Sand Colic

[seoirse]

As if my poor horse hasn't had enough to deal with over the last few weeks with an on going respiratory infection which meant he was on oral antibiotics for weeks, which then led to him being diagnosed with cushings, and going onto pracsend which made him very depressed, he now has colic. He's been colicking on and off since Saturday morning. My Mum and I between us have practically been resident at the yard. He's now on finadyne and pro-paste with 30 mins walking twice a day. The vet thinks its sand colic as they did a rectal on Sunday and the poo that she pulled out had what looked like half the outdoor school in it. Weird as he is never turned out on the school, so we can only think he is ingesting sand when he eats his haylage as he has been up til now fed from the ground to help his breathing. His breathing luckily is now much better as the endless antibiotics have actually done their thing. We've had to take him off the prascend for the time being while we deal with the colic though.

Tomorrow I'm starting him on some pysllium as apparnetly this will help pass the sand.

If we can get him through this he will be fed from a haynet in his stable from now on, his stable is in the field and I never close the door, he has free access to the paddock though the grazing isn't great, but as his breathing is not brilliant either I don't like to shut him in.

It's a total nightmare! If anyone has any tips or advice or positive stories about this please let me know, I'm at my wits end.
Thanks xx

 

[YasandCrystal]

Poor you. A friend's horse had sand colic regularly - they were kept on sandy soil - he was on 'sand out' a supplement you can get and this helped tremendously. Mind you she had to really manage it as that was all the grazing she had. Hopefully you will get him sorted and the problem will not recur. Good luck.

 

[seoirse]

Thanks - I believe sand out and pysllium are the same thing, thats what the vet told me anyway, and I am really hoping it is going to help, I ordered it but it won't arrive til tomorrow. Thing is, this horse has lived in until 12 months ago, so he is unused to living out and grazing more than a couple of hours a day and eating hay off the floor, so I guess that could make him a bit more sensitive than a horse who has had sand passing through his gut all his life, as I think its normal for a certain amount of sand to pass through them isn't it?
He is still eating bran mashes and about 2 small slices of hay a day, but he won't eat much more, but I'm glad he is still eating, and I'm poo picking twice a day so I can monitor that everything that goes in is still coming out! Albeit like a cow pat. Poor horse. He is so listless and fed up. He keeps sitting down and just looking so fed up, then getting back up again and going back to his hay for a while, then going and sitting down again.

 

[YasandCrystal]

It may be worth asking your vet if he may benefit from Aloe vera juice - it has a lot of healing/soothing properties. It's not too expensive (around £10 for a litre bottle) and may help your horse's gut also.

 

[seoirse]

Thanks for that, good idea, I've heard of other people feeding it too for various things. I'll see what the vet says. I've got to ring her again this evening with an update.
This week is the most important week of the year for me at work as well, fortunately the horse is only 10 mins from work so I can pop over there and check him a few times during the day without anybody really missing me, but my brain is probably going to explode at some point as I'm putting way too much info into it with all this!!!

 

[Archangel]

Mine are on sand and I find feeding oil everyday helps pick up the sand on the way through. Not sure if that would be ok with Cushings though. Have also used Sand Out and Psyillium husks too. The latter being much cheaper!

One of mine passed a huge dropping of dark sand, looked like it had been in his gut for a while. We were lucky not to have a colic. Vet thought he had been deliberately picking it up due to some deficiency (I think he was probably picking it up when eating myself). However, I now have huge lumps of rock salt (not the square ones the big chunks that look like rocks) and they lick that - also seems to help.

 

[seoirse]

I'm hoping to see a big wodge of sand sometime when I'm poo picking but so far since the rectal examination she did there hasn't been much more sand coming out.
It's so heartbreaking that by trying to do the right thing to help his cough, I've caused another problem.
Vet did suggest oil and she isn't hugely concerned about laminitis as he is a good weight and has never had it and is TBx, so even though with the cushings he is more at risk, hopefully once he's back on the prascend that ought to reduce the risk a bit. Its a balancing act though and I'm losing at the moment! Just got to keep everything crossed and keep checking him regularly and giving him the meds and just hope!
Can't wait for the pysllium to arrive tomorrow so we can get him onto that as well.

 

[glenruby]

I've used sand out and sand shifter to good effect. Both ate just psyllium products designed to bind/absorb and remove sand

 

[seoirse]

Ended up taking him to horsepital last night as he was just getting worse and worse and I knew I was going to be up all night with him otherwise. Nightmare getting him to stay up long enough to load, but once we got him in the box he stayed on his feet and actually by the time we got there he was much better and looked very impressed with the brand new veterinary hospital facilities!! I just had a call and he is doing really well, no signs of colic overnight!! Typical isn't it! And they stomach tubed him and he is eating some hay and they are about to take him for a walk. He is still pooing cow pats so they've run a load of bloods.
Fingers crossed he's going to be ok, as last night I thought he was dying on me he was colicing that badly.
Now got to try and get some work done while he's being taken care of!!! x

 

[Archangel]

Oh lord what a night. Fingers crossed they get to the bottom of it soon.
It must be such a worry to have the horse in hospital.

 

[seoirse]

I'm actually really relieved someone else is taking care of him as I was starting to really struggle to cope with it as I just couldn't keep him comfortable, so its reassuring to know he is ok and in the best place. I really want to go and visit him though!!!!

I'm dreading having him back as I'm scared its going to happen again.

 

[racebuddy]

Hi how's ur little man doing ? Hope stayed settled did u visit tonight x

 

[seoirse]

Hi there, thank for your message. He's doing great, I just went to visit him before work and he's the only horse in at the moment so he's got 2 nurses all to himself and he's loving it! He's getting loads of fuss and they've cleaned him all up as well so he's sparkly white again, cos he was plastered in mud and poo where he'd been down in the field. He's not shown any more signs of colic since that first night he went in so they are starting to withdraw his pain relief today and if he gets through 24 hours without pain relief and doesn't colic then I get him home on Sat all being well. He seemed totally back to his old self though this morning

 

[YasandCrystal]

Sorry to read about your boy being at the vets. What a worry. Let's hope they get him sorted and know for sure what has caused it, whether that is the sand or something else.
I know I have read before about people giving their horses stomachs a regular 'clear out' with psilium husks etc just due the debris they can pick up through grazing. I can't say I have ever thought to do it, but it does make sense.
Hope he is ok and continues to improve.

 

[HappyHooves]

Even if your horse is not on sandy soil, its worth doing a simple dung test regularly. Take a double handful of fresh dung and put it into a bucket of water. Stir it around and leave it to settle. Gently pour off the liquid goo and see what sand is left in the bottom of the bucket. If there is a teaspoon of sand ( or more) then you need to do a 5-day course of psyllium. After a positive result on the sand and a psyllium course you need to test weekly. Once all is well, monthly should be enough. Its such a simple test, and a cheap solution to what could be an expensive and often sad outcome!

 

[Mince Pie]

If he's only having a couple of sections of hay a day you can feed it loose in a big trug

 

[seoirse]

Hi everyone, thanks for the advice. I'm going to do the dung test when he comes back and then do it regularly to keep an eye on things, he is on pysllium now at the vets and they want him to stay on it for the time being until we review in a week then again at 2 weeks. He's off all intravenous meds today and out in the paddock at the vets and all being well will be home tomorrow lunchtime.
I'm going to bring him in at night to begin with just to get him off the paddock, and when I feed him haylage in the field I'm going to put it in a haynet on the side of the fieldshelter (or inside if the weather is crap) with a rubber mat underneath to try and keep it all really clean.
Fingers crossed we can prevent this happening again.
I went to visit him this morning and they showed me his discharge notes and it says 'do not turn out on sandy pasture'. I'm going to be scared stiff to turn him out anywhere as our land is not especially sandy as it is.
Scary how these things can happen.

 

[MCTM]

Just been reading this thread - my mare had sand colic about 5 years ago and had to be operated on to remove 2 large accumulations of sand. Luckily it was successful and she recovered well with no complications. Because we knew the soil was very sandy she was already on sand-out (Psyllium) but still managed to ingest enough to cause problems. She was never fed hay in the field so we believe that heavy rain caused the sand to splash up onto the blades of grass and then eaten. She got the colic after an extended period of torrential rain showers which would tally.

I made the decision to move her as soon as she was off box rest and avoid livery yards where the soil is sandy (quite difficult in this area), obviously you may not be in the position to do this so I would definitely suggest the dung test - which isn't failsafe but probably the best you can do (it tells you if sand is being expelled but not if it is remaining in the gut). The vet did this when she first had colic and it didn't really show up much..... Hope you find a way to manage this and don't get any further occurences.

 

[Ninfapaola]

I'm actually really relieved someone else is taking care of him as I was starting to really struggle to cope with it as I just couldn't keep him comfortable, so its reassuring to know he is ok and in the best place. I really want to go and visit him though!!!!

I'm dreading having him back as I'm scared its going to happen again.

I know exactly where you're come from. Been in that situation myself

 

[seoirse]

Just been reading this thread - my mare had sand colic about 5 years ago and had to be operated on to remove 2 large accumulations of sand. Luckily it was successful and she recovered well with no complications. Because we knew the soil was very sandy she was already on sand-out (Psyllium) but still managed to ingest enough to cause problems. She was never fed hay in the field so we believe that heavy rain caused the sand to splash up onto the blades of grass and then eaten. She got the colic after an extended period of torrential rain showers which would tally.

I made the decision to move her as soon as she was off box rest and avoid livery yards where the soil is sandy (quite difficult in this area), obviously you may not be in the position to do this so I would definitely suggest the dung test - which isn't failsafe but probably the best you can do (it tells you if sand is being expelled but not if it is remaining in the gut). The vet did this when she first had colic and it didn't really show up much..... Hope you find a way to manage this and don't get any further occurences.

So sorry to hear your mare had to have surgery, but pleased to hear she made a full recovery! Mine seems to now be fully recovered and his discharge notes, which I saw this morning when I visited said I could ride him and get him back to his normal routine, which is out 24/7. However I've decided to bring him in at night for the time being and also change him to another smaller paddock close to the main yard so everyone will be able to see him when I'm not around, as I just want an eye kept on him for now til I feel a bit more confident he is back to normal.

Our ground is a bit sandy, but not especially, so I'm surprised this has happened, and its a big yard and I've been livery there for more than 10 years and never know another one get sand colic, infact there is hardly ever any colic there at all.

I really hope that by changing his management a bit and making sure his forage is always kept off the ground and clean, and that he doesnt have access to bare grazing, that we can prevent it happening again. All I can do is try I suppose. I'm going to be SO paranoid though!

 

[seoirse]

I know exactly where you're come from. Been in that situation myself

It's awful isn't it. I've had a couple of really good nights kip though knowing he is doing well and being monitored 24 hours!

 

[melbiswas]

You might find the case history (Harlequin's story in the about our beginnings bit I think) interesting on Thunderbrook Equestrian.

Have had good results with my poorly Tb.