Colic - how many is too many?

Mouse&Bay

Mouse&Bay

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I am worried and potentially overly paranoid.

Barn has about 25 stalls. Three horses have died of colic in the past year. Is this "normal" or do I have a valid reason to be hyperventilating about my horse's care right now?
 
I have only ever seen one horse with colic - my own.

I've stabled on a 40 stable yard, and an 8 stable yard.

So yes, I'd be concerned. But unless there is a common cause to the colic, it may just be very bad luck.
 
Sounds like amazingly bad luck for one yard,
I was on large (20+ horses) yards for 10+ years before moving here and never saw one go off for surgery - let alone die.

Is it really sandy soil? ingesting sand can be a trigger
Do they have enough forage 24/7?

Are the colics the same in each case - 'colic' covers a wide range of issues so it could be three very different things
 
Yes it could be bad luck, but I have only called vet out to two colics in hundred of horses, neither died, that also is a worry. Ask your vet for advice if YM is not forthcoming.
 
It could be down to poor care, lack/change of routine, sandy soil, lack of movement due to box rest, eating bedding, lack of fresh water, stress or poor quality forage BUT it could just coincidence.

as mentioned before are they all the same type of colic?

are the horses DIY or livery?

are they all fed the same forage or bedded on same bedding?

have never dealt with a colic of my own or one of my liveries, but 2 horses I look after this year colicked within 6 days of each other-one always has firm droppings and her diet reflects that but she got a compacted colic when she started bo rest and had been fed dry hay overnight, the other had a gas colic caused by stress as the yard routine had changed and her competition work load had increased due to the other pony being injured
 
I don't know the answer, and you've got some good ideas in the previous posts, but also to add it might help if you knew what type of colic the horses had had - in that if they were all the same type, that may (or may not) indicate a common cause.

Also were they all at a particular time of year. For example, is it that when the weather is very cold their water supplies are freezing up and the horses are going without water for too long a period and becoming impacted?

See if you can find a pattern to those that have happened.

Sarah
 
In the interests of brainstorming a solution, some additional information:
• Soil is “normal” – not sandy. Decent amount of grass in the turnout still but slowing with the season.
• Horses usually out from 9 am until 5 pm
• Horses are livery – most are on same forage, some variation (type but not brand) in the complete feeds (i.e. senior vs. active etc), same bedding
• All three young horses (under 10 years of age) who appear to be in good health, everything is fine until they colic, twist (to my knowledge) and are put down.
• Two were at a similar time of the year (Fall last year and this year); one was in the winter with snow cover.
• Same vet, YM, different owners obviously
• All different turnouts, shared with different horses

Same vet.
 
It could be bad luck but if all horses were managed and fed in the same way and appeared fit, young and healthy then it might be management related or there is something in the fields that they are eating that causes the colic in some horses?

Did any other horses show mid colic symptoms but survived or perhaps were off colour at similar times?

Are these competition horses could it be related to ulcers?
 
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I would think that's a lot. I was on a yard of 45-50 for 10 years and never saw a colic requiring surgery or resulting in death. Just a handful of mild colics requiring the vet. And this was by no means a great yard.

If its 3 this year then it could be just really bad luck, can you find out historically if it was a problem in the past?

ETA are the horses left unsupervised for long periods? Eg last checked at 7pm then not discovered distressed until 7 the next morning?
 
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Are they grazing alfalfa. My friend has lost a horse in Colorado and her vet tells her there's a link between alfalfa eaten fresh and colic. I have no idea if it's true.

I would be extremely worried if I were you, to the point of moving yards. I used to stable in a sixty box livery yard and never heard of one colic, never mind a death from it. And conditions in that yard were far from ideal regarding the provision of forage.
 
Hi. You mention that all three horses twisted guts and were put to sleep. I would want to know if surgery was an option but the owners didn't want surgery for some reason, or perhaps were not insured and couldn't afford it? Perhaps if all three had gone down the surgery route they might have survived and you wouldn't be in the situation of wondering about your horses care? (Or perhaps surgery wasn't an option in these instances - I'm not suggesting they should have had surgery or that they might still be alive if they had, I believe around 1 in 5 don't make it through surgery or the recouperation)
 
There was a very informative vet presentation that was linked on another colic thread. Of the surgical colics (4 in 80) one will die.
 
Alphamare said:
That's a very long time in the stables. There is a link between hours in the stable and an increased risk of colic.
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Not too sure about that......... worked in racing where turnout was the exception not the rule, and also in RS where horses were not out in winter.
Racehorses get fed 4/5 times per day, but they don't tend to colic, their routine is same day in day our24/7 365 days of the year except when they go racing, when they might have 4-8 hours with no grub, in spite of this the only r/horse I called a vet for was probably eating his bed [straw] though he had lived on the yard for five years with no problem!
 
Mouse&Bay said:
I am worried and potentially overly paranoid.

Barn has about 25 stalls. Three horses have died of colic in the past year. Is this "normal" or do I have a valid reason to be hyperventilating about my horse's care right now?
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There is a huge variety of variables to whether horses develop colic or not. It usually depends on the type of animal, their eating habits, the quality of the grazing, fluctuations in weather and the immediate care that is offered to the horse once he is discovered to have colic. I wouldn't say three horses out of 25 over twelve months is a lot really as colic is the biggest killers of horses (closely followed in second place by laminitis) so therefore VERY common.

Elderly horses get colic sometimes from fatty lumps that grow which are benign tumours. Thses are called limpomas and they can get tangled around the intestine. These often result in death.

Fluctuations in weather are often to blame for some types of colic, and horses can get colic if they are injured or hurt elsewhere which stresses them out and leads to colic.

So no I wouldn't say three is a lot of colic incidences, but I am not a vet just an owner of a horse who used to get repeated spasmodic colic over a period of many years.

Pink powder is my best friend now and my horse received a scoop a day, or two scoops per feed when the weather is very mild after a lot of rain. Put your horse on pink powder as a preventative if you are worried.
 
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MrsD123 said:
Sorry, not clear, what is the success rate for surgery?
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Of 100 colics 80 will require medical attention and medication (20 self resolve) of those 80 4 will require surgery and one of those four will die in or before the surgery. He did not cover long term survivl rates or reoccurrence of surgery.

This particular veterinary surgeon works in a big racing area and this is exactly sure the statistics (combined with research) come from.
 
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