Pedigree Query

Friend's horse was not able to swallow it's hay - that is it kept coming back up....at same time horse was worked after some down time and conditioning but only did 'so-so'.....not his usual energetic work but not really a great cause for concern, but he has been losing weight. Vet came out and scoped him and pronounced he has a "soft esophagus" - not "soft palate" which I've heard of before, but "soft esophagus" - and said that is why he's having trouble with his hay. Grain, water, etc. is no problem - just the hay.

Has anyone else ever heard of this condition?

Aside from putting the hay through a cutting devise to make it smaller and then wetting it with water alone or water and flax seed (or some other edible oil) - does anyone have solutions to suggest?

The horse doesn't have a problem with eating and swallowing/digesting grass, just hay, i.e. grass in it's long, dried form.

Switch him from hay to pellets... and alfalfa cubes can be soaked with water and then chaff added to make up the hay ration.

Never exactly heard of that, but I did have a horse that choked twice and had to be forever after watched. My vet said the choking could make a "soft" spot on the esophagus where the initial "choke" lodged and made it bulge out. We had him on soft stuff for three months after to give the esophagus time to heal.