SayWhoa - Stops Colic

To save time and pasture space, man has placed horses in stalls, pens, and paddocks where grass is not available.  Man needed then to create a simple way to take the place of the grass. So they came up with the idea of grains mixed together to make sweet feed or also crushed up grains called pellets. By man-made intervention we designed concentrated feeds to replace the nutrition of fresh growing grass. This feed is fed twice a day so we would not have to keep horses in a big pasture. To replace the grass roughage we give hay (dry grass). Horses’ digestive tracts are designed for them to graze on grass all day. Because of the man made feed, they are now consuming approximate 1 – 6 lbs of concentrated feed in 30 minutes or less. After they eat their concentrated feed, they then munch on their dry hay. That one big meal is now being pushed through the digestive tract with the help of saliva.  Horses’ digestive tracts were designed to graze slowly throughout the whole day. No wonder there is so many impaction colics!

Weather Change – The horses will drink 20 – 25 gallons (or more) of water on a warm day and 10 – 12 gallons on a cool day. During Spring we will have cold fronts that come in. It may be very warm one day and then overnight, the temperature drops 20 degrees. On the day of the sudden cold snap, the horse does not seem to be as thirsty as the day before. By not drinking adequate amounts of water, there is less moisture in their digestive tract and the food they have eaten does not move along adequately for the normal digestion process. The gut peristalsis cannot move the food efficiently. Often times, it slows down to a stand still; the peristalses can no longer push down the highly concentrated food. This is one cause of an impaction. Riding Your Horse for Long Periods without Offering Water – Always keep a water bucket with you in the trailer. Your horse needs to be offered water whenever possible during the day. If you are showing or riding always offer water every hour. Horses Need Fresh Clean Feed and Hay – Colic may be also caused by moldy or bad horse feed. Horses cannot throw up! Once the food has been chewed and swallowed, it needs to go through the entire digestive tract and then out the other end. Horses kept in large pastures will smell of the molded hay and feed and not eat it. But, when kept penned up and that’s the only thing to eat; they will eat it, just to survive. Worm Regularly to Prevent Horse Colic– Colic may also be caused by worming, when horses are not on regular schedule.  If a horses is wormed with Ivermectin that kills many different types of worms, all the dead worms that were in the digestive tract start being moved out of the intestine just like their grains and hay.  If all the worms are traveling together in one lump, this can cause impaction colic.  If a horse has not been wormed in a long time, start with a wormer that kills just some types of worms and then finish up a few weeks later with one that also kills the full spectrum of different worm species.  Worm horses every 3 months with wormer paste, this can be purchased from a feed store.  Squirt accurate amount between cheek and teeth or towards back of mouth.  Some wormer medications are apple flavored and taste good.

A typical first symptom of colic is that horses will not eat their feed. If you have a horse that will not eat, you have a very sick horse. He may have colic or something else may be wrong. A sign of colic is that your horse will be lying down. Pressing their belly against the ground helps relieve the pain.  Just like if you hold your stomach with your hands to help relieve pain if you have a stomachache. If you make them stand up and then they start lying down again, this is an indication that they are in pain. If your horse usually stands quietly when he is tied, but then you notice him walking back and forth or digging; this may be a sign of colic; because as soon as you unsaddle and take him back to the pen, he will lie down. Horses will look back towards their belly or bite/kick at their belly. Sometimes they will stretch out which would appear they are trying to urinate, but then walk on. This is also a sign of colic.