When to Call the Vet-Choking

When a horse begins to choke, immediately call the vet, as choking can lead to asphyxiation or aspiration pneumonia. Massage a horse's throat until medical help arrives with helpful advice from a veterinarian in this video on caring for horses.

Hi, I'm Dr. Joanna Robson. I'm a doctor of veterinarian medicine and I'd like to talk to you about a condition called choke in horses. Choke can be very frightening. It can even cause panic in the owners when they see this happen. Choke usually causes, is caused by a couple of things. One is horses that wolf down their feed, particularly pelleted type feeds or grains. They don't take enough time to chew the feed and actually swallow a very large bolus which actually gets caught in the back of the throat and can cause the horse to choke, potentially asphyxiate. This is an absolute, quick reason to call your veterinarian. Get on the phone as quickly as you can. Aspiration pneumonia, which means inhaling the feed stuff down into the lungs, can occur. Situation should be considered an emergency. Most important thing to do is to start to massage a horse through the back of the throat. See if you can break down some of the feed stuffs. Sometimes cold water hosing is needed, trying to get the horse to drink to soften up that bolus of feed so that they can actually swallow. Keep the horse and the client as calm as possible while waiting for the veterinarian to arrive. The number one prevention of choke: if you already know that you have a horse that wolfs down its feed, you can do things that separate out the feed stuffs. Either soak your pellets, use a different kind of feed all together, or use a very large bowl with a large boulder or mineral block in the middle so that the horse has to work around that to eat very slowly. Trying to train the horse to be patient about eating is your number one prevention for the condition called choke. Absolutely call your veterinarian if your horse is choking or struggling to breathe and swallow.