I'm sorry if this is a bit disoriented, I'm a little stressed.
I went to visit my friend's horse today who is happily retired to pasture with her best bud, we'll call him Storm. We brought both horses up for some
grain and a good groom down. Before we let them have their grain, we let them drink their fill from the trough, as they are an a full quarter section of land
and we're not sure how often they migrate up for water. Both Storm and my friend's horse, Sage, drank a lot of water, they were quite thirsty.
After Storm had a few mouthfuls of grain, he started stretching his neck out and flexing it in to his chest, while trying to cough something up. A bit of grain
and a lot of mucous came out of his mouth. Palpating around his neck, it felt rock hard, the entire underside of his neck was flexed, the muscles were rigid
even though he didn't seem to be consciously flexing them himself. I could hear him swallowing, but it didn't seem to work its way down his entire
throat, it seemed "caught" at the top of his neck. He stretched his neck out lots and presented the Flehmen response over and over again, like he was
trying to stretch his neck out. All the while he was not touching his grain.
I started massaging his neck, trying to encourage him to swallow. He coughed up some more mucous and grain, and flexed his head towards his chest a few more
times. I kept massaging, in hopes that it would help a little? His breathing was shallow and rapid.
I was very very concerned, but my friend (who is a seasoned horsewoman, I suppose you would call her, and many years my senior) didn't seem too concerned.
I called the horse's owner only to find that she was out of town, and her husband didn't seem all too concerned, even when I explained in detail what
was going on with the horse. I suggested we call a vet, as I suspected choke. The husband said to leave the horse, and he'd check on him later. My friend
agreed that the horse was 'probably going to be ok' and refused to have a vet out.
Eventually his neck muscles relaxed, he stopped stretching and flexing, and seemed interested in his grain again.
I strongly urged my friend to call a vet out for Storm, but she kept insisting that "he looks better now." She called the barn manager who says she
will keep an eye on Storm tonight and tomorrow.
I feel terrible about leaving him. He seemed okay by the time we left (we stayed for a while) and I was reassured that the owner's husband was going to be
by later to check on the horse, and the barn manager was going to keep a close eye on Storm.
From my (awful) description, do you think it was choke? Should I have done something differently? Should I go back out there myself tonight to make sure Storm
is okay?
God, I feel like a little kid for asking such questions and leaving that horse without a vet coming to look at him.. I absolutely deserve to get my ass beat if
I did the wrong thing. However, I want to learn. I want to know what to do if there ever is a next time. Any and all advice is welcomed.

