Horrible Night - My mare has had gassy colic

belle31

belle31

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My poor mare had another bout of gassy colic last night, she was really out of it for a while, thankfully she has got over it now Im watching her like a hawk though. She has had a bran mash, an hour in the field and ive given her a small haynet for the day (8lb), I am back at work and no news is good news so hopefully she is ok. Its a year almost to the day that this happened last. Luckily the vet was their within 45 mins and gave her the injections to help her and thankfully her heart rate and temperature were normal but she was in a lot of pain bless her. I blame this weather, icy grass and lack of excercise its a nightmare. Anyone got any thoughts on prevention, she is on a high fibre diet and gets Biopro as a supplement (Ive doubled the dose today for the next few days) She is a high maitenance TB god love her, I have a welsh x connemara pony who is built like steel!! Time for another strong coffee, tiredeness is taking over!!
 
Poor you and your mare :(

I read something in H&H a few months back that feeding Biotal Equine Gold is very good for horses prone to colic - haven't tried it - anyone else out there has?
 
belle31 said:
She has had a bran mash
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Why have you given her a bran mash? Horses should be introduced to new feed stuffs over a period of at least 7-10 days. Giving a horse a new feed like a bran mash when it has suffered from colic is, to me, a strange thing to do particularly as the gut flora needs building back up with friendly bacteria. Introducing a new feedstuff at this crucial time is asking for trouble. It is an old fashioned idea, and has always been given to horses, I know, but I think it is a bit of a contradiction especially in this day and age when we now more about feeding.

Anyone else think the same?

Having a horse that has suffered repeated bouts of colic since owning him six years ago (touch wood the last couple of years have been relatively colic free) I know how important it is to change the diet slowly, feed plenty of fibre in the form of chaff/readigrass, etc as well as ad lib haylage or hay. In cold weather make sure your mare is drinking plenty of fluids particularly if they have access to hay as it is quite dry and can sometimes cause colic. Sometimes giving warm water will encourage them to drink. I also feed pink powder and in periods of stress (new horses in adjacent paddocks, a lot of cold weather, new feedstuffs) I feed double the recommended maintenance amount.

My horse was getting colic due to fluctuations in weather conditions changing the structure of the grass. On vets advice (if I wished to pursue this suggestion) I was advised to give him three to four bute, put him on the walker for 20 mins and then put him back in his box and watch him. If he was still displaying colicy symptoms them I was to call out the vet.
 
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Sorry to about your mare, fingers crossed she is ok now!!

My TB mare used to colic alot when stabled alot and had hardly any exercise, i put her on coligone powder its a bit expensive (cheaper than the vets bills in the long run) but my mare has never had colic since she has been on this and she has been on box rest for 6 weeks in that time.

Here is the link: -

http://www.ekmpowershop2.com/ekmps/shops/hbradshaws/coligone-powder-3kg-3-p.asp

Hope this helps and your mare gets better soon

x
 
Sorry to hear about your mare my boy suffers from the same and we also feed him bran with bute when he gets colic. This was reccomended by the vet as he will not let the vet near him for injections and each time he has recovered well so it does help! i hope your mare makes a full recovery
 
Thank you for that kelz07, she is on biopro from Feedmark but i will definatly look at this supplement. Ill do anything to stop these episodes.
 
belle31 said:
Thank you for that kelz07, she is on biopro from Feedmark but i will definatly look at this supplement. Ill do anything to stop these episodes.
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thats ok, i know how you feel, my poor mare was in a terrible state. The powder has a really strong minty smell that my mare loved (shes a fussy eater too!)

Like i said she cut her leg badly and had to be on box rest for 6 weeks i was so worried and a friend suggested coligone. She never showed any signs which was great!!

x
 
a hot bran mash flushes them out and passes any compacted food out, its like a laxative. As a day to day feed its a bit crap really as it doesnt do anything other than scour them like sugar beet.


To OP- try keeping a couple of buscopan tablets in the car or first aid kit - this is what the vets give the horses but obviously in differing quantites and via syringe. The tablet helps to take the edge off it whilst waiting for the vet to come.
 
I wouldn't give anything to a colicking horse while waiting for the vet to come in case you make a bad situation worse. I'd question the lack of turnout as a potential stressor. Horses can cope with pretty much anything the Met Office might throw at us as long as they are suitably rugged and have some basic shelter, even if it's only a thick hedge. I'd echo Coligone as a preventative for a stressy horse but getting to the bottom of the stressor would be better. Fingers crossed for your ned x
 
Thank you all, she is a lot brighter now. Her stress comes from her early life as a racehorse (she is nearly 14 now and hasnt raced since she was 5) but the damage was done back then. As a result she is a very sensetive soul who needs a lot of TLC. I have ordered the coligone so fingers crossed things will improve.
 
She really sounds like my boy except he was a show jumper and had a bad life after that he is 19 now i have had him for 9yrs and he is still very sensitive to alot of things. Glad to hear your your girl is showing improvement fingers crossed the coligone works i might invest in some myself :)
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
I wouldn't give anything to a colicking horse while waiting for the vet to come in case you make a bad situation worse. I'd question the lack of turnout as a potential stressor. Horses can cope with pretty much anything the Met Office might throw at us as long as they are suitably rugged and have some basic shelter, even if it's only a thick hedge. I'd echo Coligone as a preventative for a stressy horse but getting to the bottom of the stressor would be better. Fingers crossed for your ned x
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well seeing as the injection they give is buscopan in my experience it has done no harm to mine in helping to relieve symptoms until the vet can get there - remember colic is fatal if untreated and can turn nasty in a very short space of time. Each to their own tbh.
 
My ID is prone to gassy colics, I have to really watch his turnout when the grass changes though sometimes there's no obvious trigger. It's a nightmare, I really sympathise with you!

I find Coligone Liquid is fantastic stuff, I add it to his evening feed each day & it does seem to help. If he looks uncomfortable in any way, or sounds unusually gassy, then I'll give him an extra dose. This has my vet's approval.

I also always have a couple of syringes of EquiSpaz to hand, supplied by my vet. If he looks at all colicky I give him one of these before calling the vet, I'm assured it won't interfere with anything they give him & as he's very needle-shy the vet prefers to start with this if he isn't too bad.

Brisk walking in hand, or if possible lunging, can also help disperse the gas if he isn't too bad. Again it's something I do while waiting for the vet.

Diet wise I feed bran daily, ad-lib hay, turnout on poor grazing & no cereal grains.
 
I know the injection the vet often gives is buscopan, but it is only given after a careful veterinary examination. Worked a treat on my horse a few years ago when he had an episode of gassy colic. But I still wouldn't recommend giving a colicking horse anything unless expressly advised by the vet.
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
I know the injection the vet often gives is buscopan, but it is only given after a careful veterinary examination. Worked a treat on my horse a few years ago when he had an episode of gassy colic. But I still wouldn't recommend giving a colicking horse anything unless expressly advised by the vet.
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2nd this. When my poor mare had surgical colic, the vet delayed giving buscopan incase we decided she was going to have surgery. She did rectal, tube etc and she did tell me the reason at the time but I cant remember :( as I was totally stressed out. Sadly she was PTS.
 
Its been a while since this thread, but I thought I would update because I have learnt so much over the last few weeks. Basically my colic prone TB had gassy colic at the start of the new year, she had buscapan etc from the vet then got over it, then in the first week of Febuary she colicked again, same thing gassy colic. we got over that then exactly a week later it started again and happened 4 times in a week. Each time she was worse and more distended and started not to respond to treatment. The last episode on the 9th Feb she was referred to Minster Equine Clinic in York (Fantastic vets and Fantastic facilities) at 7pm. We loaded her into the wagon and an hour and a half journey later we were there, with me in a state and a half and dreading opening up the wagon scared of what we would find as she was kicking the walls of her stable in pain before we left. Within 20 minutes she had had numerous tests including blood tests with the results back and luckily there was nothing staring them in the face that needed surgery. To cut a long story short she spent 10 days there with no colic episodes and numerous tests. She had a really bad cough most of the winter but that happened every year. Last year I put her on soaked hay and shavings but she still had it but prior to referrel to Minster she had it really bad and had stopped drinking in her stable but was getting fluids from her soaked hay and sloppy meals and the vet said she want clinically dehyrdated. As it turned out following all the tests and process of elimination at Minster it turns out she has allergic asthma which is triggered by hay. The hay that she was given was from the same field every year and was very good quality but there was something in it that she is allergic to. (she gets lumps in the summer when turned out in that field also). This has casued the coughing which has resulted in the dehydration (not clinically )and colic because she cant digest the hay properley. I am so pleased after all the years we have got to the bottom of it and can now manage her so we dont have to go through all this again hopefully. She is now fed Slobber Mash as her hard feed and High Fibre Horsehage instead of hay and no turnout in said field. She is also not with the others during day time turnout as they have adlib hay in the field, she is on her own with her haynet of horsehage which she loves and has been moved to outside stables with our pony rather than the dutch barn where the others are on straw with the hay in their hay racks and all the spores flying around. I am pleased to say she is now a different horse, she is loving her new diet and is bright eyed and bushy tailed. Just thought it was worth letting you all know that if you have a horse with recurring colic and are scratching your heads look at your hay as well as your hard feed diet.
 
Lord, you can't do wrong for doing right with horses sometimes can you!! Bad owner that you are giving your horse home produced, good quality hay!! My friends horse gets gassy colic from even a whiff of haylage, he is completely intolerant.

What a relief for you and great that she is better after such a scary time.
 
How very interesting. Thanks for the update.
Having had a seriously sugar & cereal intolerant horse, and being unable to digest some foods myself, I am always interested to know more about any animals which struggle to digest what most people consider to be 'normal' foods. Many people (including doctors) have told me my problems are not real but stories like this prove that sensitivities/allergies to foodstuffs certainly can be real.
So pleased to hear that you've got to the bottom of your problem, fingers crossed that she continues to enjoy her haylage and stays colic free.
 
Strangely enough, my boy recently had an impaction and the only thing we can put it down to is the hay - It's very tough, stalky hay with very limited leaf. Definately worth considering as a cause.
 
We have a mare that was having gassy colic attacks fairly frequently. We've been through vet visits and referrals to the Large Animal Hospital. It cost an arm and a leg. Then, we were advised to either lunge her or pop her in the trailer for a ride around the bumpiest, twistiest roads we could find to break up the gas. The next few times we did exactly that and it worked a treat and, cheap as chips. She farted like it was an Olympic sport. Touch wood, she's had no more episodes for two years now. Would only recommend this if you are certain it is gassy colic. I would not do it for impaction and the vet would be out right away.
 
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