Repeated colic and stress???

[Lynn L.]

Two weeks ago my gelding coliced. I had ridden him early in the morning and he was fine. By the time that I rinsed him and put him in his stall he went down. There is a question of if he was also tying up, but I did not ride him harder than normal. Even though it was warm, he sweated when I rode him, but he did not sweat during the colic. I gave him some banamine and the vet oiled him. He was fine after that. After a couple of days, I put him on Tagamet for four days. Two days after the last dose, when we got home, his stall was all torn up like he was thrashing again. We also recalled that there were a couple of days recently that his stall was torn up, but we didn't realize why. This is a former stallion, so he keeps his stall very neat. So, it is really obvious when this happens. The last episode, when we weren't there, he left more piles in his stall then usual, not less.

What I am worried about is that it appears that his attitude is changing. Back in February, I sold a mare. That left me with this gelding and another mare. Now, when I take the mare off the property to ride her, he is getting more and more frantic. He runs the turnout and screams the whole time we are gone. He is usually dripping wet when we get back. This is getting worse, not better. He starts screaming when I put her in the crossties to groom her now. He does the same behavior if I ride her on the property and he can see her the whole time. He is also getting afraid of things that he would never be afraid of. This sounds weird, but it is like he is losing his mind.

I have checked him for sand, he gets dewormed. There were no changes in feed, hay, etc. His living conditions are that he has a stall and turnout during the night and morning. He can see my mare during that time. In the afternoon, they are turned out together in the pasture. He gets 1/2 cup of Born to Win twice a day and good coastal (which he has always been on) as well as the grass in the pasture. I have added a little oil to his diet, but he doesn't like it, so I don't know if I can continue that. The Born to Win has selenium in it, but I don't feed the 1 pound per day because he is an easy keeper. He was ridden about 2x week. I do Parelli with him, so he gets groundwork, riding and behavior stuff.

Any guesses on how to help him? Please don't suggest a third horse, goat or donkey! :D If I can't get his colic and mind back, I don't know what I can do.

Thanks!

[motorgypsy]

Are you doing psyllium monthly to prevent sand colic. Be careful because psyllium - too much with too little water can give them a belly ache.

You might try daily wormer after paste worming with zymectrin, panacur power pack, then Quest (generic is cheaper). Don't use daily until they are worm free.
You can do a fecal but don't think if it's negative that he doesn't have worms. A positive is meaningful. A negative isn't.

Gastrogard is supposed to work really well for ulcers but is pricey.

I do think horses out 24/7 are less likely to colic. I'm assuming that he has hay 24/7 which does seem to prevent ulcers.

Coastal hay is linked to ileal impaction colic. There is definitive evidence of this. I've fed coastal also for a number of years and had only one minor colic.

We're on the west coast the incidence of colic in our area is huge this year.

We feed Triple Crown senior because it is beet pulp based and has lots of good additives, low carbs and high fat so we don't have to feed a lot. You can add water to it when you feed it - I fill the food bucket to the top of the food with water, then dump into their eating bucket and they slurp it up. Keeping them really well hydrated is helpful in preventing colic also.

The excessive heat and drought have stressed the horses also. You can add powdered electrolytes to the water in his stall and see if he drinks more when you do.

Do you have a fan in his stall if it's really hot? Our guys tolerate heat very well but heat really can build up in a barn.

That's all I can think of now. If you don't want to feed a beet pulp based feed you can buy bags of beet pulp and add it to his grain or give it to him separately but add at least double the volume of water to it when you serve it. You don't have to soak it. In the time it takes to add the water and dump it in his dish it will already have soaked up lots of water.

Horses who are impaired because in some way they don't feel good frequently get major separation anxiety. Our old mare is the same way about her buddies as your gelding and she had arthritis in her knees severe enough to impair her ability to flee from danger. She's a lot better now and much more confidant.

Please keep us posted. We DO CARE!

[Lynn L.]

Thanks for the reply!

He does have hay or grass all the time. I don't do the psyllium thing because he doesn't appear to have sand in the manure. We have plenty of sand, but I test his manure in water and haven't seen anything. He does get a teaspoon of salt in each of his meals. He also has a fan in his stall (for heat and to keep flies off of him). I know coastal has a link with colic, but he wont eat any other hay than alfalfa and I don't want him on pure alfalfa. He would like to be on alfalfa though!

I thought about the beet pulp. He drinks well, but I thought it might help. The vet was reluctant for me to try it since he may be tying up. The sugar in the beet pulp concerned her. So, for right now I am avoiding it.

I agree that he is probably like your mare. If there is pain, he feels the need for my mare. I just wish I knew how to make him feel better!

[Cindy]

I think you don't want the answer that is the answer. First of all, I do not think these different things are necessarilly related. The first "colic" does sound more like he tyed up. For that I would suggest giving him electrolytes in his water daily. The other problems may have something to do with ulcers or maybe not. If you want to treat for that, put him on a round of gastroguard. But as far as his reaction when the mare is being worked, that is very simply seperation anxiety. The only way that you are going to compensate for that is to get some other animal there that he can relate to when the mare is gone. Horses are herd animals. We cannot change that. We cannot make an animal go against it's nature. There are some horses who are perfectly happy to live alone or to live with another horse and be seperated for periods of time. But they are the exception, not the rule. I am sorry that this is not want you want to hear. But this is the reality. Good luck with your situation.

[motorgypsy]

one word about beet pulp. Beetpulp has the lowest glycemic index of any of the grains and I think the forages out there. Even with molasses added it is extremely low in sugar. If you want to get rid of the tiny bit of sugar in it try adding water to it, stirring all around really, then draining it onto the ground and add water a second time and give to the horse. I've tasted the molasses added beet pulp and it has no noticeable sweetness to it. Our guys broke into the barn and at their fill of a beetpulp based grain three times in a week before my horse sitter figure out how to keep them out and none of them had any problems resulting from it like founder or colic. Yes I've had a mini founder on it but she was old and a pig and the big horses would let her eat from their dishes while we were gone and our horse sitter didn't notice it. But noone else has had any problem with beetpulp. Great stuff!!!

I do agree about horses needing companionship but if he's never been like this before and is now I think it's because he feels bad very likely. But we believe so strong in "feeding" their need for company that even our breeding stallions are kept together. They do play rough and put some nicks on each other occasionally but they are very happy horses. Of course they'd be happier if the women were closer - but - too bad guys!!! ;-) ;-)

[PasoPerson38]

Couldn't he be getting Ulcers from the stress of the mare which is causing him to colic? If so then the only thing I can suggest is an ulcer med. They are pretty $$$$$ though....so you may want to look into getting him scooped for them first. One of the cheaper Ulcer meds is "U-7" manufactured by Finish Line. Good stuff too.

[Finogirl]

I have a lot of experience of this sort of behavioural problem with my previous mini stallion, as you know, stallions are a lot of the time housed on their own, mainly for our benefit or because it's simply not possible for us otherwise. I learnt the hard way with this, I got a resentful, agreesive, deeply unhappy and even ill horse because he couldn't cope with the separation (and to a horse, isolation is certain death and rather like being in solitary confinement - a puishment), as it's already been mentioned a stressed horse leads to other ailments and it's not long before it all goes horribly wrong. Fortunately, I realised in time that my little guy needed a friend, now he has a mini mare in foal in with him and he's such a loving and happy little horse now.

I suggest trying to get him another herd animal for a friend, be it a donkey or a rescue pony and then turning him out with both the other companion and the mare, so he gets less reliant on the mare alone. If he's then a happy horse he will also be less likely to get ill too.

I really hope you get something so you can both be happy. Good luck. :D

[KAB]

I'm with Cindy on this.After all you took his other friend away in Feb. and she never came back so how can he trust you to bring this one back each time?

[motorgypsy]

I missed the part where you sold the mare. We've found that two horses are a bit anxious. Three are very comfortable. His comfort third horse is gone. They do suffer greatly when they lose a friend or even a horse that beats up on them. The need for a herd is huge. Minis are easy keepers and great companion animals. A mini mare or gelding might be your best solution.