Americans will learn anything if you set it to music…
Dec 06 2009
THIS is freaking AWESOME
Free Colic Report – parody of the credit commercials!
I love this. This is what I have been preaching for years – that MOST colic is avoidable and MOST colic deaths are preventable! But people simply do not learn. They water when they feel like it. They do not think it is a big deal if buckets are empty in the morning. They throw hay on sandy ground. They feed crappy hay. They do not get out to the barn and turn their horse out – they figure he will be fine standing in his stall for a day or two or three…oh heck, it’s the holidays, he’ll be fine. Well, no. He may not be fine. He may very well die or cost you an arm and a leg in vet bills.
Here is how not to have colic. I mean, if you follow these rules, you will ALMOST NEVER have a colic. I do not care how often you have had it before. Try it and see!
1. DAILY turnout or other exercise. No matter what. If your property is a mud pit or icy all winter, consider boarding where there is an indoor arena that you can use for turnout.
2. WATER WATER WATER. Your horse should always have fresh, clean, NOT ICY water in front of him. Get a tank heater. Get a heated bucket or more than one. The average horse needs more than one 5 gallon bucket in his stall. And clean them. You do not want to drink green smelly gook, and neither does your horse. It amazes me how many barns are sloppy about watering and continue to pay thousands in vet bills because they have colic all the time. Get a damn clue!
3. If you live where there is sand, psyllium once a month for a week. Sand Clear or something like it. You can tell if your horse has sand in his gut by putting a little poo (that doesn’t already have sand on it) in a bucket with water. Let the poo dissolve and then swish and see if sandy residue is left on the sides of the bucket. If you see that, your horse has sand in his gut and you’d better take action before you have a disaster. Feed on mats or (better yet) in those big Rubbermaid tubs to further reduce sand intake.
4. Reduce your horse’s stress level. If he weaves when he’s in, put him on 24/7 turnout. If he’s out with a horse who’s beating him up and chasing him, change that situation. Stress leads to colic in many cases.
5. Never grain a hot horse. And while you’re at it, do you need to grain as much as you do? Horses who eat lots of hay and little grain are at less risk for colic. Oh, and they’re typically a lot easier to ride. 
It’s not true that you need gallons of grain to keep weight on your hard keeper. Try alfalfa pellets instead.
6. Never, ever feed beet pulp that is not well soaked. Use hot water and soak it for at least a half hour or more. Lots of barns soak the morning’s beet pulp overnight and that’s not a bad idea.
7. Make sure your horse always has a salt block. Salt encourages drinking. Lots of water consumption greatly reduces your odds of colic.
8. Don’t switch feed all the time! It’s fine to feed a mix of hays, like orchard grass and alfalfa, but don’t switch from all of one to all of the other and back and forth. The safest thing to do is buy all your hay off the same farmer so that what you’re feeding is very consistent, but if you can’t do that, at least avoid drastic changes. Same for grain – do not switch brands, etc. quickly. If you are starting to feed a horse grain, start with a quarter scoop and work up slowly.
9. Be hyper-vigilant about mold. If there is any mold in a bag of grain, you have to throw the whole bag away. If there is mold on a flake of hay from it being exposed to the elements, you may be able to feed the rest of the bale but make sure you do a careful visual inspection to ensure the mold has not spread. Even a little mold will cause many horses to colic. It’s true that most horses won’t eat moldy hay if they’re well fed and have plenty of clean hay, but be careful – some horses just don’t have any sense about it. The safest thing to do is use round barrel feeders, for example, to keep the bottom layer from getting wet and going bad.
10. If at all possible, provide grass. Horses were meant to eat grass, and you will almost never have a colic among horses out on grass, eating as nature intended, walking and eating and eating and walking. You can supplement the grass as needed with hay and grain, but there’s something about having an intake of grass that keeps all systems going and flowing!
Anyway, great job to Doug Tollet for making such a funny – and correct! – video!
95 comments to “Americans will learn anything if you set it to music…”
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This video is priceless! As well as hilarious.
I so admire these vets and techs, especially the woman playing the broom.
So true that Americans accept education better when it’s presented in a fun way–and this is over the top fun.
Know the difference between mold and yeast, too. There are some fermented hay products that are being promoted (ChaffHaye is one) that come compressed in bags like shavings and are covered with a white powder. That is yeast and is desirable (probiotics and all that). The black stuff is mold, but having fed ChaffHaye, I can tell you that SMELL is not an indication of whether the feed is good or not. ChaffHaye smells, uh, “odd,” but it is very good for horses IF the horses will eat it. I had a rescue that ate ANYTHING (which was not always a good thing ;o) and while he thought the ChaffHaye was a bit odd, he finished every wisp and asked for more.
I have only had one issue with colic (knock wood REAL hard) in my life with horses and that was due to a “vet” whose rep of “bute ‘em and use ‘em” created the problem. He gave my horse a huge dose of bute for a sore neck and it slowed down the gut motility and suddenly there was the horse in discomfort.
When I called to report the problem, suddenly the vet “was not available to me.” That was how I met the vet who has become a very important part of my horse’s life, helping me with everything from training and feeding programs to keeping him sound and happy.
All things happen for a reason, but at the time of the colic, I was FURIOUS with Dr. Bute. He has since retired and moved to Utah. They can have him.
All of these are good things, heck they are *great* things and I do all of them, all the time, religiously.
I’ve had horses for about 25 years and had no problems until the last 3 years when I have lost 2 horse to colic. I have never owned a total of more than 4 horses at one time and my lifetime total of horses owned is 12 so relatively that is a huge number. I wish there was something I could identify as a cause but I if there is I can’t find it. My horses are on 24/7 turn out, sand clear, excellent grass hay, minimal mold free grain (of the same kind for years), water all the time (in fact I’m so paranoid they have access to multiple water sources “just in case”), no beet pulp, no graining hot horses, salt blocks always out, rotational grazing and I STILL had 2 colics.
My point is that while those things can cause colic, they don’t cause ALL colic and we really don’t know what the other causes might be. The first colic cost me around 16K and what I ended up with was a dead horse and a mind boggling feeling of guilt. Believe me when I say that I have spent countless hours researching colic and trying to figure out if it was somehow MY fault. When I lost the second horse it was not so expensive since I did not try surgery but it was still probably 3-4K for care, euth, and disposal. In neither case have I included the cost to replace the horse, both of which would have been worth around 4K.
Please do not assume that colic is the fault of the owner. Sometimes we do our absolute best and it still happens.
I verymuch agree with your point that the colic is not always the fault of the owner. At the barn where I board — which is the safest barn I’ve ever visited when it comes to preventing colic — we had a horse die of colic. We were puzzled, but we realized that even though we took the extreme measures to make sure our horses would not go to colic, God mustve chosen to take poor Juno. But no matter what measures you take, there is ALWAYS a chance that a horse will get or die od colic. Great point, Staje.
Loved it! Very clever.
Knock on wood….we have never had a horse colic in the 12 years my husband and I have had horses together. But going along with what Fugly says, our horses are on 24 hour pasture with a run in shelter, they ALWAYS have a salt block in summer and winter, I never let them run out of water…EVER…,we have fed the same feed for years, and they always have access to good hay summer and winter. I know sometimes despite what you do, some horses are prone to colic, but really, it is just common sense things that can almost always prevent it.
and worming can cause colic
my sister got a yearling colt from a family who said they wormed him every 3 months. we got him home 3 months later when we wormed our horses we wormed him. he coliced from have a large amount of worms in his belly. vet said he couldnt pass that many worms before they stared dying in side him and making him very ill. the horse almost passed away he was very sick for 4 months.
so when you buy a new horse even from a breeder be very carefull about how you worm the the first time.
Heated water buckets, what I use.
http://tinyurl.com/yf5sacr
Yes, they are a bit of a pain to dump with the cord. We buck-up and do it.
I use these during cold snaps that don’t last long (here). I tested them to see how much power they draw. Same as a 100 watt light bulb. I was worried about the power cord and chewing. Drilled a hole in the wall at the base of the bucket and connected it to a heavy duty grounded cord. Horses can’t get to the cord.
I don’t have to worry about water level. They’re thermostatically controlled and shut off when the water rises above freezing.
Miniature horse owners are major offenders of over graining. Here is another one to add to that great list.
1. Please do not self medicate your horse ,instead , call your vet and ask him-her what they would like you to do for the horse, not your internet buddy.
I believe Bute, Banamine, gastro, ulcer gard (or whatever because owner has given too much Bute) should be in the hands of Vets or very conservative owners, that wont self medicate and diagnois at the drop of a hat.
2. Blanket that old horse of yours for god sake, and please provide him with a warm clean , soft bed.
3. Dont ever give children freedom in or around your grain barn, kids love to give horses too much grain. Children no matter how often they are told not to ,will overfeed your horse , leave gates open, and halters on the ground where the horse can get tangled up in them.
I am so with you on number one. The only thing is that some exceptions do have to be made. For instance, I live on an island and we don’t have a vet qualified to treat horses. If one of my horses went down with colic, it would die before I could ever get a vet out here, especially as there are very few ferries to the mainland and back. That said, whenever we have a vet out for routine maintenance, we always ask for things for a our emergency first aid kit that we wouldn’t be able to get on island in an emergency. There’s a difference between having the necessities available for emergencies and having a happy medical trigger finger.
In 35+ years of owning horses, the only case of colic I have had was a pony with a bad tooth. Winter rolled around and he wasn’t drinking enough because the water was cold. He colicked (sp?) twice and was severly dehydrated both times. The second time we looked at this teeth and found the culprit. No problems after that. Had a scare with a horse that ate too many apples, but she just ended up with really bad gas (lucky!).
About salt, most horses will not really get the amount they need from a salt block or brick. It is better to give them loose salt. As a test for my horses, I put a crushed mineral block next to a full mineral block to see which they prefer. They have completely ignored the block but eat plenty of the crushed. You can buy it loose at most farm stores for the same price – just make sure it is not salt meant for a cow.
Pelleted feed – if there is not a reason that your horse cant eat hay, just give them hay. I know for some people they feed pellets or cubes becuase it is cheaper, easier or more convenient for them. But really, you should do what is best for your horse, and that is regular old bales of hay.
Most people feed too much extra crap to their horses. Plenty of good quality hay is all that most horses need. It is best if they have some food in front of their faces all day, because that is how they are meant to eat – little bits, all day. If they are kept in box stalls and used to being fed twice a day, it may take a lot of extra hay at first to convince them that they don’t need to eat it all at once. I have 4 horses who eat in a group feeding situation and they never completely finish their morning meal in one sitting. I feed enough so that they feel comfortable about leaving when they have enough because they know there will be hay later when they come back. They have access to 15 acres and right now is is frozen. They don’t care – they walk out there, see if anything grew last night, talk to the neighbors and eventually come back for water, a nap, and more hay.
Oh, and the turn out thing – yep, they need it. Not just for their physical health, but their mental health as well. It is also infinitely better for their feet and legs when they are moving around all day, instead of standing in a box stall. Abcesses, thrush, white line disease? Turn them out – they just might surprise you. I don’t think there is a single organ in the body, or function that takes place in the body that does not benefit from turn out. If you live somewhere that there is no turn out – you have to see them daily to make sure they are getting some exercise.
Can’t say enough about tank heaters if you live somewhere cold. They are safe and cheap. A hell of a lot cheaper than a vet bill or disposing of a dead body. I even have heated buckets for my dogs.
luvredponies-you’re right about the salt blocks…salt blocks are made for cattle…cattle have rougher tongues then horses…therefore, cattle can get the salt intake they need, whereas a horses tongue becomes too “sore” before they get their salt intake…I feed loose salt all the time…they have it in their stalls in a bucket…this way, it never gets rained on or wasted and they get their daily intake…some of the horses barely touch it, I have a mare that will go through a cup of salt every 2-3 days…but I mostly find that the young horses (weanlings to 2 yr olds) are the ones that eat it the most…of course the young ones don’t really know when to stop and I’ve had my share of poop covered walls in the stalls…lol…you just have to make sure there’s less in the bucket if you have it in with a mare and foal…those are my personal experiences
It is also helpful to know all of the signs of colic and to know your horse well enough to know when he or she is just not feeling right but may be not exhibiting signs yet.
There are also checks you can such as listening to the flank and belly sounds on both sides of the horse and if you have very loud sounds or no sounds, you very well may have a problem.
Also, there is much that you can do to help your mildly colicking horse with acupressure if you know the points. There is a point that is a hand’s width, about 4″, in front of the navel that if your horse is exhibiting colic signs and the point there is hard and pointy, it is usually a simple colic and by pressing it and some of the other points that are at the underside of the last rib near the flank (you can feel a band of tightened muscle there going from the hip diagonally to the belly) the points go vertically following the rib, it gets things normalized and the horse seems to know that it is helping them. As the band of muscle loosens you can get to that rib and move the flesh to get to the back of it and it also is a great help. The belly accupuncture point will not be present if the colic involves other problems such as a twist, obstruction, cancer, or other problem. Also, children’s homeopathic colic pills dissolved in distilled water, put in a small syringe and given orally, 4 per dose every 15 minutes can really help give relief.
I am NOT suggesting that this is an alternative to veterinary care! Your vet should be your friend and you NEED TO have a good vet before this happens, not be calling frantically to unknown vets while this is happening when you could be caring for your horse.
Prevention is worth your horse’s life, it can happen to you.
One other thing, I have heard that when corn is present in the ration, that there is a 25% higher chance of colic, has anyone else heard this?
This is too freaking funny!! LOL (not a funny issue though)
In all my years owning horses, I never had one colic. I don’t know if it was luck, common sense care or the fact that mine always had free access to good outdoor grazing and water. I count myself and my past horses very lucky.
Thanks for sharing!
Cindy
If you show/travel a lot with your horse, please invest in some water containers and take his/her water from his usual source. If it’s a long stay, you can start with their regular water and then slowly mix until they become adjusted to the new source.
The same goes for relocating a horse sold/purchased.
try putting tang in your horses water. if you get them used to the taste of tang, their water will taste the same where ever you haul.
Staje, my vet says colic can be caused by a change in barometric pressure. That means a storm system blows in and voila. It may not have been anything you did (or did not do) that created the colics that cost you two horses. My sympathies.
I cleaned the stall this morning (we’re getting a big system moving in through Southern California with winds bringing us snow and rain for the next several days). My horse — I refer to him as The Emperor — did not set hoof outside his stall except to drink, so the stall was pretty much a mess just from overnight. I added a bale of shavings and he is eating his goodies and hay inside. He’s unhappy that the only “bottomless pit” is the supply of hay. Poor devil ;o)
Guts are roiling and broiling, so he’s a happy guy. Knock wood it continues and that everyone who needs to makes changes in their horse management skills so their horses are safe.
Thank you, it really was just awful both times. The first horse we had only had for a few months but he was just perfect for us, it was a huge blow to lose him. When we explained to the vet that we had only had him for 6 months the first thing they did was check for a colic surgery scar (he did not have one) but it taught me to check for this when buying a horse in the future. I suspect that we didn’t have the best vet for the surgery as it was done at about 11 at night on Thanksgiving when all the regular vets had time off with their families. In his case he could not have survived without surgery as he had torn his omentum to shreds and even if the colic had somehow resolved he would have had a problem with the dead tissue.
It is my opinion that the second horse had something irregular in her anatomy, I did not have a necropsy done, however she was prone to colic. I had her from a weanling until she passed at 6 years old, she had her first colic as a yearling and it probably happened at least yearly after that with her being hospitalized for several days twice. According to my vet once a horse colics it is much more likely to have future colic episodes. In her case I had been wanting colic insurance but she had to go a full year without a colic episode and we were almost there when she had her final colic. It was still very sad as she and I had bonded over the years. I am lucky enough to have her colt and he has (knock on wood) shown no signs of being prone to colic.
I saw that video yesterday and yes, it is amusing.
I have to object however to the mantra on this blog that colic is preventable. I went the majority of my horse-owning life with only a couple minor stress colics and then in the past year I lost one and had major surgery on another. I grilled my vet for the cause because of course I blamed myself but he said that TORSION colics are a total fluke. You can do all these things to prevent impactions and yes, they help, but occasionally a torsion will happen for seemingly no reason at all and I happened to have two of them. One was in an Oldenburg mare who had just foaled and he said she probably just had extra room in her gut and that allowed the twist. She was saved with emergency surgery. No cause was ever identified for the extremely promising RPSI gelding who died the year before.
As I said, MOST colics are preventable. That means SOME colics are not, and certainly torsions would be among those. They are horrible things for horses and owners and if you’ve been through that, you absolutely have my sympathy.
Your typical impaction colic is the kind that is very often preventable and even more often not life-threatening if the horse’s discomfort is recognized quickly and the vet called.
I feel for you since I also went through two horses with torsion colic. I’ve come to the conclusion that colic really can be random and unpredictable. I’m glad your surgery worked, such a better outcome!
I finally have a method for cleaning my heated buckets that works pretty well. I went to the dollar store and bought a long handle dish washing brush. Empty the bucket with out disconnecting it to about 2 inches of water or clean before filling. by scrubbing with the brush. Dump, rinse, repeat if needed. We usually clean the buckets every other day since they hang where they don’t get hay in them. I have 2 right now. I think I am going to get one of the big muck tub size ones this winter also.
As for colic, I had it here for the second ever, same horse. My 25 year old draft cross gelding came in for evening feed not acting right. He is never sick and is always the first one in to eat, even though he’s lame. I have no idea what caused it. They are on 24/ turnout. plenty of clean water all the time. And they have hay from the same farm all the time. I think it might have been stress. The neighbor’s were riding 4 wheelers through the woods next to our place in the dark hunting coyotes and using calls right after dark. Bum takes his job as herd boss very seriously and he was on guard all evening because of the noise. The only other time he coliced was when I found out he was scared to death of 2 horse trailers when another horse was in with him. Thankfully a dose of banimine, several times of passing a lot of gas and a few minutes watching him was all it took for him to feel fine. Of course he scared me to death, I had to check on him every hour all night. At 3 am he looked at me like I was nuts and begged for his cookies.
Ditto ditto ditto on salt!! Horses cannot get enough salt from the cattle blocks we provide them. Horses don’t have rough tongues like cows, and can actually get sore tongues trying to get enough salt. Just like us, feeding salt encourages more water drinking – and less colic.
I throw a handful of standard iodized table salt into the daily supplement ration.
It falls to the bottom of the bucket as they feed, and the horse licks up what they need.
No colic in 22 years. Knock on wood.
Horse Feeding Myths and Misconceptions from the Government of Alberta, Agriculture and Rural Development. A very informative and worthwhile read.
http://tinyurl.com/68reba
I have seen this report a couple of times – It has been on many an extension web site. Great information that every horse owner should read. There are a lot of myths out there that people just don’t know where they came from but swear by them. I don’t usually argue with folks about how they feed their horses, I just shake my head as they start spouting off shit that “they know to be fact”. I have 3 horses under two and one 19 year old. They are on pasture in the summer and free fed alfalfa in the winter, with always plenty of fresh water, salt/minerals and exercise. My babies are growing great and my old gal is a bit on the pudgy side. I just smile when I hear about all of the extra crap people feed because their horses “have to have it”. Thanks, but I can think of a ton of other things to buy for my horses than a bunch of supplements they don’t need – like plenty of hay to get them through to the spring pasture!
I lost a yearling colt to colic and had the vet do a post mortum. He found a pus-filled abscess in his large intestine that he stated had been created by parasite damage – blood worms. I had bought him as a wormy weanling and took care of the parasites ASAP – including paying to have the vet out to worm him before I even hauled him away from the breeder. He looked great and was growing like a weed. However, the damage was hiding, and they still ended up killing him. Walked him walked him walked him by myself on a cold night during a total lunar eclipse. Vet came and treated him with mineral oil, left, and wouldn’t come back. An awful thing.
Oh these are hilarious! Leave it you Fugs to find this stuff!
Thanks – that made my morning! ;D
~DD
Fugs, could you please do more research before posting your general horse knowledge to make sure it is correct?
Beet pulp can be fed dry and cause no issues.
http://equineink.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/beet-pulp-fact-and-fiction/
http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/feeding/feed/eqbeetpulp660/
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=314
http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/beetpulp.shtml
Also, wanted to add that improper dental work and not floating teeth properly can also lead to colic.
Again, I don’t argue with people about this, but this is a myth that nearly everyone believes – it is the equine equivilant of the pop rocks/soda pop/exploding stomach myth. I guess there are worse things people can do than pre-soak beet pulp before feeding it.
As I said, the only colic I have had to deal with was a 20something shetland pony who broke a tooth and wouldn’t drink the water once it got cold. Got rid of the tooth, bought a tank heater, all better.
I was going to say the same thing, so glad someone else beat me to it! While feeding wet beet pulp may increase palatability, that’s about all it does. This is an “old wives” tale that has been circulating barns forever. If your horse has problems eating dry beet pulp its likely due to either taste or bad teeth. Also soaked beet pulp in warm weather can spoil very quickly which will be more likely to result in a colic.
I’m thirding the beep pulp thing. The horse’s stomach can hold up to 4 gallons and empties quickly into the small intestine which can hold 10 to 12 gallons and the large intestine which can hold up to 30 gallons. If nothing else, if you’re feeding enough beet pulp to expand into that much space, you’ve got bigger problems than whether or not you’re soaking it. Soaking it makes it taste better and that’s it…
Good point on the dental care! But as for soaking beet pulp, both vets I use still believe in soaking it, so I go along with that. It can’t possibly hurt, and just looking at beet pulp, you can see how it could cause issues in its dry form. I don’t feed dry hay pellets, either. I grew up at a barn that fed only a pelleted feed and they had a lot of colics.
I 110% agree here. Ditto on the pellets, I also borded at a barn in California that only fed pellets (you supplied the hay) my Shetland coliced for the first and only time when a stupid little girl unsupervised , fed him a bunch of dry pellets. That cost me thousands of dollars , and a long stay for him at UC Davis. Eating a sponge wont kill you either…. but it certainly would make you miserable for a while. All of you that dont believe in watering down your pellets please eat a huge bowl of cereal without milk.
I feed beet pulp (shredded) all the time and we don’t soak as much as pour a bunch of water on it and serve. It soaks as they’re eating. The best reason for adding the water is that it gets more water into their system, which is always a good thing. I’ve found that you need to introduce it slowly, though. I have one mare that just looks at beet pulp and gets gas, while the others can eat nothing but and be fine.
Timely, as I just had a MILDLY colicky horse last night. This is her first winter at home,–she has always been boarded out. She is turned out on pasture 22 hours per day, lots of water (installed the tank heater yesterday), fed mostly hay and a handful of grain, free choice salt. My best guess is that she is tenderfooted after I had shoes pulled for the winter, and the pain distracted her from what she considers her Most Important Task, which is to eat everything constantly.
I noticed that her behavior was a little off, and watched her all night, monitoring her gut sounds and heartrate, with my cellphone speed-dial set for the vet’s office. Her gut sounds improved gradually through the night, and she is fine now. I can only wonder if she has had these mild symptoms before, but since nobody at the boarding barn knew her as well as I do, it wasn’t noticed?
I have had another horse colic a few years back after he had a severe muscle pull. This was a very sensitive horse who normally lived to eat, but when the vet’s banamine wore off in the middle of the night, he apparently started fretting about the pain and his guts started cramping. It took 4 large bags of fluids to bring him back…and then he was fine. Scared me out of a year’s growth, though.
Takeaway: don’t discount PAIN as a cause of colic, even if your horsekeeping is otherwise ideal.
Absolutely. I have had a pain colic, in fact that’s the only colic I’ve had in the past five years. The mare had been kicked right between her back legs in a very sensitive area. Fortunate that she colicked or I probably would not have noticed the wound fast enough since it was right under her thick tail!
Prior to that, I had a colic that I am sure was caused by hay cubes after moving the horse to a new barn where that was the standard feed. Put the horse on regular hay, which the barn charged extra for, and never had another problem with him.
I had to go away for a couple days this week, leaving my horses in the care of a good friend. We’ve had freezing weather all week, so I’ve been disconnecting the hoses so they’ll drain. Person taking care of my horses left the hose in the bucket and it drained ALL the water out. I don’t know how long they’d been thirsty by the time I’d gotten home, but I felt SO lucky that no one colicked. I felt horrible about it.
I’ve only had one colic in the time I’ve owned horses, and fortunately it was very minor. I had a morgan mare who was a total pig and would eat anything she could get her face around. One day, the owner of the property where I was keeping her mowed the grass outside the pen, and didn’t take care to kick the clippings away from the fence. When I came by to feed in the morning, I noticed my mare eating the grass clippings, so I shooed her away and kicked the clippings away from the fence. Came back a few hours later and she was in the beginnings of colic. Spent a few hours walking her, dosed her with mineral oil, and kept from rolling, and she turned out fine, but it was scary.
That was great. XD
And so true. My trainer lost her $15,000 hunter jumper literally overnight due to a dramatic feed change. He ruptured his colon and had to be put down.
He was perfect fit and healthy the day before, too. If that’s not enough to open people’s eyes, nothing is.
My mom pounded all those rules into my head sense I was 6 and we never had a colic case on our farm. Thank god for good parenting and common sense.
You bet – and thanks to your Mom for creating another responsible horse owner!
I’m glad you said most.
I knew a horse who colicked every spring. Every spring. Every year, no matter what his owners tried to do. It seemed to be some kind of sensitivity to the sudden increase in nutritious quality of the grass. Or maybe it was the weather change itself. Some horses are prone to colic, and in those cases even good management can’t prevent them, but you just have to be very aware of your horse.
Also worth noting.
Colic *symptoms* (pawing, staring at the belly, tension through the belly and back) *can* be caused by things other than intestinal problems. If you have done everything right, then it’s worth considering that it might not be colic. Ulcers can cause the same symptoms (And are, fortunately, pretty easy to treat in horses). Another possible culprit is uterine cramps in a mare coming into heat, especially the last cycle in fall or first in spring…some mares seem to be prone to this. And, of course, mares coming into labor often demonstrate similar behavior patterns…and yes, it is quite possible for even an experienced horse person to buy a mare in fall and get a surprise in spring. Some mares are already so deep through the girth and barrel that you can’t see they’ve got anything in there.
I love, love, love those guys at Auburn. Even though we are 6 hours away, they are my clinic of choice for major issues, which thankfully, are only the chronic lameness of my 18 year old gelding. I have just got to email them and tell them that they have made the “big time.”
dammit fugly! LOL I haven’t seen the “credit report” ad on TV for a few months now and I had just barely gotten that song out of my head, now I can’t stop singing it, again. LOL! Great songs though, he has hit the nail on the head, that’s for sure…
Oh Craigslist, you are priceless….
Just $1200 will get me a 3 year old, unregistered, green broke, grulla stud colt. But wait, you haven’t heard the best part… he’ll be a barrel racer and take someone to FINALS someday! Shoot, for only $1200 I’d take that guarantee! The owner is only selling him because his potential is getting wasted in the pasture.
http://yakima.craigslist.org/grd/1453914832.html
Well, now the owner has decided that he was joking before. He’s really selling him because he bought the horse to train and now that he’s trained it’s time to sell – and he’s serious this time. Oh boy, it looks like he also dropped the price to $1000, just making my bank account sing in anticipation. Look at those photos. If that horse doesn’t make it to NFR then I can’t judge conformation. The angle on those pasterns just screams speed and strength. I also believe he toes out on that right front… another win! And does he have a ewe neck too? Be still, my racing heart! We must only wait a short while before this colt is ours.
http://yakima.craigslist.org/grd/1465111657.html
So the owner was serious last time… seriously kidding! The real reason he’s selling is because he’s getting a new horse and can’t afford to keep this stud. Also, he’s not grulla, he’s black. One more thing, he’s not three, he’s two. But that was all, and this new information is 100% accurate and true – that’s a promise. And don’t let this owner’s sense of humor detract from what’s important here. This horse is going to go to NFR, and you can get him now for only $800! Jump on this opportunity before it’s too late!
http://yakima.craigslist.org/grd/1469070493.html
/facepalm
Thank you for reminding me how stupid people are in this town!
Fugly,
This is off topic, but I just had to pass it on
2 y/o Shetland stud for sale, handled by kids, barefoot no less
I always thought Shetlands were cute, this one is so fugly, it’s not funny
http://kalamazoo.craigslist.org/grd/1496950594.html
Awwwww. Poor little guy is cute! I’d take him and make a cute harness GELDING out of him.
Pay $800? Um, no.
My horse is following all these rules EXCEPT one… salt block.
When we first moved to the barn we brought a salt and mineral block and they told my mom to keep the salt block, they had stuff in the grain.
I’ve been wondering about it ever since though. He shows no signs of being sickly and he’s perfectly happy but what do you guys think?
Should I ask them again or should I just put the salt block in any way?
This was great to watch. That I had to watch it again!
Very good imagination
Thank you. It’s all so true. I’ve had horses for 11 years and have yet to encounter a colic with any of them. We have always done self care and have been vigilant about our horsekeeping. I think what has made a big difference for us is just staying consistent with everything in their routines.
I just brought my gelding back home from a year away at college. The owner of that barn was adamant that horses did not need as much water in the winter and constantly let the water freeze over. I could not convince him otherwise and he even said that vets were wrong to say that horses always needed water because they could eat the ice. And he still wonders why he had a horse colic and die last winter. Luckily I was in a position to get to the barn twice a day every day and ensured that my horse always had fresh water. Even when it meant hauling buckets at 5 in the morning. I will never understand how he could justify leaving his horses without water. Poor things.
Hi all, new forum member – very shy, so be nice to me
Sand colic is a HUGE problem in Western Australia, where I am, and often our sand burdens are fairly impervious to drenches, psyllium etc. I’ve heard an “old bushie” treatment of mashing up a whole boiled pumpkin (minus seeds) and mixing in with feeds to get sand moving. I think it was something like, pumpkin every day for a week, every month or so (like psyllium, I guess). Have yet to try it, currently horseless, but on the argumentative horsey forum I frequent, no-one has discredited it yet, which counts for something
Can anyone post pictures of moldy hay? I set aside a few square bales earlier this week because they smelled a little funny and didn’t throw them down to feed, but I’m unsure as to what to look for. They are stored in a hay loft, I think they may have been damp when they were baled up.
(Trying to learn before I get my own horse- and my boss, whose hay it is, doesn’t know if it’s moldy, either)
Thanks!
When I open a bale of hay. I look at how it fans out and how it fluffs up. If you open up a bale and the flakes looks compacted then the chances of the hay having mold is high because it was probably packed too tight and had higher moisture amounts when it was baled. If you see black in it its not good. If you shake it out and see a cloud thats no good either. A hay tester wouldnt hurt to have on hand. I ussually smell the hay when I buy it. i look at the coloration of the hay. Some yellow is ok, but brown no, not ok. Green is good. I look for bales that are not packed too tight. Too tight of a bale wont allow to have any moisture escape. And I store my hay cut side up.
Don’t have any pictures, but they will be heavier bales than normal, the flakes will be dense, not light and fluffy, and they will not smell fresh and green like good hay. When you split open the bale, you may see blueish-grey or black dust and see discolored areas (too dark or too light). The bad hay will clump together and feel stiff. Hay can go bad not just from rain or leaks but also if it was baled too tight, or if it was baled before fully dry cured in the field, or cut too early. It’s easy to produce bad hay; that’s why good hay can cost so much. Rain is the usual culprit, however. If you are not sure, put that bale aside until you can have someone knowledgeable check it for you. If it was properly baled and just got wet down on one end, the whole bale may not be ruined; but you have to be VERY careful about this.
CleanStalls—Since no one else answered, I will. We’ve been putting up hay for forever and a day, and I’m concerned that you think the hay was baled wet. I wish I could check it in person for you.
I don’t have any photos for you at the moment, but I can tell you that if the leaves or stems have dark spots, white spots, looks like it has white frost on the edges, or looks sort of fuzzy, it is bad. If the hay is sticking/clumping together more than usual, or you find a damp and slimy spot, it’s bad. If you throw a flake down and white dust comes up, it’s bad. If it smells musty, don’t chance it, throw it out, cause mold can be growing but not be visible to the naked eye yet. One part of a bale can be bad and the rest feedable, but you better check all sides of what you feed very carefully.
Also, if you stick your hand or arm into the center of the bale and it’s warm or hot inside–it’s bad–and can START A FIRE. Be careful–I’ve found bales even in winter so hot they burned me. If you think that hay was baled damp, or got damp in storage, I’d check for heat ASAP.
If a bale is hot, get it away from your barn and anything flammable, cut it open and spread it out to dry out before you dispose of it, and do not feed it. Moldy hay can burn down your barn. Check all your other bales as well if you find a hot one, especially if they are the same batch/cutting/delivery. I know money and times are tight, but bad hay can kill your horse. When in doubt, throw it out.
whattawiseguy if it were me I think I’d put the saly block back.
~DD
Just heard that Dean Solomon was at the Enumclaw Auction buying horses. Of course she was…*groan*
Don’t let parasites build up! There is a reason one of the daily wormer manufacturers offers free colic insurance if you feed their product: daily wormers prevent parasites from ever developing in your horse’s system. Parasites secrete irritants and waste that damage the linings of the entire digestive tract and parasite infestations are a proven frequent cause of colic. When you worm every few months, you are allowing parasites to build up their numbers, then you knock out that infestation and another one, with all the associated damage, begins. Daily wormer does add a few dollars a month to the cost of good horse care: I believe the prevented colics are worth the extra money.
Stall your horse only in an emergency. Their digestion depends on constant movement and constant nibbling. They are built and hardwired to move nearly all day and all night and preventing that movement short circuits a host of mental. physical and social systems.
I read in many places that research has shown physillium to be ineffective in preventing sand colic. I think rubber stall mats and brooms are available almost anywhere, as are raised hay feeders with catch bins. There are easy ways to prevent horses from ingesting more than minor amounts of sand.
It’s truly sad that there are some colics that don’t appear to have a management cause. I hope that research continues to reduce the numbers of these mystery illnesses.
OMG that was so great! they did a nice job on that video!. knock on wood we have been very fortunate over the years i have owned horses over 10yrs now. i have had quite a few horses in my care since i worked in a stable and i have only had one colic a 32yr old percheron with digestion issues we ended up putting him down. i take good care of my guys i feed a pelleted feed and beet pulp i always serve it like a soup to everyone and in the winter i belive they enjoy a good warm soup as i always serve it warm in the winter. on really cold or hot days i put a teaspoon of salt in it to encourage them to drink. in the summer i put really big ice cubs or i float apples in the stock tank as it encourages them to drink and in the winter i make sure i have a heater in the tank and its working properly i have seen them short out before and the poor horse goes to get a drink and gets zapped. i also treat my horses monthly with metamucel its the same thing as sand clear but cheaper! the only other thing i do is break their hay into three meals a day.
and one more thing my guys dont have to worry about moldy hay! i am deathly allergic to mold i have been in the hospital alot in anypalactic(sp?) shock thanks to mold. if i can breathe the hay and not get deathly ill and have to inject myself with a epipen its safe! so i am very very carful with my hay and where i get it! i guess being allergic to mold in some ways is a gift as i have had bales look and smell ok but my alllergy doesent lie i just wish sometimes i had a normal allergy like bee stings or peanuts!
LOL! Maybe you can hire yourself out as a “Mold Meter”!
Hilarious video! Glad they took the time to make it.
Wtf? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK-D8MJ0iH0&feature=related
Too make sure your horses are getting plenty of water you can make mashes from rolled beet pulp. I buy the one that is soaked in soy oil. Plenty of hay. Salt lick, and clean buckets as Fugly has said is very important. Its important to check the tanks everyday to see how much they have drunk. You need to monitor their water intake. If you have a full tank and the next day its still full. Something is up and you need to make sure you get your animal hydrated again.
I will even add different treats to their mashes. Sometimes its a cut up sweet potato,banana, carrots or an orange. This will add a little extra fiber. I like using natural treats because of the high fiber. But some horses may not be ableto eat these things for medical reasons and it would be important to check with your vet.
I use a Shop Vac to suck the water out of my heated waterers. Less chance of disturbing the heating supply cords and such when I pick them up to dump them. And the drain plugs that are in them are a bear to get out to empty. Shop Vac is easy, fast and they are pretty cheap.
Also, they work great for sucking the water out of pipes that you need to fix! My water line is 700 feet long and it takes a long time to drain..couple of times filling the shop vac and it takes about two minutes.
Can you add that you should keep grain and vitamins in a horse-proof container in case of a “jail-break”?
Our pony once got out out of the pasture and had eaten a weeks worth of feed for seven horses when I caught her. The grain was kept in a locked room in raccoon-proof containers, but not pony-proof apparently. Good thing our vet was down the road at my vet tech friend’s house at the time–she got help before she got really bad.
Colic took my favorite horse ever, half my lifetime ago and I’m still sick about it. Oak leaves were blown into the pasture by the wind. He was the only one who got sick. The non-horse person of the family heard him thrashing around in the night, but didn’t know enough to know anything was wrong, and didn’t say anything to anyone else. By morning it was too late. I always checked on the horses in the night before bed, but my mom made me stay in the house cause I had pneumonia at the time. I should have gone anyway. I’ll always regret it.
You can be so careful, but sometimes, especially if you buy hay, you really don’t know what you are putting out there even if you go through and shake out every flake. I found a cowboy hat baled up in the hay once, and more than one live rattlesnake.
But thank you for reminding us of stuff like colic prevention. And WATER WATER WATER–best thing you can do. If they didn’t drink and they usually do, make sure they are alright and then dump out that water and clean that bucket.
It gets so cold here in winter, buckets will have frozen over by the time you carry them from the hydrant to the stall. I spent so much time thawing buckets in my bathtub and breaking ice all day for years–switching to heated buckets was the best thing we ever did. My old boss covered half his stock tank with plywood, it kept the horses from pulling out the tank heater and the insulation cut down dramatically on his electric bill.
I have a horse here I’ve had for nearly 13 years, followed all the rules and never had a colic in his life, he had a high temp episode with mild colic, the vets couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him he was hospitalised and they couldn’t figure it out. He stabilised and came home then a month later colicked really badly (narrowly avoided surgery) the vets didn’t think it was related I knew otherwise I knew the horse hadn’t recovered and something was causing all this. He also had a lot of skin issues at the same time greasy heel that wouldn’t clear up even with intensive management and treatment etc. I asked for suggestions on an internet forum and it was suggested that I check his worming schedule in case he had a case of encysted small strongyles, which are often missed in worming schedules as they aren’t covered by most wormers. Ideally you would kill them before they have a change to form cysts but they can slip through, so I treated him intensively with panacur and he picked up almost immediately and has been fine ever since.
All of the vets had asked me if he had been wormed and I replied ‘of course’ but if the rotation schedule happens to miss a stage you can have a problem, I always thought I was very well informed with equine health issues but this one took me by complete surprise, very expensive lesson to learn lucky my boy was ok but I came way to close to losing him. Don’t rely on the vets all the time, if you know your horse well and you know there is a bigger problem keep looking till you find it!
Moldy hay is usually black, has a funky smell, and doesn’t “pull apart” very easily. It generally means the hay has been baled while still damp. Some hay growers “hurry to bale the hay” before it has properly dried/cured in the field, especially if rain is expected (or worse, if it is FALLING).
I know this isn’t a scientific “explanation” of moldy hay and it isn’t pictures, but if the hay smells funky, don’t feed it. Take it back to whoever you bought it from and get replacements. Buying from a reliable source is very important, whether you buy a field or a cutting from a farmer or from the feedstore.
I got some Bermuda hay last spring and it was heavy, full of mud and impossible to “flake.” The feed store had no problem taking it back. (In fact, the truck was loaded by squeeze and the kid who stacked the hay for me took four or five bales back to the store because he could tell it was bad).
OMG looks like this craigslist gem is being kept in a chainlink dog cage. Poor poor lady, hope she is upgraded soon.
http://desmoines.craigslist.org/grd/1492181759.html
well that foal will die for sure in those conditions. hard frozen ground , and a nice fence for him to get his hoof caught in…how cold do you think it will be for a new foal in January… If only I could meet this wonderful owner in person , I need a place to shove my boot
Another thing to mention… I am a newer horse owner, and I was using a barefoot trimmer. She has strong opinions about feeding, and talked me into switching my old horse from senior feed to oats and an all-inclusive supplement. (She used the “pellets are wasted money b/c they cook the nutrition out of it” argument). I tried, and a couple months later, horse colicked… he just couldn’t handle the oats in his diet, couldn’t digest them. He is now back on senior feed, with soaked alfalfa and rice bran, and doing great. I always soak his food, even though he has okay teeth, because I’m scared her will colic again. BTW, I will swear by rice bran from now on, this is the first time I ahve been totally happy with his weight.
I will try to crush my horse’s salt block… they have never touched it… other horses in this area lick their salt blocks… does this just mean they don’t like their salt block, or that they already get enough salt? I’m not sure, and I would hate to add salt to their feed if they don’t need it….
Another quick question… I know never to grain a hot horse… but will it hurt my mare to munch on hay after I ride? I usually trail ride or work her at a jog in the arena… she sometimes gets a bit hot, but usually when we trail ride and she either gets walked back or has a trailer ride home… anyway, will it hurt her to eat hay? They always have hay in front of them, it’s hard to keep her away from it… if she’s super hot, I walk her, but I will turn her out a bit sweaty still sometimes… I just let her walk herself out and I groom her later. She will nap a bit of hay, and then drink. Is this okay, or no?
Thanks
Any endurance rider will tell you that it’s okay to feed as much hay as your horse will eat, even while the horse is still hot. Also beetpulp, if you wish. And water! water! water!
If you are riding a senior horse, your horse is not likely at the level of intense fitness and athleticism that requires ANY concentrates. The all-in-one supplements are a huge cost for minimal benefit. All that length of digestive tract is for fiber. Unless your horse is so old that the teeth are no longer functioning, put your money into larger frequent servings of high quality hay and forget the concentrates. If your geographic area is short on a mineral, like selenium, buy something like HorseGuard and put the dose on a handful of oats, not a pound. If your senior still won’t maintain weight, get nutritional advice from a vet and schedule a visit from an equine dentist.
Research just isn’t there to support the claims of the joint supplement/neutraceutical industry. Research does support the feeding of free-choice good hay, and provision of unlimited low-impact exercise. Oh, and old horses ROCK!
This is one of the reasons I board. Well, I keep my mare at a friend’s ranch down the road; she takes a few boarders. It’s nothing fancy but the advantages are:
1. She lives there – horses are 10 feet from her living room window, so she knows right away if your horse doesn’t look right
2. She buys the hay and is better at knowing what to buy than I am
3. She feeds and makes suggestions for adding or subtracting weight to your horse
4. She doesn’t charge much
5. She is good at putting herds together – doesn’t turn out a bunch of mismatched alpha mares together and let them keep fighting it out
6. I think she actually just likes horses and doesn’t make much money off boarders
I haven’t seen a horse colic there, and it’s been over 2 years.
The float-the-turd-in-water sand check does not always work. Sometimes the manure is clear of sand but the horse does have sand in the intestines; it just is not coming out. I have no soil here; it is sand and de-composed granite. I’ve had a horse showing no sand in the manure but when the vet tubed w/psyllium, we had a lot of sand come out the next day. Psyllium does help, but the best way to prevent sand colic is to keep the sand outside the horse in the first place, and that is a challenge. Horses throw their hay all over the place. I’ve yet to see a feeding bin of any sort that keeps 100% of the hay inside. Stall mats are great, but some hay will get pushed or carried off. You do the very best that you can. I have a horse right now that has sand and she is the first case I’ve had in well over 10 years. My vet had to tell me it was sand as it has been so long that I did not even consider that as the source of her problems. I’m about to go write about this on my blog.
sagebeasties.blogspot.com
I have a LOVELY warmblood broodmare who is pregnant with her 4th foal, first one she’s had for me, I only purchased her a year ago September. Anyways, she was down a couple of weeks ago, wouldn’t get up, belly ache, not taking food or grain, obviously COLIC!! Now, she lives in a laaaaarge pen with two foals (she’s a great nanny) with free feed hay – fresh auto waterer I’m anal about keeping clean, No stresses, just happy hanging out playing with the babies, oh, it’s all black dirt and clay here, no sand… But we had a pregnancy colic! It wasn’t bad and after about 750 ml of oil poored down her throat and 4 hours of walking round and round the arena, she was pretty much out of it – then the vet showed up! lol Murphy’s law. I had him check her over anyways and we tubed her and checked her out the other way, and she came out of it all just perfect. He said he’s had MANY cases of impaction-type colic in pregnant mares who would have episodes 2 – 3 times per pregnancy for no apparent reason. It’s made me more than a little paranoid. I’ve got loooots of mineral oil, bran, straw, warm water and Banamine on stand by just in case… That’s the ONLY case of colic I’ve ever had! Wierd.
Great list!! Most people do not realize colic is very preventable!
Too many people think that colic is inevitable and that sooner or later your horse WILL colic. I’ve always said that the majority of colic cases are related to poor management. Yes there are some cases that are not preventable but most are. I have owned horses for nearly 18 years and in all that time I’ve only had two cases of colic. The first one ended badly but the vet said that he thought there was a mass in the intestines of the 21 year old gelding I had with a history of neglect that included a severe parasite infestation but since I couldn’t think of any benefit to spending the money on a necropsy just to satisfy my curiosity we’ll never know for sure. This gelding had had previous and bouts of colic with progressively worse symptoms until the last one which ended with the decision to euthanize. The second time I had a horse colic was when my now 26 year old mare was 23 years old and was left out on the first round bale of the season for 36 hours. My fault. I usually lock her into a smaller paddock overnight where she has access to her stall and water. I got home from work at 10:00 pm to find her thrashing on the ground. The vet came, administered some pain meds and tubed her with mineral oil and we saw an almost immediate improvement. I’ve always transitioned slowly from full pasture to hay in the fall slowly by adding a flake of hay in their stalls overnight and in the morning for a few weeks before putting out the first round bale. I feed soaked alfalfa cubes in addition to the all you can eat hay buffet and if I fed beet pulp (which I am thinking about doing) I will soak it too. I would never feed it without soaking first even though, technically, you CAN. Why? Because IMO getting my horse to consume enough water in the winter time is hard enough without feeding something that is going to absorb the moisture in his digestive tract. I want to ADD moisture not use it all up.
could we potentially get a post on winter shoeing pros and cons
Again, I don’t argue with people about this, but this is a myth that nearly everyone believes – it is the equine equivilant of the pop rocks/soda pop/exploding stomach myth. I guess there are worse things people can do than pre-soak beet pulp before feeding it.
As I said, the only colic I have had to deal with was a 20something shetland pony who broke a tooth and wouldn’t drink the water once it got cold. Got rid of the tooth, bought a tank heater, all better.
********
It is my understanding that there are two DIFFERERNT kinds of beet pulp. One type you soak and the other you don’t. If we need extra feed or to put weight on we use alfafa pellets. Added to the grain mix above and beyond what is in the blend. The blend is a ccustom mix which has been worked out with the local feed mill and contains NO molassess. Evceryone has a salt block and free acess water. Moved those big water tubs into the stalls as the stalled horses have runs and the big tubs stay cleaner that way and have more water than two or three buckets. One mare goes through at least three buckets in a 12 hour period so the big tub works for her much better. Also if the weather gets really bad they have the water inside.
Can anyone post pictures of moldy hay? I set aside a few square bales earlier this week because they smelled a little funny and didn’t throw them down to feed, but I’m unsure as to what to look for. They are stored in a hay loft, I think they may have been damp when they were baled up.
(Trying to learn before I get my own horse- and my boss, whose hay it is, doesn’t know if it’s moldy, either)
Thanks!
**********
I have severe asthma and specific allergies. One is MOLD. If I smell the hay and it smells funky, it is funky and DON”T FEED IT. I toss it out for feeding to the sheep. If the hay is so bad the sheep won’t eat it you know it was bad. We have gotten a lot of millet in our hay this year off a new field from the dealer. Some of the horses tolerate it okay and others won’t touch it. We have one mare, that if the hay is not to her liking, she stands and talks to you until you get her something else. Her expressiohn is rather like “how dare you?” She has a salt block that looks like a pieve of abstract art. She “loves” her salt block! Also has a big water tank she has to walk to. But we also check for ice and make sure they have open water access.
whattawiseguy…..
Put a salt block in his stall and say he is a budding artist. Uses his tounge as a brush…..
The most recent colic that I was connected with occured during a 4H meeting….5 teenage girls quicly took over with the walking, talking and soothing as well has helping the vet locate recent manure (in the dark of course)–positive results and they were proud of themselve, one girl said it felt like they were in an episode of The Saddle Club. Ya just gotta love horse lovin’ kiddos!
fugly have you seen this??? http://www.hpaf.org Have never seen horses so thin. Know it’s the wrong coast for you, but..
Okay…this is a previous thread and I will post there too. There are more signings in Austin: http://www.beyondthehomestretch.com/events/
My black mare had 4 bouts of colic in about a 3 month period. The vet checked the feed and couldn’t find anything wrong with it. She was in a pasture that had some shade so she could get out of the summer sun. We moved her to another pasture that was mostly shade and have never had a problem with her since. She had access to plenty of water as there is a creek running through it and her water tank was kept full. All I can think of is she was getting to hot and not getting out of the sun and was getting stressed over it. There was no sand when she was tubed either so that wasn’t the problem and the vet said she wasn’t dehydrated so water wasn’t the problem. Never have had a problem with her since so either she’s outgrown whatever was wrong or is was getting overheated in the sun, and in central washington it can get pretty hot over here in the summer.
OT, but what a sad looking little horse…
Anyone in NorCal or Nevada want to upgrade her?
http://reno.craigslist.org/grd/1496772070.html
Back on topic…
I also feed a hay soup made of soaked pelleted hay (Elk Grove Stable Mix). My gelding gets this daily as a way of getting him his supplements (flax and Cosequin). In the winter I use hot water (just warm by the time I drive it to the barn), and in the summer, cold water with apples or carrots makes a cool treat! For Thanksgiving he got diced apples and shredded carrots mixed in. I started soaking it because he seemed to have a couple of mild chokes when I fed it dry.
Salt. When my horse moved in, another moved out, and I did not notice right away that the previous boarder took her salt block with her. I bought a new one, and both horses (mine and his pasture mate) are constantly licking it, and they don’t seem to have any issues with it. I went with plain salt as the mineral blocks were all for cattle. I have since found a feed store with equine mineral blocks so I may switch when the salt runs out.
Water. It’s been unusually cold here (forecast to be in the 20s tomorrow morning in the Sacramento Valley, which brought on quite a bit of trauma regarding whether to blanket or not). I’m worried about the water temp, but there is no electricity in their pasture/dry lot. The only solution I have come up with so far, is to purchase a new black water tank (tomorrow), and place it in another location where it will get more sun (luckily there are two different water lines so I have a choice). I can’t see my BO boiling water for them.
Does anyone have any experience with flax? I am feeding the flax for his coat, and I have read that flax serves the same purpose as Sand Clear… They are fed in a feeder, but toss it all over searching for the alfalfa, so quite a bit gets on the ground. The Sand Clear has always made me nervous, but I’m not positive that the flax is an adequate substitute…
Something that I don’t think anyone mentioned is not just access to forage, but what’s on that forage. Weeds can be our friend – why kill them? Dandelions are packed with nutrition, and even though we may not like seeing them in our pastures, the herbicide used to kill them is terrible for your horse’s intestinal track, even after the holding date.
I’ve also heard some great evidence that what free feeding hay may be a great solution for many horses. There are tons out there (like our gelding) that would eat themselves to death (ironically, might colic), but feeding a clean filler hay (blue grass straw rocks) available all the time can cut your feed bill, your vet bill, and your horse’s anxiety at feeding time. BGS in my area runs around $100 a ton even when grass hay was running upwards of $250 last year. I know a lot of people that just feed blue grass straw (thrashed once) and their horses are shiny and healthy year after year. Their horses get to meander over to the feeder whenever their little heart desires, and only eat a little more each day than they would if they were being hand-fed, so the $$ savings are still there.
http://www.greyclick.com
Cannot get the songs out of my head now. Awesome Fugs thanks for tossing that little music grenade!
Yeah haw! lol
Signed a total believer in soaking beat pulp
That was awesome !!!
I agree with all those things to prevent colic. Although some horses do colic just because the barometric pressure changes dramatically … or just if the wind blows the wrong way.
Also agree about the water issue … I bought a mare and was going to have her bred…(good thing I decided not to)
but the person I kept her with for about 6 months or so said he was coming this way with a couple other horses. So I said fine I will cancel my other shipper (i kick my ass for doing this to this very day). Well story goes he is coming from Iowa and stops in NJ to offload and let horses stretch legs for a little bit then comes my way to CT … Well lo and behold I look in his rig….NO WATER….. hay up the ying yang. No buckets anywhere.
My horse was there and no more than 15 min she was wanting to go down to roll – with an obvious impaction colic I called them numerous times and left voicemails and they NEVER called back. and called my vet and the stupid vet on call was pregnant and didn’t want to do a rectal, so we just tubed her….i was pissed at guy and the vet now. Don’t practice with large animals when you are pregnant … IDIOT !!! Anyhow I had to call the local (not very) guy that ships sick horses and he said maybe by the time we get to vet she will poop. Well 5 days later with multiple rectals and mutiple IV bags of fluids at 125.00 a pop and multiple times of IV having to be put back in at 125.00 a pop and vet bill of $3500.00 we had her euthanized. I barely to really own this horse and had her off the truck for no longer than 15 minutes and she was sick. So buy a few electric buckets .. they are well worth the money. If you can’t do that then do what I did before i got the buckets….have about 10 5-gallon buckets extra and fill them with hot water and leave in barn and by morning they won’t be frozen .. or maybe a little bit. It works I did that for years. Also horses do not like really cold water in the winter time. So they might not drink it … so the electric buckets keep the water at a perfect temp.
If you have any other questions don’t be afraid to ask …the only stupid question is one not asked.
One more thing that hasn’t yet been mentioned: Geldings and stallions sometimes show symptoms that you would swear was colic, when what they really need is a thorough sheath cleaning. Similar symptoms, kicking at their belly, rolling and sweating, but the discomfort is due to a big bean.
Really sloppy warm water bran mash with salt added and unsweetened applesauce added (assuming your horse is not metabolic).
A very elderly gentleman who formerly taught the horsemanship program at a Washington state community college years ago said it “may be an old wives tale” but if you feed triple cleaned whole oats (“race horse oats”) there is an enzyme in the hull which facilitates digestion and helps prevent colic. This enzyme is lost when you feed rolled oats (steam rolling kills the enzyme). Cold crimped oats work too – the old timey stables bought whole oats and ran them through a crimper just before feeding.
Horses need a LOT more water in cold weather.
The Truth and Myths of Beet Pulp….
http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/beetpulp.shtml
I did a lot of my own research (not repeated info) and this was one of the good articles that compiles a lot of the actual research. I still soak mine, they like it better.
I have to say this is freakin awesome! My irresponsible neighbor refuses to “waste” hay and feeds her poor old Saddlebred mare every last bit of they hay she buys, no matter what, even if it’s so moldy you can smell it halfway down the barn aisle! Then she wonders why Belle is always gets colic! I’m TOTALLY going to show her this video…maybe it will help her and her redneck family a little bit about WHY poor Belle is colicing all the time! Some people just shouldn’t own horses………
justsayneigh.blogspot.com
My gelding has only coliked twice that I know of: once years ago with his previous owners becuase they were to lazy to break his water in the winter and just this summer, because he wouldn’t leave the shelter to drink water on one particularly rainy day. It wasn’t bad, and we solved the problem by hauling water and astonishing FIVE FEET to the inside the shelter so he wouldn’t have leave and get wet.
But anyway, I loved the video! Halarious