The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Three horses in my area have colicked and died in the last few days

4K views 31 replies 16 participants last post by  greentree 
#1 ·
What is going on? Three horses have colicked and despite having vets brought in and owners and very experienced stable managers do all they could, all have died just in the last few days. This has me pretty terrified.

Is it the change in seasons? Going from mostly grass to mostly hay? In at least two cases, the horses were relatively new to the owners, so maybe the move and/or possible change in diet could have caused it. Is this a common time of year for horses to colic? If so, can anything be done to mitigate risk?
 
#2 ·
Three seems like a lot. It could be any number of things, related or not. It could be a change in the barometric pressure, could be a bad feed supply that was purchased at a specific place, it could be bad hay, same thing, probably purchased at the same place. How close together were these horses? Did they mention what type of colic? Impact, sand, gas, etc?
 
#4 ·
I don't have intimate knowledge of any of these so I can't say. It did all happen with the last 2-3 days. Definitely major changes in barometric pressure, but they were in 3 different barns. The last one I heard about, they thought it was a twisted intestine. Vet came 3 times, tubed the horse, it was passing manure, they walked it... but after about a day, it just laid down and that was the end. Seemed like no matter what they did, it didn't help. Don't know much about the two others, but there were a lot of very sad horse people over the long weekend (it's Thanksgiving weekend in Canada).
 
#5 ·
I live in a county with a very high horse population. From whT my vets have told me, there isn't a day goes by that, their facility alone, sees one or more colics.

That said, I agree with FarmPony, . If you want to dig deep into their deaths, start by first asking if they all shared:

the same hay grower.

The same feed or rations balancers coming from the same mill. Doesn't have to be the exact same thing, just milled at the same facility.

Are they are similar pastures to where there might be weeds or grasses that was fine to eat all summer but becomes toxic in the Fall? Same goes for tree leaves.


Are they show horses? Show horses are a LOT more prone to colic than trail/backyard horses and owners need to be familiar with each horse's early warning signs. Those signs can vary with each horse.

How familiar are their owners with knowing how to recognize early stages of colic?

Did they have Banamine on hand (paste or injectable) to give the horse while simultaneously calling the vet?

If they didn't, shame on them as, from what you and other folks in Canada have said, access to vets is not near as good as it is in the U.S. No even some of our remote areas leave much to be desired.

FWIW, we had a 20F plunge in day temps and 25F-30F plunge in night temps. I watch my horses closely with that big of a swing. I gave them 48 hours to adjust, shoved a tube of Equimax Dewormer down each of them early this morning, then turned them out to roam and graze.

I never de-worm a horse at night, nor do I leave them in their stalls - I have just poisoned them and I want them out moving around/grazing. <<<-----Meaning not thinking and using common sense when de-worming a horse could be another reason for colic.

FWIW, when I lost the horse in my avatar to major colic, the colic was brought on by strangulating lipomas, he was 27 and surgery at the hospital four hours away was out of the question.

Completely different scenario from a standard gas colic BUT, there could have been six other colics in my county that day and none of them related to anything:)
 
#6 ·
We had something like this happen a couple years ago, starting with our TWH mare colicing at the early morning feeding, called the vet and took her in and of course she was fine when the vet checked her, but she coliced a second time on the 20 minute trailer ride home so vet came out this time, administered Banamine IV for gas colic, and said to only feed her hay and/or pasture for a couple of days and to keep an eye on her. Fortunately she was fine after that since of course this was all after hour calls.


Before the vet pulled out of our place another call for horses down with colic. When I went in to pay our bill, the vet told me she spent the whole weekend dealing with horses with gas colic, including one of her own. She attributed this to the sudden fronts coming through and abrupt change in barometric pressure.
 
#7 ·
I honestly had no idea a swing in temperatures or barometric pressure could increase the odds of a horse colicking so that's good to know! However, it's one of those things you can't control... still, it allows horse owners to be more alert for changes in behavior.

As I said, two out of the three had been recently moved. One had just been bought. That made it harder to notice signs. They did find she was quiet, but didn't know if that was her normal behavior or not. Vet was called out immediately when she showed signs of colic and came back two more times, including the middle of the night. I have no idea what he administered but the BO is an extremely knowledgeable horse person so I'm sure they did everything correctly. I can't say what the three had in common since these are friends of friends' horses. Still worrisome. Keeping a close eye on mine.
 
#9 ·
The cold fronts coming through, changes in barometric pressure, 20/30 degree drops in temperature are what my Vet calls ' the perfect recipe for colic'. We went from 80"s last week to Matthew, to now a cold front. It's breezy and 60 degrees at noon. I started my mares on mashes with salt added 36 hours before Matthew hit to be preemptive,as one of my mares is really prone to colic this time of year.

It's going down to around 39 here tonight. Normally my horses would be blanketed and stalled at night. Can't do that because my stall is squishy and drying out from the heavy rain from Matthew.

So, I'll have to put their turnout blankets on, continue with the mashes to get fluids in their gut and be vigilant.
 
#10 ·
Have you had frost in your area in the mornings? That can sometimes cause problems for horses. I personally have never had any problems but our horses are out all night and not inclined to gorge on frozen grass as horses that are turned out on pasture in the mornings, as they head right out and start eating.
We had frost this am and when I got over to my sister's I could see the horses were grazing out under the trees on one side of the pasture where there was no frost.
I bring them in when I get there and usually put the pony out on pasture for an hour or two but this morning I kept the pony in as I didn't want her going out and eating the frosty grass and turned her out later after the frost had disapated.
People say frost can cause colic in horses, no experience with this myself though.
 
#11 ·
Our horses are on 24/7 pasture with free access to their stalls so frost should not be an issue. We also feed free choice grass both outside and in their stalls. The one thing we've notice with our mare is that she's overly sensitive to weather fronts coming through. She had a mild colic about a year ago after a sharp cold front came through so I called our vet who was tied up with an emergency and told me to IV Banamine which I did and of course took her off all grain too.
 
#12 ·
Our horses are out on pasture most of the time and I have never had any problems with frost but the grass in our area can be quite thick and so a lot of frost there and with horses that are inside all night then turned out in the morning hungry will eat a lot more than a horse out all the time and I think this is where the problem can occur.
 
#13 ·
One thing to note is that cold can make horses stop drinking as much as they normally do, especially a sharp drop in temperature over a day or so. Impaction colic can be brought on by lack of water, so it's very important to make sure they are drinking enough. You might have to "spike" their water with apple juice, or give them loose salt/electrolytes.

This is how I lost my mule, during a very bad cold snap that culminated in a big snow storm. He stopped drinking and got a very bad impaction colic.

I also see a lot of people talking about supplementing their horses with bentonite clay in their feed to reduce the chances of ulcers and other colic issues - something like Redman's Daily Gold. If it doesn't work, then at least it won't do any harm- bentonite is inert.
 
#14 ·
Some things I'm only repeating
Toxic weeds in hay - horses will eat some stuff in hay that's unpalatable when growing 'fresh'
Sudden change from grass which is very high in water content to hay which isn't - I always feed hay well damped other than in freezing weather when its not possible and then I increase the 'bucket feed' to add more water content to compensate - you can feed sugar beet, soaked pellets, well damped chopped forage, wet bran, carrots, anything that will push more fluid into the horse to replace what they don't get naturally especially if they aren't great water drinkers
If you've got the toxic type of maple trees you need to be careful the horses aren't eating the leaves or the seeds
Botulism can cause colic and death - it's something that seems to happen in 'clusters'
Grass sickness (aka 'equine dysautonomia') also seems to occur in clusters and still something of a mystery but quite a bit of info in this link
Grass Sickness in Horses - Equine Grass Sickness Fund
 
#15 ·
My trainer lost a horse last week to Potomac Fever confirmed by bloodwork. Evidently it causes repeated colic and can be fatal as it was in this case. There have been 5 confirmed cases in my county so far. Not sure if this applies here, but thought I'd mention it. I gather that they get it from dead flies in their forage that they accidentally ingest? I'm still reading up on it, wish I knew more.
 
#20 ·
I have had two cases of PHF, over the years, and both horses survived without any ill effects, but early diagnosis and treatment is key. It does cause abdominal pain, that manifests as extreme volatile diarrhea
Horses with PHF, will run a high fever and septicemia , and why some develop laminitis ,
Thus, vitals, like temp are extremely important, when a horse goes off feed, and shows abdominal pain.
 
#16 ·
Impaction colic, if that is what happened, is a big risk in areas where temps really drop, and then combine it will horses not drinking enough water.
Even with open water available, many horses just do not get that thirst response, to drink enough,when cold, and, then if that is combined with a dry forage, like hay, plus not enough movement (stalled, you have all the ingredients to set a horse up for impaction colic
I live where the risk of impaction colic becomes high, esp in winter, thus I try to minimize risk in several ways. I make sure open water is always available. My horses are turned out full time, so they can forage, in between feedings of hay. This does two things-they take in snow, while foraging, plus they get that movement, which is vital for normal gut movement
If I still suspect a horse might not be drinking enough, then I will feed soaked beet pulp with salt added
Far as being in the 'clear' with impaction colic, soon as you get some manure passed-not always true. If that impaction is high up, you can get some manure, that is further down the gI track, while that impaction is not resolved, and in fact, can build again, if the horse is just allowed to eat dry hay immediately, or even have pain killers on board, that will have him eat, when he otherwise would not
I had to have Smilie tubed, once three days ina row, for a serious impaction.
I knew it was not completely cleared up, because-a, I did not give her any pain killer to mask pain, and while she would eat for awhile, it was not with her typical appetite, and she would just lie down after eating for awhile
Yes, she was turned out, but I was not aware that she was not drinking, due to a short in the water heater
 
#19 ·
Yes, I know. But as I've said before, I don't know all these horses personally. They're friends of friends' horses. I have no idea what happened and I'm not about to start phoning people up when they're in the middle of grieving. On the surface, the three do not seem to have anything in common (different barns, different owners, etc.). It's impossible to say whether it's just coincidence or something else at this point. However, I've learned something useful from this thread - that sudden changes in weather can lead to higher risk of colic.
 
#18 ·
A lot of theories... a lot of possibilities. Could be just coincidence, but could be due to a sudden change in the weather.

We've been having frost every morning for the past two weeks at least - maybe more. But we've also had balmy weather (22-25 Celcius highs). So the horses have had to deal with temperature swings and some days they drink lots, but other days less. This weekend, we had a sudden change and now a cold front. Who knows if that has to do with anything, but it's good to keep in mind that all these changes add risk.
 
#21 ·
The horse they lost was only 18, so I'm not sure age had anything to do with it? I know that they tend to keep their horses more communal than I do so they may not have noticed the lack of feces and eating until it was too late. I know they tried their hardest to save her. It just scared me. As for water drinking in the winter, I noticed that if I kept their water warm they tended to drink more. I keep a pretty close eye on mine since I'm still new to it and I know how important small changes can be.
 
#23 ·
It all makes a lot of sense Smilie! I just never thought of how much impact it has to change routine! I was well aware of the risks of going from hay to grass, but never thought that the reverse could be an issue... I don't know what we'd do if something happened to Harley or Kodak. I don't want to find out!

As always, you are a very well informed group! I will be monitoring water consumption very closely! I have noticed they drink more in their stalls lately. l used to wonder why I even bothered to fill up their buckets only to have to dump them out and re-fill them daily. They always preferred to drink outside. Lately, their buckets are empty every day. I guess they're spending more time indoors (stalls are still open).
 
#24 ·
Honestly, things happen sometimes. Unless there's something obvious ("vet found THIS" they have in common (disease, bad hay, etc) I'd just chalk it up to a bad coincidence/luck (weather).

All you can do is continue to make sure yours have the best possible care. Of course if the vet does find something concerning like bad hay that's a different story but these things happen. That said I've never heard of them up and dying like that, but some horses are really wimpy.
 
#25 ·
There is a vaccine for Potomac fever - it might not stop the horse from getting it but it does reduce severity which increases chance of recovery by a lot. If anyone lives in a high risk area, adjacent to water courses/wetlands its worth having.
 
#26 ·
A horse at our local barn ( I do not board here but hubby takes lessons here) contracted Potomac Horse Fever. This horse is stalled at all times and taken out for shows. The BO caught it early and the mare is fine (and had been vaccinated for it)

Can be a deadly disease
 
#27 ·
Haven't heard of Potomac fever in my area. At all. We do have mosquitoes, but tend to carry less disease than they do in more southerly locations because they are killed off by the cold every year. The risk would be nil right now since they're practically gone (we've had many freezing nights already).
 
#29 ·
The only thing I can suggest is to look them over good in the morning, again at night and check that they're drinking sufficiently. Why does a horse colic? Bad feed, bad water, bad hay and because it's Tuesday or because it's been a year since the last time....... Sometimes you just can't know the why? but if you can catch it early, you can up your chances of getting the horse through it significantly.

@jaydee Just fyi, now it's so slow that I'm typing 2 sentences ahead of where the type is showing. The page isn't jumping all around, just that I'm typing as fast as I can, blank screen until about 2 sentences later. Not happening on any other sites.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top