feeding after colic

Orchardbeck

Orchardbeck

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Hi all, well as you might know my mare is still with us after a nast bout of colic at the weekend. She has started drinking properly again which was my biggest worry, but her appetite is still poor. I wonder if anyone has any suggestions of what to try?

I gave her a bran mash last night with a touch of molasses and carrots apples etc in which she was enthusiastic about, but I can't give her that long term. She has also nibbled at chaff which is positive. Speedi beet and Calm and Condition don't seem to appeal, but she went mad for a handful of rolled barley - again not something ideal long term.

Am I expecting too much? I just worry about her dropping even more weight, and also that she is eating random stuff rather than a regular diet. She had a nibble of grass yesterday, and possibly a tiny bit of hay but i'm not certain if she just played with it.

Vet did blood tests yesterday afternoon so might get closer to the cause, even though it could be diet related.
 
I would feed fast fibre my friend horse at colic went to newmarket half of her stomach taken out and she was told to feed her this even though she had lost loads of weight.
 
Since my boy had a spasmodic colic episode I looked long and hard at feeding for him. He is now on Thunderbrook base mix with a handful of soaked readigrass which he loves. Basically, I looked at keeping everything moving along! He also had a course of gut cleanse.

I would not be feeding grains to your horse, but looking at a fibre and laxative diet.
 
Have you tried putting warm water into the cool & condition? One of my lads was on box rest and lost his appetite. We mixed calm & condition with grated carrot and added warm water. That worked.
 
I found one of my liveries colic over the weekend. Vet came out and flushed him through his nose to remove content as it was spasmodic colic. He then had to starve over night stay in in the morning till frost gone and small 1/4 feeds and 1/4 hay. He is today now back on normal feeds. You need to feed small amounts while all the bruising / stretching goes back to normal.

When my mare went off her feed, I was recommended Fibergy smells lovely and my horses love it. Still feed it today as its nicer than hifi
 
It was literally years ago, but when mine had surgical colic and the operation, he was put onto Dobsons and Horrell convalescent food. He dropped an unbelievable amount of weight in a matter of days due to the stress of the op and was actually never great at keeping weight on in the winter. This is a feed which appeals to fussy eaters (used it again and again over the years), is meant for horses on box rest and really helps put weight back on. We also fed mine 4 times a day. At that point I was on DIY and I am still so grateful how my other liveries rallied around to help me get the extra 2 feeds into him per day.
 
Just wanted to say thanks for the replies, sorry I hadn't responded earlier. I added a bit of chaff to the bran mash, increasing it slightly each feed, then added a bit of warm soaked calm and condition, increasing it with each feed and decreasing the bran and molasses. She's really eating up now and droppings are more frequent and softer than before. She's drinking loads more too, and eating up her hay. So fingers crossed we are on the right track.
 
Mine had colic surgery and we just took it slow and steady. He had his normal food (pasture nuts and Alfa A but wetter than normal). He was not interested in it for quite a while but did tuck into his grass pretty ,uch straight away. It was summer though so a bit more difficult for you. Do you have good turnout you can put her on? Is she tucking in to her hay/haylage?
 
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