Urgent Advice needed Please!!!

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lubylu

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My precious horse had to be rushed to hospital last night with colic......thankfully he is recovering as they thought he might need surgery but he has so far been lucky as we caught it so early. The advice i need is that he is a windsucker.....there is nothing in his stable at home that he can actually do it on except his automatic plastic water drinker. He tips buckets on the floor over and if i clip them on the wall he will try and crib on them too so i cant do that. Has anyone got any bright ideas of a way of giving him water in his stable that he cant actually crib on or flood his stable!!!!???? Sorry so long!

Thanks
 
I'd like to try other alternatives first before i resort to one of them. I can stop him for a day or so with cribox on the edge of the drinker but he's so clever now that he backs into it and wipes it off with his tail!!!!!!!!
 
I would find out what is causing the windsucking first? That is more likely to be causing the colic than the windsucking itself.
Is he getting enough fibre?
Does he have ulcers?
Is he bored?
Is not being able to windsuck more harmful than windsucking?
Does he get enough turnout?
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TBH if his colic is linked in any way to his cribbing habit, I'd be looking into trying a humane anti-windsucking collar pronto. I can appreciate you prefering to avoid using one, but colic is such a terrible thing. I'd rather try the collar than risk another colic episode.

Sorry, can't really help regarding the alternative water container. That's a hard one.
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But hope he comes home well and you manage to find a suitabl solution. Poor you. What a horrible thing to be going through this weekend. x
 
i am, Im having him gastro scoped while he is there to rule out ulcers as a possibility so then at least i know it has a cause or it is a habit thing now.
 
Well, that's good. That you're having him scoped.

_HP_ might be right in suggesting there's something else wrong, but then again, in some horses the behaviour is simply ingrained from past experience and nothing need be amiss. It's simply learned behaviour.

Hope you find a solution. And that he's home soon
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I would take out the drinker and wedge the bucket firmly in a lorry tyre. Id do that before using a crib collar, tho would do that too as last resort.

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Couldn't he still use the edge of the bucket though?
 
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TBH if his colic is linked in any way to his cribbing habit, I'd be looking into trying a humane anti-windsucking collar pronto. I can appreciate you prefering to avoid using one, but colic is such a terrible thing. I'd rather try the collar than risk another colic episode.


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A crib collar is very unlikely to kill your horse, colic, as I'm sure you are aware, can.
For me it'd be a no brainer.

Maybe he just needs the habit breaking and the crib collar could do this, fairly painlessly.
 
Hi Luby, so sorry to hear about your boy, I hope he makes a speedy recovery. I've not got any experience of windsucking although I understand it can be linked to ulcers so, I'd be doing the same as you and having him scoped.

Regards his water I would probably try his water in a tallish but narrow barrel and put tyres all the way up to top of barrel. Not sure I've explained myself very well?

Please let us have updates on his recovery and scope results.

(((((healing vibes)))))
 
Cappy wind sucks and gets gaseous colic. He had a bout last year and we were advised to put him on Coligone, he has nearly stopped windsucking and has not had another bout of colic, plus he is a much calmer and happier horse.

Hope this helps.
 
Please don't collar your horse
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He is doing it because he needs to, not because he wants to piss you off or give himself colic. Wait and see what the scoping throws up and then have a good look at his management. I use Coligone to help keep suckers in check, it stops some of them but not all, but it can make them more comfortable.

Good luck, hope he is OK.
 
Dizzy windsucks and I have resorted to a collar at times although never in the field as I worry about getting her caught up. She's never had colic (touch wood- don't want to tempt fate) in 20 years so it may not be linked at all to the windsucking.

What about a dustbin for water? the edges are thin so he couldn't grip it easily and it would be too heavy for him to tip over unless he is very determined
 
Just an aside
I had a horse that had very regular colic - lowgrade, but a couple of whopping eisodes too.

I removed all grains/cereals from his diet altogether, and added in Linseed meal. Worked a treat. Was like a switch, nevr had another episode.
 
I agree with the not putting the collar on, as if the horse is doing it because of stress/is in pain, which the windsucking relieves, I think you are more likely to get an ill horse, as they will either get really stressed, or ill because of the pain.
 
Collars didn't work with my lad. Equally, although coligone is often recommended, my lad wouldn't touch that either due to the strong taste.
The only thing that stops mine is 24/7 turnout - would that be an option available?
Hope he gets better soon.
 
As one of the above posts sugests try a tyre! i have my youngsters water bucket in one as he went through a stage of standing in his water bucket and splashing then throwing the bucket round stable. A tyre worked for us!!
 
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I would take out the drinker and wedge the bucket firmly in a lorry tyre. .

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agree with this but using a tub trug so he can't crib on it
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Please don't collar your horse
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He is doing it because he needs to, not because he wants to piss you off or give himself colic. Wait and see what the scoping throws up and then have a good look at his management. I use Coligone to help keep suckers in check, it stops some of them but not all, but it can make them more comfortable.

Good luck, hope he is OK.

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ditto this! unfortunatly if he has done it for along time its likley to be a habbit, you can take everything they crib on out but i can garuntee you they will find something! best thing to do is manage it, put a tub trug in a tyre so if he does crib on it he is less likley to tip it up but just make sure he has got ad lib forage so he not doing it through bordom, my tb box walks and as he does his trip round the stable he has a bucket full of aldwick grass and a lick so he stops and has a munch.
 
I'm another one that thinks that coligone and massive amounts of fibre are worth a try....
as for the water, you know the blue plastic barrels that you get for jumping? we use those, cut in half (so you get 2 'buckets' for the price of one barrel!). Big and wide based enough to give plenty of water and stable so that they can't get tipped over, but the edges are thin enough that they couldn't wind suck on them.
 
Can you not try and turn him out maybe 24/7 if possible? If the horse has something more to do and to stimulate him in the day this is likely to lessen his need to windsuck.
 
Sorry but the collar doesn't work just stresses them out more I know. I'd keep him out 24/7 if you can, if not as long as you can, and have several haynets with the very small holes at the back of his stable and at the front next to his door so he can see what's going on in the yard and nibble at the same time.
 
As others have said, the cribbing is what your horse is doing to de-stress. It's a stereotypie and produces/releases calming chemicals into the bloodstream. These lessen whichever anxiety is causing the problem. Putting a crib collar on is absolutely the last thing you should do as it creates more stress when they can't relieve the anxiety by doing whatever 'stable vice' they use to reduce the stress felt. IYSWIM.

It's the horse's management which needs an overhaul and dietary changes plus ulcer elimination are the places to start.

I do hope you get answers and try and understand why the cribbing is occurring otherwise.
 
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