CHOKING 265 



be tied in pillar reins and kept without solid food for from forty-eight to 

 fifty-six hours. 



CHOKING 



Choking results when some solid body or substance becomes fixed in 

 some part of the oesophagus or gullet. In this condition swallowing is 

 either imperfectly performed or rendered altogether impossible, according 

 to the size and form of the object, and in some measure also to the 

 position occupied by it. This mishap is of seldom occurrence in the horse, 

 but in the ox, whose food is but imperfectly chewed prior to rumination, 

 it is comparatively common. 



Fig. 96.- Choking in the Throat 



Various substances have been found from time to time to obstruct the 

 gullet. Eggs and onions, given by grooms with the idea of improving the 

 condition of the horse, have on several occasions resulted in choking. 

 Pieces of carrot, turnip, and mangold, balls, hay imperfectly masticated and 

 hurriedly swallowed, thorns, pieces of stick, wire, &c, are among the more 

 common offenders. The situation of the obstruction varies in different 

 cases. Sometimes it is high up in the throat, at others in the course of the 

 neck, and in some instances low down in the chest, near to the stomach. 

 Whether it be in one position or the other it is a state involving con- 

 siderable difficulty and danger, and requires to be dealt with promptly 

 and deliberately. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms of choking are not always the same, the 

 difference depending upon the seat and nature of the object causing it. 



