A good weekend in the saddle is quickly dampened when things go wrong, and Tamsin Doar’s late-night emergency is a reminder that equestrian life rarely follows a tidy script
All images Tamsin Doar
As some of the keener-eyed among you may remember, when I introduced Squish (my youngster) a few months’ ago, I was thrilled by how food-oriented she is, and how beneficial this was in her initial training (particularly with loading into the trailer). Sadly, this deep love of food came back to bite me this weekend.
Horses do have a fabulous way of keeping you grounded. We had been riding (excuse the pun) a lovely high from the weekend before, because The Sass Queen had smashed her second endurance ride to gain a Grade 2, and she won the Performance Formula for her class. But Squish decided it was time to regain the limelight, with an out-of-hours vet visitafter wolfing down her food, causing Choke.
It feels a bit vulnerable to share the infinitely more anxiety-inducing side to owning horses, but I firmly believe it is just as important to show the less-glamorous aspects. It is a stark reminder that this is a lifestyle and not a hobby.
Squish had a small amount of Choke a few weeks ago, which I had managed to clear myself. Unlike human choking, Choke in horses is caused by a blockage in the oesophagus (rather than the human version in the wind-pipe), so they’re still able to breathe. Minor blockages can be eased by massaging the left side of their neck and encouraging the horse to keep their head low, which often results in food or saliva coming out of their nostrils.
With nothing obvious as to the cause (no change in food or routine), I suspected she might be suffering some discomfort with her teeth. Much like humans, horses have baby and adult teeth. A quick check by our equine dentist (yes, I promise there is such a thing) confirmed that there was nothing obviously wrong, but that some of her adult teeth were erupting, possibly causing her to not chew properly.
As a side note, equine dentists use a metal gag to hold the patient’s mouth open for investigation – wrangling an unruly 400kg toddler into a dentist’s chair with the promise of a special sticker afterwards doesn’t quite work.
I spoke to my vet, and Squish was prescribed some bute (essentially horsey ibuprofen) to help ease any pain or discomfort, and all seemed well … until Saturday.
An anxious wait
Being the over-sized Labrador that she is, Squish wolfed her dinner down … and almost immediately started tensing her neck and grunting. It soon became obvious that I wasn’t going to be able clear it by myself this time.
(I must tell you at this point that I had given the horses their evening feed en route to going out for dinner with my very patient, long-suffering partner, who promptly jumped in to help me, even though it meant his cream-coloured chinos got throughly spattered in green goo. Needless to say, I’ll happily be scrubbing the horse-snot out of those as a thank you …)
So instead of spending our anniversary relaxing over a glass or two and enjoying some lovely local cuisine, we waited anxiously for the vet to arrive. It was out of hours, but they arrived very quickly, to our huge relief.
Having checked her vital signs (besides the green oozing out of poor Squish’s nose) , the vet set to work helping her clear it. This required antibiotics (one of the possible complications of Choke is pneumonia) and a sedative, so she could place a tube down Squish’s nose into her oesophagus to gently flush it with water and clear the blockage. I thought I’d done quite a good job clearing as much as I could before the vet arrived, but I was surprised at how much came out. It certainly reassured me that I’d made the right decision to call them.
After half an hour or so we were satisfied that the blockage was cleared, and we just had to wait until a very woozy Squish woke up and showed signs of feeling perkier (thankfully, our neighbours aren’t close enough to hear her snoring).
Super-sloppy rations
We were instructed to remove any food and hay to prevent any re-current choking. She was likely to feel quite sore, in any case, but she could stay out for the night and pick at the grass.
Obviously, as soon as she woke up she was trying to tow me over to the bale of haylage – sorry Squish, you’re on strict rations for now!
Touch wood, she seems to be on the mend. I’ve been watching her like a hawk (made easier by having a remote camera that connects to my phone, so even when I’m not there, she’s still being spied on!). She has watered-down feed anyway but she’s on a very sloppy mash diet for the next few weeks, with soaked hay along with some more bute, oral antibiotics and a daily temperature check (which I must say she tolerates very well – for anyone who hasn’t had to take a horse’s temperature before, Google it at your peril). She is certainly convinced that she’s absolutely fine and is back to trying to pinch some of Grumpy Uncle’s feed (because obviously it tastes better if it’s in a different coloured bucket).
Lessons learned
I was very glad that I’d put so much work into her over the last year – in that emergency situation she remained calm, and I was able to handle her without an increased risk of also hurting our vet. I’m a huge advocate for teaching youngsters the basics while allowing them time to be a baby and enjoying being out in the field. This whole expereince has re-affirmed to me the importance of having a horse who is happy to be handled, so that when they’re being poked and prodded they don’t panic and make the situation worse. I have to say a huge thank you to my partner, who stayed with me until midnight to help, and to our vet (who also checked in with me the following day), as well as Grumpy Uncle’s owner for reassuring me and helping me check on her. Hopefully Squish will forgive me for her rations and won’t take it too much to heart.
