Colic, do you already have the decision made?

I was talking to the feller of my youth leaders wife. He said over 75% of horse owners do not have the colic decision made already.

Which is......

If the vet gets there and the horse has already done something bad enough to have surgery, BUT. The horse only had a 20% chance of surviving the surgery. What would you do?

He said that when most vets come in that kinda situation people do not have the decision made already. He said the vet he talked to said he's actually had to make the people make the decision because they kept prolonging it and then would change there mind.

I am trying to save up for an emergency like this but I unlike others, do not have my horses insured so I would be paying out of my own pocket. If my horse had a 20% survival rate that they would even pull through the surgery. I think I would go for it if money was there for it. Or even if I had to pay it off I think I'd still do it. Now if I were to talk to the vet and the vet gave me incite and advice on what to do. I trust my vet so..





BTW... I have a small question. My girls were moved to new pasture tonight until the gelding I am training goes home next Saturday. They are usually on hay 24/7 and grass when ever they want it. But it has never been this much grass. I've asked the people on the property that there at if they'd check on them at least once before they went to bed, I aim to go and check on them first thing in the morning too. Could they colic from this? Or will they be okay? (I'm actually worried about it... These are my girly girls. There family.).

20% chance? With my riding horses, possibly. Not sure though. With my older guy, it would be a no. It wouldn't be worth putting him through surgery like that at his age, especially with a 20% surival rate.

If the grass is much better quality than what they're used to, then yes, you run risks of colic and founder. Can you put grazing muzzles on them for part of the day to curtail their intake?

Its the same kinda grass that grows in there pasture, just longer and more of it.

Your horses should be fine, spring grass I'd caution against all of a sudden putting them out 24/7 but this fall/winter grass shouldn't be too much of an issue.

As for the colic thing, I have my decisions made. When I have a horse going into the vet, I tell them at the door, "This horse gets the Gold Mercedes Benz standard of care." or "This horse is not a surgical candidate.". They know up front where I stand and will give me a treatment plan according to my specifications.

My firm and fast decision is, I will NOT jeopardize my ability to continue to care for the rest of my herd nor will I jeopardize my continued ownership of my home or my vehicles for a horse. I love them all but they are a luxury and this is a business. When it doesn't make good business sense to spend a fortune, I won't do it.

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It depends on the horse... My show horses? No doubt about it.

My horse Relan did colic in March. If the vet would have said surgery would give him a chance I would have done it in a heart beat. By the time he got there it was too late. I really would never want to go through that experience again.

As for your horses they should be fine. I don't think at this time of year the grass is going to be overly rich. Also since they have been on grass a little bit, their bellies have most likely adjusted to it. You don't have a lot to worry about.

We have our decisions made. A 20% chance is not good enough for us to blow the entire savings (we have some money saved up for this). We would need higher chances than 20% - that's a little low. 40% or higher I would go for it. That being said, we do all we can to prevent colic. You can't always prevent it, but there is a lot you can do to keep your horses' gut healthy, and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in my book. So far, we've been fortunate in that regard ... we've had other horse issues, however - they are horses, after all.

When I am worried about a change of diet, I load up on pre/probiotics for my horses more than their usual dose (prevention) and, if it looks lush, I use grazing muzzles if they are going to be out, and I try to limit their time. If limiting time is a problem, at least try to get the horse on some pre/probiotics (I like Animed Remission or Manna Pro Optizyme, but a lot of people use Probios) and keep on a fleece/sheepskin padded, breakaway grazing muzzle. They can eat and drink with the muzzle, they just eat a lot less.

I think ever owner should do that, take precaution to prevent things such as found and colic ect... Things that CAN be preventable. But I mean, pulling a shoe or some freak accident things like that, that cannot be prevented. But I'm talking about things that can. There are precautions for usually everyone. I think ever horse owner should know about them.

I actually have a form filled out that I got from my vet with my wishes stated. It tells the vet what to do in the event of a colic and I can not be reached. It also states how much I'm willing to spend for other things if I can't be reached.

Oooo!! That's a fantastic idea!!