Anyone had a horse choke on TC Senior??

[Big Holsteiner Mare]

I have had two different horses choke on TC Senior recently. I've always soaked it, practically to a soup. I've used this product for years, as has my current vet with no problems. I now board and am convinced the problem is that the BO does not soak it properly. Just curious as to how many others may have encountered this problem....

[Texarkana]

If it were me, I wouldn't be so quick to question the feed product, but rather I'd be looking into the reason behind the choking episodes. Horses can choke on anything if the conditions are right (err... wrong?). I've even seen horses choke on water in extreme situations.

With two separate horses choking, I'd be especially inclined to inspect their teeth and feeding routine.

[Dreamburger]

I've had a couple chokes with it as well. Both occasions were my fault for not soaking first since those 2 horses have a tendency to bolt grain. After that, I've never skipped bringing it practically to a soup for them, and haven't had another issue. That being said, I feed it to lots of "geriatrics" on our place without soaking. Totally love the stuff (as do they)!

[Big Holsteiner Mare]

Both horses have had their teeth done and are in good health. Not trying to blame the product at all, I like it enough to drive 45 minutes to pick it up. I am convinced that it wasn't soaked long enough despite my telling the BO time and time again that it needs to be a soup. BO is a big fan of sweet feed, in fact it is the only feed offered with the board, so she is convinced that it is the feed itself.

[in_the_zone]

We feed it to a couple dozen horses and ponies unsoaked and never had a choke episode.

[ThoroughbredFancy]

There are a few horses at my boarding barn that are on TC senior either by itself or mixed in with a few other things and we've never had an issue of choke and one of them soak it. It seems like a highly palatable grain as it is - without soaking. I figured it is supposed to be that way because it is meant to be fed to seniors who might not have the greatest teeth and all.

There is one horse who has choked on other grains in the past and he does well on TC senior unsoaked.

[BeastieSlave]

Wow, I'm surprised. I haven't ever had a horse choke, but I do feed TC Sr. That stuff is the crumbliest I've ever fed - it certainly doesn't hold a pelleted form in my feed bin. I mean, it disintegrates to a beet pulp-type dust almost immediately out of the bag. I would imagine that soaking it for any length of time would reduce it to mush right away....

[shea'smom]

I had two choke within two days on another senior feed, but very similar to TC. Now I soak it. Neither of these guys bolt their feed, one is 27, one is 22. Scary, though.

[pines4equines]

And I don't want to point out the obvious but what is the water situation? Are they fed in stalls with a clean bucket of water or are all fed outside with the dominant horse fed closest to the water? Or if they are fed in stall, is the bucket nice and clean or filled with hay and stuff from breakfast?

I'm an old race horse groom and we got use to scrubbing our water buckets daily. Now our horses are particularly picky about grungy water and grungy buckets.

[Posting Trot]

I'd be concerned that they might have choked on something else (such as hay) and are choking on the grain as a result of the inflammation caused by the other choke.

The two chokes that I had to deal with were on hay, but once a horse has choked it becomes far more prone to choking on anything/everything especially in the next week or two after the first choke.

You (or the BO) are perhaps more likely to witness a choke on grain because the horse is only fed grain at specific times when (usually) someone is around and watching. Hay, though, is often available throughout the day, and a horse can easily choke on it, clear the choke itself and no one has been there to witness it.

Make sure everything the horse eats is soaked well; I'd also give the horse some banamine every day for the next several days. It would probably make sense to have the vet look carefully at the horse's mouth and teeth: a tooth could have cracked, or there may be an abscess on the gum that is interfering with the horse's ability to chew.

Good luck.

[Ajierene]

Something else to consider talking to the vet about - my old man choked and when he was being treated I talked to the vet and the vet had trouble getting the pony sized tube down my 16.1 horse. He commented that he has had this trouble before with horses that are getting lumps on their esophagus. He suspected cancerous lumps on the esophagus, both making the pathway more narrow and hindering the function of the esophagus. I never got more tests as my old man died two days later- he just seemed to decide it was his time.

Lumps are definitely something to consider, as well as hay or something else being a primary irritant.

[Pixie Dust]

My horse has choked on TC Senior. He will choke on unsoaked beet pulp. (I did not soak the TC Senior.)

He has never choked on pellets, hay or anything other than unsoaked beet pulp (He's choked twice- once on beet pulp, and once on TC Senior.)

[Snowflake]

I had a mare that was a choker. We scoped her and found some unknown masses narrowing the esophogus. Vet wanted to treat like an abcess and be conservative. We had her on anti-inflammatories and anti-biotics as well as soupy food. She went down one morning in her stall bleeding from the nose and mouth. These were pretty agressive tumors with a very active blood supply. One ruptured and ultimately caused her death. It wasn't pretty at all and very, very sad. I would have them scoped, just for the piece of mind.