The oesophagus

The oesophagus

The oesophagus is a muscular tube (up to 1.5m long in an adult horse) that is responsible for passing food from the mouth to the stomach chamber.

Horses have a very strong, muscular sphincter at the bottom of the oesophagus (which is why they can’t vomit), and the oesophagus is long, meaning that if something solid were to get stuck in the horse’s oesophagus, they wouldn’t be able to ‘cough’ it back up as people and some other mammals can do.

It’s therefore important to maintain a horse’s teeth on a regular basis so that they are able to properly grind down their food into small particles before swallowing.

It’s also important to break down big solid foods, such as carrots, into smaller chunks, so that they don’t end up choking on large pieces.

Some owners add chaff to the feed of horses who tend to gobble down their food, as it naturally slows their intake and forces them to chew for longer.

Another possibility is adding large, smooth river stones to the feed to physically slow down the eating process.

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