Colic again!

[Birker2020]

Poor boy had colic last night. Got back from riding club where I'd taken him round the members field for 30 mins, walk trot and canter and then the boundary ride walk only for about 45 mins. Got back and skipped out, put tack and trailer etc away and when I went to give him an apple he wouldn't take it. This is typical of him when he has belly ache. So I put him in his stable to watch him whilst I sat in the tea room and he pawed the ground and lay down with his head outstretched looking very sorry for himself. He always has the same type of colic which is the gassy spasmodic type and the vet has always said to give him bute and then put him on the walker to walk off the gas. He got up and went down a couple of times after that and was pawing the floor.

So I dragged him out of the stable and into the menage (we don't have a walker) where he lunged quite happily for twenty mins before I turned him loose and went and took out most of his haynet and put an extra bale of shavings down for him. When I put him in his stable he started eating his net and I rang up the yard owner this morning and she said he was right as rain.

I'm going to do a worm count to see if theres anything showing and take it from there. He is on pink powder as a precaution, he went on the loading dose about 8 days before we turned them out from the sandpit to the paddock.

He's only been wormed once in the last 13 months and I'm not sure if he might have a redworm burden as this can cause colics, but his worm count in November was fine.

 

[be positive]

Tapeworm can cause colic and is not part of the routine egg count so requires a separate test or treating each winter , encysted redworm can also cause it and again will not show in an egg count.

 

[PolarSkye]

I do hope Bailey recovers, but if you suspect that his recurrent colic episodes are due to an undiagnosed worm burden, it might be worth worming him for redworm and tapeworm more often . . . go gently, though, if he has an existing parasite burden, aggressive treatment may also cause him to colic. I don't envy you, colic is a horrid, horrid thing for horses to go through.

Some reading for you:

http://www.moredun.org.uk/research/research-@-moredun/parasitic-worms/parasite-control-in-horses

P

 

[Bryndu]

Firstly poor you n him...colic....any type.... is horrid
May I just ask ...do you feed your hay dry? I used to have a horse who colicked regularly...but gave him dunked hay and he never had it again....he lived to 32
Would it be worth a try (if you don't do it already?)
Good luck.
Bryndu

 

[Scatterbrain]

Ingesting sand can cause a build up in the gut which can lead to colic. You say he's been turned out in a "sand pit" before the paddock. Has he been eating hay off the ground in there per chance? A course of pysllium husks eg., Equine America Sand Out pellets may help if it's sand related.

 

[Birker2020]

Hi thanks for your replies.

He has wet hay because he had a splenic entrapment a couple of years ago (colon displacement). Luckily it was treated with loads of lunging to reduce the spleen but the vet thought it may have been caused by dry hay being fed whilst I was on holiday (I'd taken him off wet and onto dry about a week before I went away and this was on my return the following week). So since then he's always had it soaked.

I am not sure if he has ingested any sand. He's always had a colic problem over the eleven years I've owned him (it is usually worse after warm temperatures followed by rain). He's on pink powder at this time of year to alleviate any problems. Its always build up of gas with him, always has been the same type of colic and even the splenic entrapment is a build up of gas.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Poor boy had colic last night. Got back from riding club where I'd taken him round the members field for 30 mins, walk trot and canter and then the boundary ride walk only for about 45 mins. Got back and skipped out, put tack and trailer etc away and when I went to give him an apple he wouldn't take it. This is typical of him when he has belly ache. So I put him in his stable to watch him whilst I sat in the tea room and he pawed the ground and lay down with his head outstretched looking very sorry for himself. He always has the same type of colic which is the gassy spasmodic type and the vet has always said to give him bute and then put him on the walker to walk off the gas. He got up and went down a couple of times after that and was pawing the floor.

So I dragged him out of the stable and into the menage (we don't have a walker) where he lunged quite happily for twenty mins before I turned him loose and went and took out most of his haynet and put an extra bale of shavings down for him. When I put him in his stable he started eating his net and I rang up the yard owner this morning and she said he was right as rain.

I'm going to do a worm count to see if theres anything showing and take it from there. He is on pink powder as a precaution, he went on the loading dose about 8 days before we turned them out from the sandpit to the paddock.

He's only been wormed once in the last 13 months and I'm not sure if he might have a redworm burden as this can cause colics, but his worm count in November was fine.

Lost my donkey to colic last week - gastric impaction

With gassy colic we have found this helpful as it helps things move along and reduces the gas build up and relaxes the stomach muscles. http://pro-equine.com/products/colikare

 

[Britestar]

Ingesting sand can cause a build up in the gut which can lead to colic. You say he's been turned out in a "sand pit" before the paddock. Has he been eating hay off the ground in there per chance? A course of pysllium husks eg., Equine America Sand Out pellets may help if it's sand related.

This ^^. You can get something called sandout, which is pysillium husk specicially for horses.
.