A Kick to the Throat

My horse got kicked in the lower throat area (esophagus) a while ago. Lately his breathing has been vigorous
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Q:My horse got kicked in the lower throat area (esophagus) a while ago. Lately his breathing has been vigorous, and he takes deep breaths. It has been scary for me because my farrier said it could be a symptom leading up to a heart attack. If you keep your hand under the lump left from the kick near his esophagus, you can feel unusual blood flow.

Mary, via e-mail


A:Kicks to the neck can lead to many different problems that can result in acute issues or more chronic concerns, such as the case in your horse’s situation. While the esophagus could be traumatized secondary to a kick, that would be more likely to cause the horse to have intermittent esophageal obstruction (commonly known as choke), and the horse would have episodes of feed material coming from his nose when he was obstructed.

The other structure that could have been traumatized from the kick could be his trachea (windpipe). Trauma to the trachea as a result of a kick would be a more probable diagnosis if the horse is having any difficulty breathing as you describe. Furthermore, the sensation you are feeling with your hand is more likely air going through a narrowing of the windpipe than unusual blood flow

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Eric J. Parente, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, is an associate professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
439 votes · 439 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!