When I ask someone if they've ever had experience with a choking horse, the answer is always the same: "I didn't know a horse could choke."

Well, we have found out that, yes, a horse definitely can choke. We found one of our mares one evening standing over her water trough trying to drink water, obviously not able to swallow and allowing the water to fall out of her mouth. This is called swilling - washing water through the mouth (we didn't know this at the time). We also noticed our mare was discharging slime, food debris, etc. from her nose and had muscle spasms in her throat. She looked miserable!

We didn't know what we should do. We called several equestrian friends, but none of them had ever encountered a choking horse.

Almost waiting too late, we did research to determine that, yes, it was a choke, and the condition required special medical care.

So we called our vet, who told us to keep our horse calm until she could get there, promising to get to us as quickly as she could.

It was dark and very cold when our wonderful, calm vet arrived. The procedure for clearing a choke from a horse's 6-foot-long throat is very interesting and one that requires a couple of tranquilizing shots, a bucket of warm water, 8 feet of flexible plastic hose, a squeeze pump and patience.

We watched in sympathy as the hose was inserted through the mare's nasal cavity (after she got an "I don't care" shot), through the pharynx and down the esophagus until the choke material was located. From there, the warm water was flushed through the tube into the horse's esophagus. Amy, our vet, then proceeded to "siphon" the clog out of the throat with her mouth. Wow!

This very slow procedure can take hours to accomplish, depending on the severity of the clog.

After it was all over, we took Amy into our home and gave her a steaming hot cup of blueberry tea before gladly writing her a check. Anyone who is willing and capable of doing this procedure deserves it all. She really earned it when she spit out some stomach acid and declared all was clear. Veterinarians are wonderful people!

We learned a lot that night - and the week after when the same mare choked again! We learned that older mares are predisposed to choking due to their thyroid "hibernating" in the fall and winter months. This hibernation involves hormones which help the muscular system carry the food bolus from horses' mouths to their stomachs. When this occurs, the food gets stuck in their throat at varying places because the swallowing muscles spasm and cannot deliver the food. Not only can't the horse swallow, but breathing is a problem as well. Choking is a condition that can be encountered in horses of all ages, including foals.

In the event you encounter such a choking emergency with your horse, please do not try the procedure I have described at home. Call your vet!

T&D Correspondent Lisa Treadaway can be reached by e-mail at 3staples@bellsouth.net. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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