Colic and frosty weather - any tips?

[now_loves_mares]

I just heard from a (non-horsey) neighbour that one of our other neighbour's horse has died from frost-induced colic. We've had deep snow for over 2 weeks now, it's rarely been above freezing for that time and last night was -8, which is predicted again tonight.

My horses are out during the day and in at night. I'm basically not putting haylage out in the field until morning (sometimes I put it out the night before, but figured just now it will freeze). I'm putting some warm water in their water buckets. Not soaking hay, again to reduce risk of freezing; and splashing warm water over the sugar beet before I feed.


Can anyone else give any tips that I, or others, might have forgotten? If your horses are out 24/7, is freezing hay/haylage a problem?

I am now watching mine like a hawk. They will however insist on munching away at the snow, despite all my efforts to protect them

I'm trying not to be paranoid, but sometimes a few simple steps can make all the difference.

 

[lilym]

as long as you keep feeding plenty of fibre you will be fine - do make sure they drink though, keep troughs free from ice as you can, and add water or sloppy beet to feeds to keep up moisture content.

 

[AmyMay]

I know that it's a real concern for some - although I've never come across it myself, thankfully.

I always make sure my horse has hay before being turned out - especially if the ground is frosty, but he doens't have hay in the field.

I would carry on as you are doing - haying them in the field when you turn out.

 

[ISHmad]

Ours are out 24/7 with ad lib hay and have so far - touch wood - been absolutely fine. We are adding lots of sloppy sugarbeet to their feeds as well to help with some moisture intake.

As long as they have ad lib access to fibre, whether hay or haylage then there shouldn't be a problem. Sorry to hear about your neighbours horse, that's really sad.

 

[flyingfeet]

If you have access to storage, I would feed twice a day if you are somewhere cold (Scotland). Means that the frost is kept off and as its "new" they are more inclined to eat it, which limits the amount of intake

However the incident of colic, I thought, was linked to horses kept in and suddenly turned out to a radical change of diet (or turned out with nothing else to eat and short grass). Colic doesn't normally occur when they are in a good routine.

 

[now_loves_mares]

ISH_mad, yes I know, very sad

CotswoldSJ yes that's what I'm doing, always putting the hay out fresh, and it's going in the shelter. They get a huge pile in the morning when turned out, and obviously again when brought in. However, I did have a horse once get frost-colic (years ago before I knew better) when I turned out with frosty grass and hadn't put hay out. He wasn't out of his routine at all; but he was older which may have contributed. Luckily he survived but it was very scary. I don't know the circumstances of my neighbour's horse but you may well be right. I've deliberately turned out through all this bad weather to keep things on an even keel; but no danger of them eating frozen grass right now as it's under a foot of snow

Fingers crossed everyone's horses are fine.