choke I have ever dealt with. With her head up in the air, I took my hose, and shoved it as far into the back of her mouth as possible. This is in attempt to move the blockage, and also promotes her to cough which could dislodge it too! Generally, if after 2-3 attempts of this it doesn’t come loose, I know it’s beyond my capabilities. Now the neck shaking is my own preference. Some people will say it does nothing, but I have always found it to be useful in my cases. Once she dislodged it on her own with a couple large coughs, and I knew she was in the clear, I spoke with the vet and cancelled my emergency call. I then walked her around for about 10 mins to make sure she was alright, and as soon as she started reaching for her feed and every blade of grass I put her muzzle back on! Thank goodness this one was minor, and hoping it’s an isolated incident!
DID YOU KNOW!?! Horses can neither regurgitate or vomit!?! When something goes wrong, they literally just try to die 🤦‍♀️