Stock horse health
Colic

Robert Hedlefs, Biosecurity, DPI&F, Townsville

Colic means a pain in the digestive tract. However, it commonly now covers any pain in the abdomen which produces the same symptoms, for example, 'colicky pains' at foaling. Horses are prone to colic as they have a low tolerance to abdominal pain and their digestive tract has numerous turns and constrictions where food can be held up.

Digestive colic can be caused by worms, sudden changes of feed, too much dry indigestible feed, unchewed feed because of bad teeth, too much highly digestible feed such as grain, lucerne and bread, or sand and plastic bags causing obstructions.

A horse showing signs of colic will kick at its belly, turn its head and look at its flank and stretch out in an attempt to urinate although little urine is passed. Because of this symptom, colic has often been mistakenly put down to kidney troubles. This belief still exists today, but kidney and urinary problems are rare in horses. As the pain increases the horse will go down and roll; next, temperature and pulse rate increase, and sweating begins.

Important symptoms

Two features, gut sounds and pulse rate, will indicate how seriously to take a bout of colic. If you put your ear (or stethoscope) against a colicky horse's near (left) flank and you can hear no gut sounds, the animal is in serious trouble. Similarly, a pulse rate of more than 72 indicates a real problem.

Veterinary advice is required in all cases. While waiting for assistance or treatments to take effect you can walk the horse to reduce its desire to roll. This also assists with intestinal circulation. As colic is common, it is a good idea to discuss treatment and control programs with your veterinarian.

Reducing incidence

The incidence of colic can be greatly reduced by:

• feeding good-quality feed at regular intervals and avoiding abrupt changes;
• providing attention to teeth. If a horse cannot chew its feed, digestive upsets will result. This is particularly important in older horses;
• carrying out internal parasite control. The incidence of colic can be reduced by 90% if worms are controlled.

Acknowledgement

This DPI&F Note is based on the article of the same title in the Newsletter Beeftalk Issue # 9 Autumn 2000, published by the DPI&F Queensland Beef Industry Institute, and is used by permission.

Information contained in this publication is provided as general advice only. For application to specific circumstances, professional advice should be sought. The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries Queensland has taken all reasonable steps to ensure the information in this publication is accurate at the time of publication. Readers should ensure that they make appropriate inquiries to determine whether new information is available on the particular subject matter.

Last updated 09 June 2005