Best feed for horses that are prone to choke?

I feed senior feed, I find it a good grain you should put it in a feed tub on the ground or maybe put it on his hay. Or feed him a little bit at a time. and senior feed doesn't lose it flavor if you soak it. Or you could ask you local feed store whats a good feed for senior horses even though u don't have a senior horse. If he only gets fed at night try and divide up his feed through out the day so he isn't consuming so much grain at a time.

I hope I helped and Best wishes to you

Lindsey

PS I have also had a perchron mare about 25+ yrs old. I had a old blender and I was currently feeding her oats. I only put in a little bit at a time and I put some oats in the blender and just enough to get them soft and blended them I did this with her grain and it wasn't soggy but it was still moist. Remember if you do this in a blender don't put to much in at a time.

Horse Choke

I have a thoroughbred who has choked, but is probably not has bad as your horse. What has worked for me is to feed him in a giant 15 gallon tub on the ground. I put about 2 cups of moistened feed in the tub, because when he first gets feed is when he tries to bolt it. The tub is so big it spreads out and he cannot bolt it (I do not put rocks or a salt bricks in the pan). After he eats the first cup I add 2 or three more, wait until he is calmly eating, then add the rest. After his initial wanting to bolt the feed, he settles out into a "normal" eating pace. He gets a fair amount of concentrate being a hard keeping thoroughbred, and before I started feeding this way he was having mild choke on a regular basis. Since I have been doing this I have not had a problem.

The other suggestions are good. There is also a new feed tub that somewhat has come up with that has little like pocket things or depressions on the bottom that really prevent a horse from bolting his feed. I'm sorry I can't remember the name of it.

Another consideration is surgery. The problem with that, of course, is that any surgery may end up being self-defeating as the adhesions formed by the surgery may actually result in an even smaller esophageal aperture. You could talk to a vet who specializes in this surgery. Since it's only the grain that's causing the choke, the feed tub-thingy might work fine. I'll try to find it online and will email you when and if I find the source.

Choke In Horses

My horse that choked lived on bran mash, beet pulp and soaked alfalfa cubes. I would add 5 gallons of water at least to the feed in a big tub. I'd mix in mineral oil as well. Let it sit 30 minutes before feeding.

I would also add in something like Purina's Amplify or Nutrena's Empwer to up the fat content if needed.

I fed out of a rubber water trough basically as well so it was huge to try to eat out of. You can make a trough by cutting a 55 gallon barrel in half and then mounting it to the wall.

I know a friend of mine who had a similar problem, nothing would stop her horse bolting his feed. She ended up putting his entire feed in one of those treat balls, took him a good while to eat it as it took ages to all come out, but it got all his feed down him without him having any chance of completely stuffing it down.

You could also try putting his bucket into a tyre so he finds it a lot harder to knock it all over.

I would also question whether you can change his feed to something that he is less likely to choke on - at 3 does he really need large ammounts of hard feed? Or could you get away with him eating haylage/hay and grass?

We lost a horse to choke, and my dad is a vet. It was a horrible process to watch him deteriorate so fast. This is what we did. Put his food in a pan on the floor. This is a more natural eating posture for horses and prevents choke. Make sure you bolt the pan to the floor, so he can't dump it over. Then put rocks in it. Make sure you feed him soaked alfalfa cubes instead of hay.

I'm sure your vet has already spoken with you about this, but choke is something that happens more easily and more often after they have choked once. It deteriorates their quality of life very quickly. Just be thinking of the future and what you might choose to do, but don't let the thought of that poison your time with him. I'm so very sorry.

The best way to prevent choke is to use a high quality feeder that is designed to prevent choke and prevent colic (including sand colic). There is a product called Pre-Vent Feeder that has been designed for horses that suffer from choke, colic and sand-colic. I just recently found out about this feeder and love it. The web site where you can purchase it or locate a store that sells it is http://www.pre-ventfeeders.com/

Does he really need to eat grain, or is it just as a treat? If he doesn't need it, I'd cut it out.

Have you tried mixing some corn oil in with it. At least then it will slide down easier and hopefully prevent the choking.