Sand Colic Prevention

We will be heading south to Florida for 3 months this winter with our horses. Our horses will be out in a field 90% of the time and I am concerned about sand colic. I believe I need to feed psyllium to help prevent this. After having googled it I am just a bit confused. It seems to come in many different forms and ways of dosing horses.
Would like peoples opinions that live in sandy areas to give me their preferences on what they prefer to use that most horses like and is economical. Thanks in advance for your opinions and help.

100% husk, no seed. I do not know your horses. But a thirty day purge and then a weekly dose of psyllium is what I would do. Just my opinion....

Three of my current horses and I lived on SoCal's Low Desert for five agonizing years.

A wonderful horse neighbor told me to get them on a Psyllium "five minutes ago" because we lived in sand (without any grass

For my part,this is one of those things that I believe in feeding daily. I used

EquiAid every day, on three horses, for five years. I never had one indication of sand colic or stones -- yes horses can get those too We moved out there in 1998 and left for TN in 2003. Those horses are now 18, 25, 26+ years and still no signs of stones.

EquiAid about drove me broke but, in this case, you get what you pay for as my horses obviously came thru chaste and unscathed from that 5 yr mis-adventure. Can you tell I just loved it out there? Not----------

Equi Aid Natural Psyllium Fiber Supplements

Also:

1. Not only wet your hay and keep it off the ground in a hay feeder (I know that goes against the fact that horses need to eat "up" but you're dealing with sand.

2. Thoroughly wet the sand every time you put hay in the feeders. The horses will eat what drops to the sand. They will by nature inhale DRY sand into their nostrils while trying to get that ground hay. If the sand is really wet, it will be more difficult to inhale.

3. Lastly, something I learned from an acquaintance that moved from TN to FL: Be on the watch for sand fleas. Both her horses got them but one had such bad allergic reactions to the bites, she needed a vet

I don't know if sand fleas live in all areas of FL that don't have grass or just by the water. This lady's land was almost beach front and was polluted with sand fleas

Hope this helps

OHHHH!! You're from PA!! I moved from the PA side of the OH/PA border to SoCal. Let me also forewarn you to keep on an eye on their hooves. You're only there for the winter but still watch them. My Walkers' hooves went thru the most gross metamorphosis I have ever witnessed. I don't even know how to explain it but the farrier said it was normal coming from an environment like OH/PA has to the life in the Low Desert.

The Arab's hooves barely changed but, since his gene pool goes back to the desert anyway, I chalked it up to that. He made the living adjustment much better than my Walking Horses did.

Thank you for your replies. When you search this on the internet so many people have so many opinions and so many articles contradict what other articles state. Oh well... Just want to keep my horses healthy and enjoy my time down there.

Haha... yeah, ask 10 horse people the best way to do something and you'll get 10 different answers!

The best way to manage or prevent sand colic is to not graze on short pasture, do not feed hay on the ground. Follow these two simple rules and most sand colic can be prevented.

Super Nova

If you have to feed on the ground then put the food in larger tubs rather than small ones that have more chance of dropping grain onto the ground. I used to put my feed on a piece of plywood (in a tub that sat on the plywood) to try to keep my horses grain from hitting the ground. He's a sloppy eater because he only has a few teeth.

I also feed sandclear once per month a (a seven day dose) and that seems to be a huge help....

I use the generic metamusal you get from walmart. I am on sand here and feed it one week every month. My vet feeds the same thing but she keeps them on it all the time. I have not had a need for any more then the one week a month but you can always check their poo to see if more is needed.