HELP! Semi Colicy, windy, bloated horse run out of ideas

J

Jupitersmom

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Run out of ideas - anyone got any clues?
My 15.3hh 10YO Gelding has been colicy on and off for ages now. It started with what the vet suspected as sand colic nearly 2 years ago (only put it down to that because of sand in his poo - not necessarily a sign, more a sign that it was passing through him!). I moved yards to non sandy soil. He improved for a while but is sore again now.

When he comes in from the field he is visibly bloated yet tucked up in his flanks. He is very windy and if you touch his flanks he is so sore that he will kick out and put his ears flat back. By the morning though he is fine. Dont know if relate but he does a headshaking thing when he is stressed and sounds like he is taking in a little wind, but vet says wind is not passing into his tummy and he does not do this in the field prior to coming in and his symptoms showing.

Vet then suggested Ulcers, so i paid £180.00 for a feed supplement and then we sent him off for tests - after a scope, ultrasound and examination his gut was perfect....still no idea!

Now got him on Coligone liquid which is helping a little but he is still very windy and sort. Starting to wonder what on earth i can do next? He is not thrashing around on the floor, more uncomfortable.

Anyone got ANY ideas of what i can try? He is better with exercise, but cant ride him at moment as pregnant and cant lunge as have no school!
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When I was vet nursing we used to give horses with recurring colic something called psyllium which I understand acts as a pre & pro-bitoic and seems to help keep the gut moving. Seemed to help anyway!
 
This was the advice I was given when I had the colic issues (with my Irish mare), and then when Grace had an operation for it...

Horses are created to eat fibre, therefore a high fibre diet is essential. I was recommended to put Han on Alfa A and a balancer, which is what she has now been on for over four years. She has had some intermittent colic bouts, but nothing major on this! I was also recommended to put her on hay as our haylage was so changeable, that also helped A LOT! Now I am on a different yard, I have put her back on haylage because it is consistent (and she needs the calories) and she has been fantastic on that too.

Basically, in a horse prone to colic, any changes should be done over a period of weeks as opposed to days, and be careful when the grass is rich because it promotes a gassy build up.

The balancer Hannah is on has been fantastic, she is on TopSpec as it contains a yeast which has been created for just the horse as opposed to other animals too.
 
He is on dampened (not soaked) hay in his stable (enough to keep him munching most of the time) Hard feed he does not have much, handful of mix and scoop of chaff morning and night as he is not in work an easy to keep the weight on. Supplement wise he has the coligone liquid, a prebiotic (SureBio i think) a general vitamin supplement and garlic.
Also tried Psyllium and Biotal and Equine Gold in the pas to no success.
Poo etc always fine looking really healthy, worm count fine. Bloods and fluid tests have always come back fine too.
Puzzling!
 
You are supplimenting him a lot??????

Mix - can be high in starch levels.

Have you ever tried him on just a very simple high fibre diet with no suppliments? And can you ensure that he always has forage in front of him - so never runs out of hay.

And why dampened??

Sorry, lots of questions.
 
Guess he doesnt really need the vitamins, but always fed garlic and the prebiotic and coligone have been recommended by the vet but see your point!
Cant ensure adlib forage - yard owner already annoyed with me for feeding him so much hay (even though paying her extra for it!). Use small holed nets to try and make it last, but he has a good 4 big sections a night.
Reason for dampening is simply that he coughs a little if it is dusty.
Nervous as we approach the time of year to turn them out 24/7, worried that if it is the grass then he could get worse and cant monitor him as easily but then that might be what he needs?
 
In your shoes, I have to say I'd be going back to absolute basics.

High Fibre diet - cubes and say Alfa. Absolutely no suppliments - especially not the garlic. And hay in front of him constantly - and actually not in a net and not dampened.

Would be really interesting to see if there are any positive improvements or changes........

Presumably it's your choice if the horse goes out 24/7??
 
Kind of my choice if he goes out 24/7 although if the others are out then he will be left in on his own and can get particularly stressed so have to kind of go with what yard owner decides ultimately! Do you think that he would be better out or in?
 
In your shoes I would knock the garlic on the head for a starter...some horses really cannot cope with it (including sweetitchers and colickers).
 
Completely agree with AmyMay and Spaniel. Garlic has been proven (Liverpool Uni) to strip the lining of the stomach over a period of time.
 
I can also heartily recomend the use of Coligone. My veteran cob is prone to gassy colic and on more than one occasion Coligone liquid has settled him enough to make the vet visit a waste of time. Its really palatable and has a good following both on here and throughout the equestrian community. You can feed it daily or use it at times of stress and I wouldnt be without it.

Have a look at the website.
http://www.hbradshaws.co.uk/
 
Have you tried Coligone? It treats the symptoms; a bit like Gaviscon for horses. We had problems with Toffee colicking every time she went out to grass, and Coligone sorted her out really quickly. It is worth keeping some in stock, and mentioning to your vet that you are using it. Ours is happy to give advice when she colics, and approves of us using Coligone. We found one solution to the problem was to turn out at night, when there is less sugar in the grass, and bring in during the day.

Doh! Just seen you are using Coligone.
 
Im just about to buy a horse who has had colic surgery and have spoken to alot of feed companies about what would be best to feed her (which I would really reccomend doing they were all so helpful and most have email services so its really easy aswell!). Anyway they all said high fibre, low starch is very important, so like others have said it might be an idea to strip her diet back to basics and feed alot of fibre- adlib hay would be much better if you could manage it. I will PM you my email from Winergy Equilibrium because they were so helpful and alot of people have said that this feed has made such a difference to all of their horses. It is a totally complete feed as well so no need to supplement in anyway.
 
Thanks for all the advice, i think that i will look at his feed, get him on high fibre and low starch diet, get rid of the garlic and replace with Sunny_Ways suggestions of the Winergy Equilibrium. The coligone is good too, trying the liquid at the moment, reduced it from 2 doses a day to 1 just in the evening when he is bloated.
What are peoples thoughts on Haylage V Hay? At moment he is on hay but thinking of topping it up with a little horsehage which is low in sugars. Want to feed that to him when he is stressing and hay wont calm him, haylage acts a dummy for him like a baby and stops the stress levels as he just munches!
 
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