I have a horse that has colicked 7 times in the last 3-4 months. All resolved w banamine, except one time we took him to vet, where he was treated n released. I have 5 other horses on a 20 acre coastal pasture, no problems. He gets a very small amount of Nutrena All Stages pellets 2x/day. I add salt, so he'll drink. They all share a water trough, so I can't be sure of his actual water intake. I deworm regularly, run Sand Clear n chia seeds through him every 6 months ( it's very sandy here). Ran a tox screen at vet... nothing. Does ANYONE have any ideas what this could be? Please advise. Vet has no clue...

I had a horse that would colic like that, never needed more than a shot of banamine.  He also was harder to keep weight on.  Finally he coliced really badly, took him for surgery and they removed a 5 gal. bucket of gravel screenings from his belly.  They said that his stomach was turned upside down and as soon as they started removing the screenings the color started coming back.  He didn't loose any intestines, just made a cut and stitched back up when he was cleaned out.  Your twice a year sand clear may not be getting it all.

Panacur Powerpack. I had one like yours who had serious colic episodes often. A vet suggested the powerpack and that did it. Yes, mine were on a good dewormer rotation too. Put the salt out free choice instead of top dressing. He made stay slightly dehydrated. 

Definitely start treating for sand more than twice a year. You can do Sandclear or equivalent once a month or Metamucil once a week (6x the adult dosage, once a week, 2 feedings in a row). Also treat for ulcers. 

I'd go ahead and take some fresh poop and put it in a plastic bag(a preg sleeve works great), add water and mix it up.  After you have it all mixed up, hang it up overnight.  If there is sand or other stuff it should settle in the bottom.  This should give you an idea as to if he has something in the belly.

I agree that the sand comments. Test for sand in manure as described above.

See if your vet can ultrasound for an enterolithe. Friend had one that had one of those that was the size of a soccer ball. Not good. 

Has the horse been hurt at all? 

My horse broke his pelvis a few years ago and colic'd more in 2 years then he had in 13 and come to find out, pain... pain will cause them to colic too. 

You have some great advice and shared stories here as well to maybe start elimating

Prayers! that is exhausting

I purchased a horse several years ago that would colic every few days for 9 months straight. We tried taking away grain and doing forage only. We tried netting his roundbales. We tried treating for ulcers in case. We tried switching to senior feed. You name it, we tried it. All episodes were resolved with banamine, but equally scary nonetheless.

Eventually, I hauled him to a large equine hospital where they did another scope, a rectal exam, ultrasounds, rads, bloodwork, etc. You name it, the full works. $4000 worth of testing. They found virtually nothing. Having already tried everything else, they told me I'd reached the point where I needed to do something drastic. They said to remove all long-stem hay for 2 weeks time and see if he goes episode-free during that time period. HE HAD NO ISSUES and he was so much perkier and didn't have the worried look in his eyes anymore. They told me to keep him off hay for months. I fed soaked alfalfa pellets and he got grass. Eventually we shifted to chopped alfalfa. Then to straight alfalfa hay. Then I tried to wean him back onto coastal hay. HE HAD AN EPISODE and his whole demeanor was unhappy again. Literally just two feedings of coastal and he was painful again. Lesson learned. It was the hay the entire time. 

He had been raised on coastal hay, so I have no clue how he all of a sudden had digestive issues with it, but he did. I switched him to alfalfa, perennial peanut (grown in the south and comparable to alfalfa), or even timothy or orchard hays. He was a happy camper on all of those for several years before I eventually did sell him. New owner kept him on non-coastal as well and he's still thriving. 

Specialist at that equine hospital says sometimes they just develop an intolerance. 

I say all that to say this...if you have bermuda grass, that may contribute to it, especially if the horse is a heavy grazer. They say that it is less common to have digestion issues with fresh grass, but it can still happen to some degrees with bermuda pastures. Mine, thankfully, was not that sensitive. 

Offer grass hay!

I have a 2yo filly that colics during the summer (as a yearling and this spring) while on green grass.  I did a lot of research and found that some horses get gas with the green grass and do better when offered grass hay.  Once I added/offered grass hay (she's still out on green pasture) she quit colicing.  She will clean it up every few days, as she needs it I guess.  Almost like tums is what I found.  I keep it available 24-7.  Good luck!! 

In my experience it has been 3 things.  All mentioned above.  The coastal hay has done it, tape worms (double dose of equimax, 2 weeks apart fixed it) and sand (use a baggie, put 2-3 clumps of manure and fill with water.  Let sit and sand will accumulate at the bottom).  

I would definitely check for sand......here is some interesting facts on sand and its removal.  

Sand in the gut

Owning horses is like having potato chips, you can’t have just one. With each horse comes a labor of love in ensuring they are well managed, especially when it comes to overseeing their gut function and keeping them free of colic, ulcers, and other gastric distress. Depending on your farm’s location and overall farm management, the ingestion of sand might be unavoidable in your horses. In the quest to keep our horse’s digestive systems happy and healthy, the singular most important nutrient a horse needs is water. Sufficient water intake is the first key to maintaining proper gut function. Let’s explore a common misconception when it comes to keeping the equine gut healthy, usually with prevention of colic at the front of our minds. We will decode how a popular gut remedy works and decide if it’s worth the investment or potentially a gimmick.

When it comes to prevention maintenance there are endless products on the market, and it is easy to leave money on the table in feeding our equine athletes. The first area of prevention maintenance in many barns are high fiber psyllium products used as a laxative to clear sand build up in the gut. The age-old technique is to feed horses these products monthly to purge the GI tract of sand, to minimize the potential of sand colic. The psyllium swells in the stomach, collecting the sand to be passed in the manure, at least this is the theory. Unfortunately, research does not necessarily support this theory and there is only mere anecdotal evidence.

Digestive Anatomy

Look at the equine digestive tract to understand where these products fall short. Once a horse consumes a meal it is funneled from the esophagus to its small stomach where breakdown and absorption of feed begins before passing to the small intestine where most digestion and absorption occurs. Enzymes help break down food particles and nutrients are absorbed through the walls of the small intestine and into the bloodstream to be passed where they are needed. Any feed particles that are left undigested from the small intestine head to the last stop in the digestive system, the large intestine or cecum which comprises nearly 60% of the horse’s digestive tract. This high-functioning large intestine houses many microorganisms and is the reason horses can break the cellulose bonds of forage and derive nutrients from it. Most of the sand a horse picks up through grazing or other means ends up in the cecum.

Let’s let logic seep in to see how psyllium is not quite the hero we always thought it was. Feeding many psyllium products on the market to our horses is like any other meal to the digestive tract although it does contain more fiber than many grains, in that it is likely to be broken down by the small intestine. To be effective in removing sand build up, these products must make it to the cecum. However, there is not enough fiber in the recommended dose of these products to effectively reach the cecum and remove the accumulated sand.

Forage for the Win

We like to bring solutions here, so let’s investigate other management tips to aid in the inevitable instance of sand in the gut. The first tip might seem obvious but reduce exposure to sand when possible, such as feeding your horse using hay nets or mangers and placing rubber mats under feed tubs. In Florida keeping sand out of reach is not so simple, and consumption of sand is likely at some point. We need a solution that will make it to the cecum, let’s focus on forage! A good amount of roughage in the diet is the recommended solution for maintaining a happy, sand-free gut. This is because forage is broken down in the cecum by the microbes that live there and can keep sand from accumulating as it passes through. A horse should eat 1.5-2% of its body weight in forage daily.

So far, feeding psyllium to prevent or to treat sand in the equine gut is a myth according to science. A better approach is simply enforcing a high fiber diet, using hays and fresh forages to meet the nutritional needs of the horse when possible. As horse owners, there are plenty of ways to spend money at the feed store, be sure to spend in areas that are proven effective, otherwise, buy yourself something nice.

For an additional explanation, have a look at this study done at the University of Florida, “Failure of Psylium Muculloid to Hasten Evacuation of Sand From the Large Intestine”, Hammcok et al. Failure of Psyllium Mucilloid to Hasten Evacuation of Sand From the Equine Large Intestine (ufl.edu)