Colicking horse

[I'm Dun]

I'm glad his better than he was it's such a worry when there really is no obvious reason for the colic.

Its horrible and so much worse when they are with someone else, My friend has done a brilliant job, I can fault her at all, but its so stressful. Worrying about her, worrying about him and just generally driving myself demented.
I know this isnt over yet, but I should at least be able to move him now.

 

[Lucky Snowball]

Watching with interest. Wishing you both the very best of luck. Everything crossed for a good result.

 

[I'm Dun]

Fine last night and still fine this morning, so I'm really hoping we've turned a corner. I'm very worried about moving him and upsetting the applecart, but the vets ok with it and I need to get him home and scoped, so I'm going to get that organised today and hopefully get him tomorrow. That will have been 36 plus hours of him seeming ok, so seems a reasonable time frame.

 

[SibeliusMB]

My lovely big, kind and sweet natured TB is colicking. Hes currently out at grass at a friends, but has been living on a track system very similar way to the way I kept him so hes had some change but nothing huge and hes such a chilled out boy he came off the wagon, glanced around and settled in. Hes been there about 10days.

And then he colicked. Very mild, no gas or blockage found,had buscopan and bute and seemed fine. They wore off and he colicked again. Same treatment, seemed fine. They wore off and hes not colicking but he is uncomfortable and not happy. His heart rate has never been over 36 even when he has been at his worst. His eyes are tight and pinched though so something hurts.

This started 2days ago. There is a very good vet involved who is running bloods and coming out, but I'm interested in any ideas anyone has or similar experiences so we can run it past him. Bloods are being run in house today so will know more from those shortly.

The full back story below in case anything rings a bell with anyone as I am worried sick.

He colicked roughly a year ago. He'd just arrived and ate some trees so we had a cause. No issues since. There was a professional firework display along my fence line and my horses freaked and he fell over in the dark. I did think he had ulcers after the fireworks incident but my physio came and found muscle spasms indicative of a slip and fall. Two treatments and he was fine and back to normal. Never any signs of ulcers other than hes not a great doer and eats a lot. Does very well on grass but eat ridiculous amounts of hay and forage feed.

About three wees ago he had an abscess, it burst and the poultice was clean after 3 days so taken off and he went to a friends. He went dog lame again, abscess blew up, farrier drained it, better then abscess blew up and the vet drained it. Cut a lot of sole off and found it had been tracking round. Almost healed but with a deeper wet pocket. That appears to be dried up now and hes happier but still not comfortable. Could be just the cut away sole could be something more sinister, so its watch and wait time.

And then he colicked. No blockage, no gas nothing really found. Buscopan and bute sorted it. They ran out and he colicked again. Buscopan and bute sorted it again. Hes now out on grass and not getting hay or feed on wet adivce. it was thought the colic was triggered by hay as my friend arrives, hays them and he colics. Today she arrives and doesnt hay him, usual scenario, he colics. Although this time colic is too strong a word.

Hes showing signs of discomfort but still eating, weeing, pooing. But anything exciting or that causes him stress, ie the other two being out of his sight, seems to triggers it.

When he had the bout of colic with me he dropped to the floor like he was dead. Never in my life seen a horse do that. I thought he was dead This time hes more agitated, pawing and upset with lip curling the first 2 times. He now is showing a heart murmur which the vet says is indicative of lower intestinal pain. It wasnt there 10 days ago so it appears to be a new thing.

His feet have gone back to low heels and trying to have long toes with thin soles over the last 3 months. Ive been watching and its been worrying me but I've put it down to lack of road work and just flagged it as something to work on when he was moved and brought back into work. He s had almost all of the winter off due to my life going horribly wrong. But I guess on reflection this might indicate some gut issues underlying that were too low grade to notice but still there.

He was wormed with pramox in jan and had clear tape and red worm tests prior. Tape worm will have been september I think. The other 2 had low but normal tests, less than 100epg which is to be expected in a young and old horse and were wormed as suggested by the worm count people. I'm getting another tape worm test in case but I think I'm grasping at straws though.

He has on one occasion done like a half wee, but my friend wasnt sure if it was because he was on concrete at the time. He has weed fine before and since.

He has been living with sheep so I'm going to ask if his liver has been considered as an issue.

The vet is being asked about protexin quick fix as he had that after the last colic and Im at the try anything stage.

He 7 so not young or old. Hes always been happy and well bar the firework incident and the first colic. Both of which had clear cause. You can tell when hes not right as hes such a lovely natured boy and he gets withdrawn and a bit grumpy if things are wrong, so I'm fairly confident saying theres been nothing wrong I didnt see, but who the hell knows!

The plan is get him stable for 48hours, get him moved back to be with me and scope him. He cant be scoped where he is, so does need to move. The vet doesnt think moving will be an issue. I'm concerned but aware needs must nd my poor friend cannot be expected to deal with this, as well as the fact I am going demented not being there. The vet is saying ulcers are a possible cause.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this before? Is this likely to be ulcers? Id be thrilled if it was as they can be treated and sorted, this unknown painful issue is scaring the living daylights out of me and I have such a bad feeling about it.

Haven't gotten through the whole thread yet, but this sounds very similar to my horse's repeated colic issues from last autumn. It was grade 3/4 ulcers. Treated with 28 day course of Gastrogard, put on 24/7 grass turnout, and (touch wood!) he's been colic free since. Definitely start with the scope and go from there.

Sig is also a Thoroughbred, also was 7 at the time, and had flown over from the States two months prior. Probably between the trip, the change in management here in the UK, etc, the ulcers developed. He was not showing any behavior other than the colic that would indicate ulcers. Never girthy, never sensitive in that area, never showed anything but his usual, happy self. He is normally a very good doer, but had been losing some conditioning or topline. At the time I thought that might be from being turned out in a small paddock, versus his usual, large fields where he moved around a lot more. Looking back, the slight weight loss, the noticeable conditioning drop, were both signs of the ulcers. Gas colics (VERY spasmodic!) developed likely due to the disruption in stomach digestion. He internalizes everything, so now we know what to look for.

In addition to his full grass turnout (ad lib hay available), e's also on a 2x daily SmartGut Ultra pellet supplement, 1x daily EquiShure hindgut supplement, one scoop of Saracen Re-Leve mix and a cup of rice bran twice daily, all soaked with chaff. He did have to spend a couple weeks on box rest for leg injury and then trouble with a hoof abcess. We managed that with daily GastroGard (full tube daily to start, then stepped down) while he was inside. I now try to keep five or so tubes on hand in case of emergencies or box rest. Not cheap, but it works for him. I'm glad he is doing well on full turnout though...my wallet is thankful!

Fingers crossed for both of you that it's ulcers - it's a treatable way forward.

 

[Birker2020]

Repeated colics can be caused by encysted redworm so I would do a worm count as I can remember my vet telling me this when Bailey was persistently colicing every week.

In the end strip grazing, changing her water every three days (scrubbing bucket out) and feeding sloppy feeds counteracted the problem and she had very few colics in later life.

She would always have spasmodic colic although twice she suffered from nephrosplenic entrapment though to be due to dehydration.

 

[I'm Dun]

Blood test results are back. Everything suggested on this post was run past the vet, but he thinks given the improvement and blood test results, get him moved and scoped and go from there. Here they are for anyone interested. The name on the bloods is my horse and a made up surname, so not giving anyone details away on line, don't worry! Nothing in red is a concern apparently. It was all explained why but I forgot most of it, but can check if its important

 

[I'm Dun]

Repeated colics can be caused by encysted redworm so I would do a worm count as I can remember my vet telling me this when Bailey was persistently colicing every week.

In the end strip grazing, changing her water every three days (scrubbing bucket out) and feeding sloppy feeds counteracted the problem and she had very few colics in later life.

She would always have spasmodic colic although twice she suffered from nephrosplenic entrapment though to be due to dehydration.

Def in the plan. I've got a normal worm count and a tape worm count that arrived this morning to do first thing he's home. I've been okayed to give some protein fix as well, but no hard feed till he's home and ok for at least 2 hours ideally wait till after he's scoped for that.