Recurring colic

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Katiegreen234

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I have a 12yr old ex race horse. He has always windsucked since I have had him (4yrs old). It has never been a problem until this year, since the beginning of the year he has colliced 3 times. Once in January once in march and again yesterday, it has always been mild and sorted out with a pain killer and some buscopan. He has been on haylage ever since I’ve had him but we relocated last year in may and he had hay and then when winter came i decided to put him back on haylage because he had dropped some weight. He was always on the mini bales and then we brought some big bales in january the day he colliced. He hadnt had any of the new haylage that day but hes been on it since as he has lost quite alot of weight now and is putting it back on very slowly. We have now brought him hay. Could it be that the new haylage was too rich for him and was giving him colic? What could we do to help him? And how much would the costs be for him to go to the vets and have tests?
 
My vet recommended feeding hay only for a mare of mine who suffered from periodic bouts of spasmodic colic, plus keeping her on a good quality probiotic supplement.
 
Also make sure he is drinking well, as dehydration can be a factor in colic and many horses drink less when the water is cold (don't know where you are based, but we have had iced water in the waterers and buckets a lot this winter).
 
I would need to know more about his routine to say. Has he got turnout, regular exercise, what feed, how is the hay/haylage fed etc. A sudden change in forage can cause colic in some horses, but several bouts would worry me.
 
I would do a worm count, sometimes horses that have reoccurring colic have a high red worm burden.

I would also put him on a supplement to support his gut, pink powder is relatively inexpensive and has all the necessary ingredients to support gut function. Some horses can't tolerate haylage. It sounds like he has gassy colic (spasmodic colic). Is he getting too much grass? Maybe you should make his paddock smaller by strip grazing and limit his hours out at grass and see if this makes a difference.

I also echo what someone else said about water, I make my horses feed sloppy and wet her hay to give her more water in her diet.
 
I had one who had recurring colic and we kept him on hay but soaked it. He was a cribber and at first we assumed his colic bouts were down to that but we found he kept having severe bouts at the same time of year, despite no field/management change. He was found to have an allergy to a particular sugar in grass that could be triggered by things like a change in weather. This was causing a build up of gas in his hind gut. We eventually managed him really well and he didn’t have any colic bouts during his last 4 years with me.

Also ulcers can cause colic bouts, does he show any other ulcer-type symptoms?
 
he does not have turn out at the moment as the paths down to his field is ruined because of the weather and he gets mud fever. He is put out in a small field for an hour and a bit in the afternoons so he can stretch his legs and graze whilst I muck out. he is ridden 3 days a week and this will not be increased until he has put on more weight. the previous winters I have had him he was kept in for four months over the winter because they did not offer winter turnout. could it be that it is too much of a change for him to go out during winter? he is fed; sugar beat, spillers conditioning fibre, dodson and horrells build up conditioning mix, copra, top spec ulsa kind and naf gut health. he has a mixture of hay and haylage at the moment because i didnt want to suddenly change anything.
 
hopscotch bandit said:
I would do a worm count, sometimes horses that have reoccurring colic have a high red worm burden.

I would also put him on a supplement to support his gut, pink powder is relatively inexpensive and has all the necessary ingredients to support gut function. Some horses can't tolerate haylage. It sounds like he has gassy colic (spasmodic colic). Is he getting too much grass? Maybe you should make his paddock smaller by strip grazing and limit his hours out at grass and see if this makes a difference.

I also echo what someone else said about water, I make my horses feed sloppy and wet her hay to give her more water in her diet.
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he has had a worm count and he was wormed. i have ordered him some pink powder. he isn't getting much grass because of the weather but i think maybe the new haylage might be to much for him
 
scats said:
I had one who had recurring colic and we kept him on hay but soaked it. He was a cribber and at first we assumed his colic bouts were down to that but we found he kept having severe bouts at the same time of year, despite no field/management change. He was found to have an allergy to a particular sugar in grass that could be triggered by things like a change in weather. This was causing a build up of gas in his hind gut. We eventually managed him really well and he didn’t have any colic bouts during his last 4 years with me.

Also ulcers can cause colic bouts, does he show any other ulcer-type symptoms?
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the ulcer type symptoms he displays is; He has always lost weight very easily and he windsucks
 
Katiegreen234 said:
he isn't getting much grass because of the weather
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You would be surprised how much grass is out there. There was something recently on one of the facebook pages from a vets saying that they have had many laminitic and colic cases, the grass is coming through, what looks like dead grass has lots of juicy new shoots underneath. Mines strip grazed, when she's at the end of her paddock I will be bringing it forwards about half way.
 
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