Colic from grass cuttings advice please!

[Bucks Fizz]

Looking for advice re horses and how quickly symptoms of colic are likely to appear please. Can't currently get through to the emergency vet and hoping for some advice on here!

One of my horses may have eaten some grass cuttings. I got to the yard at 3 this afternoon and shortly after caught him leaning over the fence.
I went to see what he was up to and discovered a large pile of grass cuttings.
It has been warm and wet the last few days so the bottom of the pile was very warm.
What was there was just out of his reach.
I don't know if that means that he'd already hoovered up the bit that was closest to him, or whether he had only just smelt them and was just trying to get to them.
Based on where it had been left I think if he had eaten any it won't have been a ton, maybe a bucket full, but obviously more than I'd like!

(They've been left by the gardener of my landlady's garden, I'll let her know and therefore I'm not worried about it happening again.)

He wasn't hanging around there when I arrived, he was well away grazing and he didn't show much interest in the clippings as I was clearing them away either.

If he has eaten any of it, he could have done that any time between about 3pm yesterday and 2pm today.

I stayed and kept an eye for two hours, no sign of anything wrong. He was happily grazing. I fed him his usually dinner (happy hoof) but made it like a soup. He ate that and I left him a small amount of hay.

I'm planning to go up again this evening to check on him.

Can anyone offer any advice re how long you'd expect any problems to become apparent ?

(He's never had any colic type problems before.)

 

[Firefly9410]

I think it is impaction colic from grass clippings so fingers crossed he is fine. Your landlady might know when the grass was cut? Or seen the full pile herself? To narrow down the time frame of when he could have eaten them.

 

[Goldenstar]

Many years ago my shetland pony got given some grass clippings my mum found him eating them and got the vet despite various treatment he got laminitis about 24 hours after .

 

[Bucks Fizz]

I think it is impaction colic from grass clippings so fingers crossed he is fine. Your landlady might know when the grass was cut? Or seen the full pile herself? To narrow down the time frame of when he could have eaten them.

I know the timeframe, he could only have eaten them from 3pm yesterday until 2.30pm today.

The pile must be at least a week old though.

The horses were checked again at 7:30pm and were fine.

Crossing my fingers that maybe he didn't actually get to any of the cuttings.

 

[Shay]

It can be several days I'm afraid. It depends on the type of colic and the individual natural length of digestive transit. Grass cuttings can cause gassy colic which shows relatively quickly. Impaction can take 2 - 4 days to begin to show - but the effects can be delayed up to 14 days depending on the location of the block and whether it is complete or partial . Horses can also consume a fatal dose off botulinum toxin from decomposing grass cuttings - that can take up to 14 days to show. And of course that is not allowing for laminitis.

I'm afraid you are going to be watching for a few days yet.

 

[Bucks Fizz]

It can be several days I'm afraid. It depends on the type of colic and the individual natural length of digestive transit. Grass cuttings can cause gassy colic which shows relatively quickly. Impaction can take 2 - 4 days to begin to show - but the effects can be delayed up to 14 days depending on the location of the block and whether it is complete or partial . Horses can also consume a fatal dose off botulinum toxin from decomposing grass cuttings - that can take up to 14 days to show. And of course that is not allowing for laminitis.

I'm afraid you are going to be watching for a few days yet.

Thank you, that's really helpful.

I am hopeful that if he did get to any it was only a relatively small amount.

So far, no signs of anything amiss.

We will certainly be keeping a closer eye than normal