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by Heather J Powell

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How Can Colic Be Prevented?

There is no definite solution that will eliminate the possibility of colic for our horses. But what we can do is to create an environment which will minimize the risk for our equine partners.

Let's look at the causes and figure out how to mitigate each one.

Dehydration:

This is not only the most common cause but also the easiest to mitigate. Make sure that your horses have plenty of clean water available at all times. Sounds simple, right? Well it's not as simple as it might seem. I'm sure you've heard the saying "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink." That is oh, so true. So we have to make the water as attractive to our horses as possible.

If your horse is in the stall, make sure the bucket is always available and it is clean. Stall buckets should be dumped out every day and refilled. Depending on how much of a messy eater your horse is it may also need to be scrubbed every day. My Welsh pony constantly dunks his hay, whether I wet the hay first or not, so I have to scrub his bucket every day. My QH mare will not drink from a bucket in the stall and prefers to drink from a trough outside so her water is constantly covered with a scum of dust from the air, the bedding, the hay, whatever we all know that barns are dusty places. Her bucket needs to be dumped and refilled but usually, swishing the water around before it gets dumped will be enough to clean her bucket.

There are a million ways your horse can contaminate its bucket so keeping it clean is a problem that must be addressed. At the bare minimum, a stall bucket needs to be dumped and refilled once daily and scrubbed weekly. Barn workers will often resist this chore, as it is certainly a time consuming task (on our farm with around 40 horses in stalls, it can be very time consuming indeed!) but in a colic avoidance mode, it is critical.

There is also the question of quantity. If you don't have automatic waterers, then you need to keep track during the day to make sure that each horse has water all day. If you have a horse that drinks a lot of water, make sure that horse has 2 or 3 buckets in the stall and that each one is clean and full every day.

If you do have automatic waterers, make sure you activate each one every day and clean out the reservoir in each stall. Even in the cleanest barn, those little bowls that the horse actually drinks from will become at best dusty and at worst contaminated.

In winter, the lines to the waterers can freeze so they need to be checked too. It is often better to turn off the water to the waterers and install buckets in each stall during the coldest weather. But we must also be careful to make sure that the buckets don't freeze in the stall too. Heated buckets help but not everyone can afford either the buckets or the electricity to run them, especially in a large barn. Heated buckets should also be checked daily to ensure that the insulation isn't worn, presenting the risk of electrocution.

The alternative to heated buckets is to monitor the buckets and waterers throughout the day and especially last thing at night. In a cold barn, water will freeze at night in the cold regions. Fortunately horses will also be at rest at night so their need for water intake is also reduced, but clearing ice and topping up buckets last thing at night is a very valuable activity.

So let's think about the opposite side of the equation. Living in Pennsylvania, I get both freezing nights in winter and hot, humid days and nights in summer.

Horses sweat. That is a fact of equine life. In the summer, working the horses causes them to lose water in the form of sweat. Working a horse with a thick winter coat will also cause them to lose that valuable water. Apart form ensuring that the horse has plenty of fresh water available, if your horse has been sweating, make sure you add electrolytes to his water to support his system in making best use of that water to rehydrate the cells.

You can buy electrolytes in any tack or feed store and you can also provide a salt and/or mineral block for free choice usage in the stall or the field. And talking of fields, what should we do for the horse that is turned out?

The same principles apply in the field as for in the stall plenty of clean, fresh water at all times.

Field water tubs need not be dumped out every day, but they should be checked several times each day. If the water becomes contaminated, dump it out, scrub the tub and start all over again.

Even if the water is clear, the tub needs to be dumped and scrubbed at least weekly. My mare contracted Potomac Horse Fever when she was in New York State and I believe that it was caused by mosquito larvae in the water tub. Those little critters appear from nowhere and what was perfectly good water this morning may be teeming with life this afternoon, particularly in warm areas. Most horses won't drink the contaminated water, but if they are really thirsty (remember, my mare doesn't drink in her stall but waits until she gets turned out to drink from the field tub) they will take a sip or two from the dirty water.

For the most part, the horses will leave the dirty water alone, but that is the start of the cycle to cause colic without water, that food they are nibbling will not be able to pass through the gut and colic is just waiting to happen.

Rapid Change in Diet:

When we move our horses from one location to another, many horse owners are pretty good about making sure that they switch from the feed at the old location to the new feed in a gradual manner, but let's just recap on that.

My 12% protein feed may be very different from your 12% fat feed ration. It doesn't sound like much, but it is enough to upset the delicate equine digestive balance. Unless you are going to go through the guaranteed analysis labels on each of the different feeds
And ensure that the old and the new food is EXACTLY the same, you must assume that it isn't. When you move your horse, take at least one bag of the old feed with you. If the farm you are at won't sell you a bag, go to the feed store yourself and buy a bag. It may be an expensive way to buy feed, one bag at a time, but it is surely less expensive that the vet fees for colic to the risk to your horse's life.

At the new farm, provide explicit, written instructions on how to transition from the old food to the new. It will depend on how much food your horse gets, but a rough guide is to replace 1/8th of the feed ration with the new feed increasing the amount, an 1/8th at a time, every 3 days. So for example, my Welsh gets a half scoop at each meal. Look at the chart below for how I would change his feed:

Days Old Feed New Feed
1 though 4 1 scoop None
5 though 8 7/8 1/8
9 though 11 3/4 1/4
12 through 14 5/8 3/8
15 through 17 1/2 1/2
18 through 20 3/8 5/8
21 through 24 1/4 3/4
25 through 27 1/8 7/8
27 onwards None 1 scoop

The stress of relocating can also cause colic so don't mess with the food until the horse has had a chance to relax in his new home. For the 1st 4 days he gets exactly the same as he got at the previous home.

Of course, this raises the question of what is a scoop? Some scoops will hold twice as much as others. Some farms use a coffee can. The size of a scoop is as varied as there are farms out there. Before you move your horse, take a pair of kitchen scales to the barn and weigh a scoop of your horse's feed. Make sure you use the same feed your horse is being fed sweet feed weighs more than pellet because of the molasses, for example. Then tell your new barn manager what weight of food your horse gets. Do not leave this to chance. I was once nearly killed by a mare that went ballistic on my out on the trail and I found out afterwards that the farm was feeding this highly strung, very volatile thoroughbred mare 3 pounds of oats pure energy without me knowing!

The only way to be sure your horse is getting the same amount of food is to measure it by weight. If your barn owner looks at you cross-eyed when you mention the weight, take the same kitchen scales and weigh the content of the scoop at the new barn. Then you can make the calculation and give the barn owner the equivalent in scoops.

Also look at the major crude analysis numbers on the new and old feeds. If your horse is used to 12% protein and 10% fat, a diet of 10% protein and 12% fat will not cause him to colic if introduced over time, but it might have an impact on his weight, so keep an eye on that and be prepared to up the amount of food if necessary.

Then of course, we have the case of the midnight raider!

My Welsh Pony definitely comes into this category. Because the Welsh are pretty sturdy animals, he is in more danger from founder than colic due to this but colic is still a possibility.

Mirage is a very resourceful little man. He can open a stall door; he can open a man door; he can disconnect bungee cords; in fact he can circumvent most deterrents in his quest for food or entertainment. So how do I deal with the risk of him getting out, letting others out and getting into the feed store?

The one thing that Mirage has not yet conquered is a chain with a scissor snap; a very heavy duty chain with a strong scissor snap. The best way to prevent him getting into the feed is to make sure he doesn't get out of his stall in the first place. I have a chain with 1.25 inch links and a 1.5 inch scissor snap screwed to his stall door. Mirage's stall happens to be made of thick planks of wood with gaps above and below them and they are screwed into a post that is about 10 inches in diameter. Consequently I can pass the chain around through the gaps and fasten the snap to the 1.25 inch screw eye which is in the post. However, if you don't have these ready made gaps, drill a hole though the door and the wall, at least 8 inches from the edge and large enough to pass the chain and snap through. If the boards at these points are not very thick, reinforce it by screwing a thick plank to the wall and door and drill through both thicknesses at the same time.

So what happens when the barn help forgets to fasten the chain and Mirage manages to escape anyway? I work on the theory that if Mirage can think it, he can do it. So the feed bins are locked away in a Rubbermaid free standing closet that is closed with a hasp and padlock.

Of course the padlock may not be fastened because the barn help forgot this too. In that case I have the third fail safe that I keep the actual feed in plastic 30 gallon bins with wheels and with the handles that lock over the top of the lid. If the help remembers, the handles are held together with short, strong bungee cords. This set up has several advantages. Firstly, because they are on wheels, it is harder for Mirage to get any leverage on them. As he applies pressure, the bin scoots away from him. The bins a re plastic so they can take quite a bashing before they break so if he stomps on them in temper, a little may come out as the bin flexes but not enough to cause him harm. The bungee cords are stretched so tight because they are short it is hard for him to unhook them. So far, since adopting this method, Mirage has been denied his midnight munchies.

Weather:

Obviously we cannot prevent changes in the weather. Wherever you live the seasons come and go and the barometric pressure changes. But as responsible horse owners we need to be aware of any significant changes in that pressure. The old style farmers would live their lives by the weather, reading the signs to determine what was going on. These days we have the advantage of the TV and the internet and the comprehensive weather coverage that they provide. We just need to take more notice of those warning signs.

If you see a high or low front coming in, the barometric pressure is going to change; time to start preparing against a possible colic.

The best protection for the horse is, as always the availability of the fresh water, but in addition to that, I like to give the horse an extra helping hand by preparing a bran mash for them. A ran mash is just what it says; bran mushed up into a gooey mess. The big advantage to a bran mash is that it has not calorific value as it is 90% fiber so passes through the gut really quickly so it keeps everything moving along.

It will also provide an additional source of water for your horse so that if they are not drinking enough, the water in the mash will help to keep them hydrated.

Some people will add salt to the mash to assist with water retention, but I don't do that. However, for my picky eaters I will add some molasses or crushed up star mints to make it more inviting. I will give the mash within 12 hours of the arrival of the front, so if the front is due to arrive on Tuesday morning I will feed the mash on Monday evening; If it is due to arrive on Tuesday evening, I will feed the mash on Tuesday morning.

If you have children at the barn, you will probably have no shortage of volunteers to mix up the mash somehow it is something that children love to do.

Ulcers:

If your horse has ulcers, medication is the primary solution. Do not mess around with ulcers; they are dangerous and can cause your horse a very painful death.

If your horse colics and you can't figure out why, the chances are that he has ulcers. The only way to be sure is to have the scoped. The vet will come and put a tube into the gut with a camera and take a look to see if any ulcers are present.

The vet may see some old scarring or some inflamed spots that have not yet ulcerated. For conditions such as these as well as for perfectly healthy guts, there is a product called Ulcergard from Merial limited. Ulcergard is a preventative medication and can be used on healthy guts to keep them healthy. If your horse actually has ulcers, however, Merial also make a product called Gastrogard I'm pretty sure that you can buy Ulcergard over the counter but Gastrogard will require a prescription form your vet.

I'm not here to sell you either of these products and there are other products on the market, but these 2 are the best I have found and are the industry standard. One thing I would point out is that Gastrogard is basically Ulcergard at 4 times the strength; you use a tube per day of Ulcergard and 1 tube per day of Gastrogard. There is no difference in price between the products so if you want to do this without a prescription, then this is the way to go. However, DO NOT MESS WITH YOUR HORSE"S DIGESTIVE SYTEM WITHOUT THE GUIDANCE OF A VET! Make sure your horse has ulcers before administering the high dose of the medication. Assuming the presence of ulcers and treating ulcers that don't exist can be fatal!

Stand by for the next and last article in this series How to diagnose and treat colic.

Learn more about this author, Heather J Powell.

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