Horse with IBS

[Horsecrazy94]

My boy was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome nearly 3 years ago and since then we have tried numerous ways to control it and the diarrhoea. We managed to get it under control for around 6 months using Codeine phosphate, however since I left him and moved to university 6 months ago, leaving him with family and a new rider, we have really struggled to keep it under control.

He is currently in the field for 8 hours during the day, having 2 hay nets in his stable and 2 meals a day of chaff and cubes with half a pint of Guinness and 5 codeine tablets crushed in each meal.
We have also tried peptobismol, steroids and bio sponge but none of them have worked for more than 1 month. He was also on molasses free chaff before I moved to university but since, that has also stopped helping.

Has anybody else experienced this problem in their horse? And if so how have you managed to control their diarrhoea and IBS?

Any advice would be great, thanks

 

[Nari]

While not IBS on eof mine has a very sensitive gut & has always had very loose droppings. Like you I've found codeine phosphate helps though he doesn't need anything like that dose despite being a big horse. I recently had a completely different batch of hay & for some reason that's made a huge difference (it's making some other horses on the yard almost too firm) - I wish I knew why because I'd love to be able to have something that worked this well all the time!

I found Equishure seems to help him & he's permanently on a low dose of codeine. If he gets particularly loose I'll also give a course of Protexin Quick Fix, it doesn't completely cure it but it does help. If he's out for 8 hours can you put hay in the field too? Mine will often want a pick of some even when grass is available, I think he knows he needs the drier stuff in his tummy to settle it down.