Page 96 - Speedhorse June 2020

VETERINARY VIEWS
RECURRENT COLIC by Nancy S. Loving, DVM
There’s a lot of trepidation when a horse owner peers over the stall door or into
a horse’s paddock only to see him lying
on the ground listlessly in obvious distress or seeing him rolling on the ground in pain. One of the more dreaded health problems faced by horse owners and trainers is colic. While many colic episodes are relatively minor and resolve quickly with or sometimes without veterinary intervention, it is possible for equine colic to develop into a more serious crisis that requires surgery or could even be fatal.
Once the crisis is past, you might feel like you can breathe a sigh of relief, but some individuals recover from an initial bout of colic only to later experience repeat episodes. It is reported that 15% of horses are likely to have a repeat colic episode, with some developing 2-4 incidences a year.
A British study examined risk factors for recurrent colic in 59 cases and compared them to 177 control horses that did not experience colic. A repeat colic episode is one that recurs anytime from 48 hours to one year following the original onset. The study identified several correlations and uncovered other potential links that are worthy of further examination.
The most understandable link was a positive correlation with pasture turnout: Horses with daily pasture access had a greatly reduced incidence of recurrent colic. This
is not surprising since equine intestinal
health is promoted by eating habits that
favor small amounts consumed regularly
and intermittently throughout day and night such as a horse often achieves on pasture. A horse with the ability to supply frequent small amounts of forage to the stomach and intestinal tract is a horse that is following the dictates
of his normal evolutionary predilection as a “trickle feeder.” A high forage diet is important to equine digestive health – forage comes in the form of hay or pasture, and in part in complete feed pellets. If pasture isn’t available, then offering free choice hay promotes intestinal health and helps to forestall anxiety.
In addition to the forage obtained from pasture, horses are often turned out in a group of horses, which provides them with the necessary social interactions and playtime that are important behavioral expressions of herd animals. It is likely that this freedom
of turnout reduces stress while at the same time satisfying specific behavioral and psychological requirements.
One notable study finding was that stereotypies (repetitive vices) such as crib- biting or weaving have a high association
with repeat colic. In a previous study, horses with dental problems also seem more prone to recurrent colic. The good news is that horses with repetitive stereotypic behaviors turned out to pasture benefit by a reduction in recurrent colic events. As for dental work – this is easily remedied with once or twice-yearly veterinary visits to perform dental work that improves chewing and digestion of food.
One caveat is that any time diet is
altered, a horse should be given 2-3 weeks
of slow adjustments until his digestive tract accommodates the changes. A logical strategy
is to spend a few weeks slowly acclimating a horse to steadily increasing periods of time on green grass until he can be on pasture for 6-12 continuous hours, or whatever is appropriate for your situation. For horses that have physiologic
Horses with dental problems seem more prone to recurrent colic, which is easily remedied with once or twice-yearly veterinary visits to perform dental work.
One notable study finding was that stereotypies (repetitive vices) such as crib-biting have a high association with repeat colic.
94 SPEEDHORSE June 2020