Bloated and sensitive. (also in NL)

[DamselInDistress]

My horse has suffered with colic quite a bit in the few years that I have owned him, he recently suffered with a bad bout that we were unsure if he would get over it, turned out he had left dorsal displacement, but has since recovered.

I went to the yard tonight and took him out of his stable, began grooming him and when I got to his left flank area, kind of down towards his sheath, he became really touchy and didn’t want to be touched there, he is not at all a sensitive horse and he never pulls faces so this was really out of character for him. I then checked him over and think that he is also quite bloated looking.

Does anyone have any idea what could cause this bloating and sensitivity? I am so worried that it is linked to the colic.

He is fine in every other way, eating, drinking, pooing and peeing and is his usual happy self if I don’t touch his flank.

P.S I have the vet coming tomorrow, but am thought I would ask here so I can be a bit aware of what to expect.

 

[H's mum]

When it comes to colicky horses like this it's a case of working out what the trigger factors are - it's a long and tiresome (and somewhat frustrating) process of eliminating things and then reintroducing them - Ensure that his hard feed is high fibre and low starch (less than 10%) Take him off grass - then reintroduce it to see if it makes a difference, hay/haylage etc and monitor how he changes - Did your routine change at all (or rather his routine?) have you been out competing around the time of the colic episodes? Every slight thing that you don't think is important really is - for instance my mare colicked if she had too much grass- any thing longer than half a day would throw her sugar levels into overdrive and she was never allowed onto rich grazing ever! She also would colic if she had just a handful of sugarbeet - I could tell if her feeds had been mixed up just by her reactions - It's a long process but worth doing - If you need to chat feel free to pm me.
Kate x

 

[racebuddy]

hi my horse is also prone to colic an tying up, very scary moments sometimes, is a throughabred though!!, he gets fed alafa a oil and ready mash and ad lib haylage and routine kept the same , if i am going to be late i will get someone to put feed/haylage in to keep feeding times to the same, i also feed pre and pro bitotics also, fingers crossed for urs, has vet been yet update pm if you want. xx