Veterinary nurse dissertation *all horse owners*

Done, an interesting subject . Why for example,some nights ,does every horse(it seems) in the county get colic .Ask any veterinary hospital about when it all goes crazy!I stumbled with the question about signs of colic my horse has shown. He has never had colic but had an undiagnosed or identified sudden incident.He simply wanted to lie down and absolutely stopped eating,and I mean NOTHING. I had the vet up immediately ,not colic . I asked the question I fear most , Grass sickness ? Very unlikely but some similar symptoms . I found out that two other horses in his field had suddenly gone "off their feed" for 24 hours and two in another field. While the vet was there a further horse suddenly stopped eating . All horses recovered in 24 to 48 hours (with or without veterinary attention. We never found out the cause but Mycotoxins were high on the suspect list. I do also think they are a factor in colic and the "colic nights" would fit in with this theory. You could spend a lifetime on this subject . Good luck
 
Done for 1 horse! He's had gas colic once last February - another one where vet said it was the time of year (3 on the year had gas colic within a couple of days of each other).
 
Did for my 2. I think we also go into the control group (touches wood, crosses fingers) because they are out at grass, don't show repetitive behaviours and HOPEFULLY no colic!
 
Done for my two. Both with underlying health conditions, one with stereotypical behaviours, neither had colic *touch wood*
 
It is a good survey, but I felt that I couldn't give all the information needed to make my response as useful as it could be. For example, my sister's gelding has had multiple incidents of colic, which I suspect is related to the fact that he is a chronic crib biter. However, his management has been changed partially in response to this. He now lives out all year round and has no access to fencing on which to crib bite. He has not had colic since this management change. I felt it would have been useful for the survey to ask not just how a horse is kept at the moment, but whether it was kept differently when it showed signs of colic and perhaps whether a change in management was implemented in response to the behaviours or incidents of colic and whether this had any effect. Otherwise, it may well look like my sister's horse had colic multiple times while living out all year round with no access to fencing, which isn't the case.
 
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