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Regular
Posts: 93
| How do you manage a colicky prone older horse? I have a 20 yr old gelding that is prone to colic, one time it was a partial blockage and another time was just stress related. How can you manage this without running to the vet every time? When he stress colic I just gave him some banamine paste and he got over it but it there anything else that may help? I do add aloe vera juice to his feed twice a day. Need advice as to what to do as I would like to keep this old horse going as long as I can. About 3 yrs ago he had a bowel resection of his small intestine so i'm afraid this may ultimately shorten his life. |
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 Hog Tie My Mojo
Posts: 4847
  
Location: Opelousas, LA | I would look in to GastroPlus from THE or CurOst Total Support.
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| I know multiple people who use Forco for that reason and they don't have any issues anymore. I use Forco just for general gut health, never had a colicky horse but it supports their digestion and overall stomach health. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| I would try to up the horses water intake as well. Maybe add some salt to encourage drinking.
Is the horse stalled all of the time, out on pasture, combination? The people I've met who have more colic problems are stalled constantly. |
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Regular
Posts: 93
| No he's out on pasture 24/7 and on a senior complete feed |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1074
| We have a 19 year old colicky prone horse, she's been this way all of her life. She had colic surgery Oct 6. Her mesentery had wrapped around the small intestine and pinched it off. We also discovered that she had an old injury in her intestines. When the intestines healed they grew together. The vet explained that it should be a straight shot through the intestines, but now she has several curves to go through. They have switched her feed to straight alfalfa cubes. She can no longer have any kind of hay or grass. She eats Omnis Cubes and Senior twice a day. She also is on Neighlox, strong probiotic, corn oil, aloe vera juice, and apple cider vinegar. We give her electrolytes when we haul her as well. She is feeling and doing great since surgery. We try to keep her as stress free as possible. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1367
Location: mi | my colic prone horse made a complete turn around when I did a 30 day treatment of the THE gastro plus. His were mostly controlled with just a dose of banamine, occationally I would need vet help. after the treatment I owned him for another 18 months and he never had another colic episode and still out and about and competing 7 years later. I would give that a try. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | I have a 23yr old OTTB who is by nature a worrier and stresser. To top it off he is not a good drinker. This is what I have done and it seems to work....knock on wood.....it's been almost a year since any colic (prior to this he would have mild colics with weather and season changes or if he got extra stressed out.)
First and foremost I do keep banamine on hand at all times.
I have tried lots of different foods, supplements etc. What finally worked was I did a FULL treatment of Omeprazole and switched to Renew Gold, Chaffhaye and Forco, he still has free choice coastal but hardly touches it now. ( He was on Safechoice Senior, Forco and Coastal ) He is on 24/7 turnout, he has a nice big stall but the door stays open and he comes and goes as he wants....rain, snow, sleet or sunshine I let him choose. In the stall I have one water bucket with electrolytes in it, one insulated bucket with plain water, outside the stall he has a metal trough and a rubbermaid trough. He seems to go through stages where he wont drink out of certain containers and I can't figure out why so I just keep them all out as options.
He has always been what I would consider a hard keeper and it really freaked me out to only give him the one little scoop of Renew gold instead of the huge buckets of grain that I had been giving him but he has actually gained weight and filled in nicely. |
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Expert
Posts: 3514
| prober - 2016-04-06 7:39 AM
How do you manage a colicky prone older horse? I have a 20 yr old gelding that is prone to colic, one time it was a partial blockage and another time was just stress related. How can you manage this without running to the vet every time? When he stress colic I just gave him some banamine paste and he got over it but it there anything else that may help? I do add aloe vera juice to his feed twice a day. Need advice as to what to do as I would like to keep this old horse going as long as I can. About 3 yrs ago he had a bowel resection of his small intestine so i'm afraid this may ultimately shorten his life.
What are you feeding? I have a colic prone horse. I feed Tribute Ultra Kalm. 1 flake of Alfalfa and one flake of Timothy in the morning. At night just Timothy. I add Vitalize High Performance to the morning feed. It has pre and pro biotic. I have not had a colic since using it. Make sure he is drinking enough water. With his age you could feed a good sr feed. |
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Regular
Posts: 93
| How much corn oil, aloe vera and apple cider vinegar are you feeding? And is it all at once? |
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Regular
Posts: 93
| He's on Purina senior feed. He won't eat Timothy hay at all only good quality alfalfa hay but that's hard to find here in College Station Texas. Sometimes he will eat alfalfa cubes soaked in water. I will start putting electrolytes in his water and see if that helps. Thanks for all your suggestions I appreciate it and hopefully this will get him further down the road. |
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Regular
Posts: 93
| Can you only get banamine from a vet or supply house with a prescription? |
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 Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX | I've had my now 16 year old eglding for 11 years. When he was young he would colic every few months. I gave him THE Gastro Plus for one months straight and as a THE suppmenet add-on for the last 8 years or so.... he has not coliced since. |
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