regular colicking

[MCL]

Just putting it out there for ideas really.

My youngest horse seems to colic on an almost weekly basis and I'm just checking if anyone has any ideas that I haven't tried already.

Apart from the first time when she had colic where she rolled and got caste in general her colic involves lip curling and rolling and refusing food. 'In general' if I catch it in time a strong probiotic paste in her mouth and lots of walking about gets her over it.

If I don't catch it in time (like this weekend) she lies flat out in the field and gives up - looks like she is about to die. (she scared my husband senseless this weekend - he was giving me a lie in!) As we were at this stage by the time we fed on Saturday morning this weekend no amount of danilon or probiotic paste or walking helped - or rather the success was limited - if left she would go down again.

When the vet came she had gas and a slightly displaced large intestine - nothing really out of the ordinary for something that had suffered and was getting over colic and just feeling sorry for herself. Other than a bit of grass she didn't really start eating anything else until last night - small bowl of fast fibre and hifi lite. So this whole episode lasted well over 48 hrs - usually she is looking better within less than two hours.

Since she started this regular colicking she has been scoped for ulcers but nothing was found, she is wormed regularly albeit reading some reports recently I may have used equitape too often for tapeworms and should change brand. The last blood test for tapes didn't show a high burden however.

Would welcome any suggestions re feed etc. She is a fussy feeder and in the past has been on Fast fibre, happy hoof, cool mix and some alfa beet to build up the weight. its great she is now eating fast fibre and hifi lite but its not going to help her weight. I have tried numerous supplements to help settle her insides inc yea sacc - unfortunately she spots yea sacc straight away and won't eat anything with it in now. I try to ensure she has a little grass each day as well as hay (limited grass at mo due to winter). She has been living out this winter.

 

[popularfurball]

Have you had poo worm counts done as well a the blood tests?

Is she stressy in Te field?

Have you tried her with no hard feed?

 

[ruth83]

I used to have a mare who would colic on an almost weekly basis with a gassy colic. A bran mash and a walk used to settle her most times (and in fact once or twice I suspected she 'colicked' simply because she wanted a bran mash! The bran mash was discussed and agreed with the vet unless the colic appeared particularly bad or different to usual as we knew it was gas rather than impaction).
She also suffered from azotouria and was given selenevite e for some time to help with this. After some time I did a little research and found that the local feed merchant (Argo, south yorks) made a broad spectrum 'vit-min' supplement with very similar levels in at half the price. I tried her on this and whilst ever she was on it we had far fewer colic incidences. It might be worth looking into a broad spectrum supplement to see if it helps? Pink powder might also be worth a try. Or looking into a regular probiotic supplement.

 

[MCL]

I do regular worm counts - she is always higher than the others but not drastically high. Haven't tried without hard feed as she is fed with others that have to have feed to adminster drugs. She is not an outwardly stressy horse but does stress internally.

Have tried various pre biotic supplements - have to be careful what I put in her feed as she is so fussy!

 

[Kiristamm]

My TB used to colic reguarly, weekly or fortnightly. I fed him lots of charcoal which helped a lot, he didn't colic once after that.

 

[popularfurball]

Have you tried her on a non chaff based feed? Such as speedibeet? Maybe that might help?

Is it related to work?

Trying to think of other things that might help you identify triggers!

 

[reachforthebucks]

Have you thought of Gastric Ulcers?

 

[YasandCrystal]

Have you tried Coligone? Everyone seems to really rate that for recurrent colic as a preventative supplement

 

[MCL]

Thanks for the ideas

I don't think its related to work as she is recently backed (within the last year or so). Progress on her backing has been slow due to the collick - she gets time off after each incident as I don't want the backing to cause her more stress due to discomfort. She hasn't seemed stressed by backing etc as she's a fairly calm horse.

I've read about charcoal and coligone so I'm going to look into them a little more. I'm also going to do some more research on her feed.

Has been scoped for ulcers - no sign of any.

 

[YasandCrystal]

In your shoes I would be contacting a holistic vet to get to the cause of this. They will look for food intolerances and offer gut remedies if they believe there to be an imbalance.

It must be very worrying for you and uncomfortable for your poor horse.

 

[MCL]

LOL great minds! I am looking holistically - have homepathic vet booked for tomorrow!! Hoping she can take a step back from the symtoms and see if there is something in her feed/management that's not helping. Clearly all horses I have kept before over the years haven't had a problem but this one is special!!

 

[MadisonBelle]

Read this (Hope link works)

http://www.stablelabel.co.uk/

My mare has been on it for 6 months.....Very cheap and effective!!! My mare used to colic a lot too, at least once a month but touch wood with this in her feed has been colic free for 16 weekd now (Yes I am counting).... Marion is also lovely as I asked her a zillion questions before I ordered some.

Good Luck.

 

[fuggly]

you say that you worm count , but have you had her blood tested for tapeworm , these do not show up in faecal worm counts , we had a horse that coliced for fun and on a blood test was found to have a high tapeworm count he was treated and the colic stopped

 

[annaellie]

One of my mares coliced a lot, it when on for a few years. All investigations showed nothing. One day she had serious colic they advised to PTS I decided against and she had surgery. On the table they found a hernia which was strangulated, they felt that due to the state of the intestine she must have had it for a long time and they said that was prob the cause of all the colics. When the intestine was going through the hernia she would colic, they removed 8 ft of intestine. It's prob very unlikelythe same but just a thought

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

OP you are being admirably patient with the several posters who have suggested actions (ulcers, tapeworm) which you have already covered in your original or subsequent posts on this thread. Bless you! )

I would also be wondering about some kind of physical abnormality like hernia or something which is interfering with the gut.

 

[fuggly]

oops sorry op , note to self don't scan quickly thru posts , then reply.

 

[Birker2020]

My horse was very colic prone at one time. The vet thought it was the grass, and then another thought it was the haylage. We never really got to the bottom of it but after reading an article recently and a previous vet suggesting this I did wonder if Redworm (Strongyles) were to blame. Apparently they can still be present after worming in small numbers and can be killed if they are a benzimididazole resistant strain of worms with certain wormers only - think I have that right anyway. An old veterinary manual said that if horses were prone to spasmodic colic then it was nearly always to do with a red worm infestation.

I started giving Bailey NAF Pink Powder twice a day when he was colicking which really helped. My Y.O noticed that if the weather was a certain condition (mild after lots of rain) then he appeared to be more colicky. He also gets stomach problems if he is on box rest and not moving around sufficiently including gassiness and very runny diarrohea.

Because he got colic so often the vet said I would be ok to give him three or four bute (big horse weighs 700KG) and put him on the walker for twenty mins or ride him and put him back in the stable and then monitor. If his colic was problematic then the bute would not mask it. I have now done this countless times over the years without issue. As the vets and I know him so well and know his 'typical' colic this is a fairly safe method. I would soon know if there was something amiss with him and call the vet if this were the case. Like any colic, keeping calm and monitoring the horse and 'knowing' your horse and what he/she are like when they are well or off colour are all essential criteria. I got to know over a period of time within seconds if Bailey was colicky just by looking at him and seeing his attitude.

Fortunately the last colic he had was around August last year when he was on box rest for an injury and was easily treated by the vet with Buscopan (the yard owner had rang me to ask me if I wanted to get the vet to out which was understandable as I was at work and couldn't stay at the yard long to monitor and so wanted it sorted quickly). He hadn't had one before that for a good twelve months or more. Touch wood he's not had one since.

I'd get your vet to check for redworm by doing a worm count after treating with Strongid P which is not red worm resistant.

 

[twinkle]

she could have colonic ulcers which you cant see with a scope they are ment to cause more of the colic type symptoms!

 

[MCL]

Many thanks for your ideas

She had another 'episode' this morning. I have coligone in my first aid cupboard as one of the many things I bought to try out on her. It actually seemed to do the trick after half an hour and some trotting on line she decided to eat.

Holistic vet person came today and thinks it has alot to do with keeping her stress in - she's far too calm for a trakehner!!! but always has runny droppings. Could be some worm damage from her time at the stud too.

She reakoned I should feed the coligone daily and she is going to go through my horse's vets notes and come up with a remedy. Doesn't recommend charcoal at this stage as it might bung her up and make matters worse. Fingers crossed we can get this sorted and get some life into her (well a little anyway!).

 

[yovon01]

Hi interesting thread have the same with my mare....she is now having blood tests for allergy intollerance

 

[yovon01]

Also will check glucose levels and do a fasting blood test. Colligone is very very good but expensive. I was showed a massage technique to help expell the gass by Maureen Rogers. My horse diesnt drink as much as sge used to whether this contributes to the gas colic I dont know. Its comforting to read these posts...great support!! She doesnt have ulcers and she doesnt colic over the winter so its deffinstely

 

[Firewell]

I had this with my late mare. The colic episodes got more frequent over about 3 years and were always worse around spring and autumn when the flush of grass would come through.
I had all sorts of tests done on her, scoped for ulcers, blood test for worms, worm egg count, ultra sound scans, mri scans the works. They found nothing other than some 'slight shadowing' on one of the scans.
She then colicked really badly (she had already been into horspital once for one of her episodes), they operated but could'nt save her. When she was opened up on the table they could see a large extent of old worm damage which had basically weakened her digestive system.
I got her as a 5yr old and I think before then she may never have been wormed. She grew up on a very very large stud where they had a lot of mares and youngstock all out together.
I don't remember her having suffered with loose droppings that much but she was FILTHY in the stable. She did so many droppings! I always thought she was just a messy mare but apparently this can be one of the signs of worm damage. She was also prone to looking bot bellied mostly when the grass came through. I'd like to mention I was (are!) fanatical about worming on time, rotating different drugs and field maintenance. When with me her worm egg count was 0.

I hope for you it's nothing like that. I hope you get to the bottom of it. Hopefully it is something like stress that can be managed .

 

[yovon01]

Thanks Firewall. Bought my horse as a 4 year old and when we wormed her it was horrific tape worms like spagetti!! She had supposedly been wormed regulary. she too only colics on spring grass or after rain and sunny weather....nightmare. My claim runs out April 22, after then Im on my own as colic will be exempt. Just wish I could deffinately know what triggers it. We even used a muzzle for 3 days only out for an hour and she coliced. ;(