Winter is a high risk season for colic. Fortunately,
this is largely related to factors you can control with careful
management.
Impaction colic is
particularly common and a major cause is
dehydration.
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Begin by making sure the horse takes in at least 1 ounce
(2 tablespoons) of salt every day. If the
horse refuses to free choice salt, you can add some to feed, dissolve it in
water and spray on hay or dissolve and syringe it in. After a few days of salt
intake many horses will begin to take it in voluntarily.
Heated or
insulated water buckets/troughs are an excellent investment. Serving water warm
makes it more palatable and also keeps it from freezing longer. If you don't
have hot water at the barn, get an inexpensive heating coil or bring boiled
water with you in a thermos or cooler. It's worth the
effort.
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Water intake can also be boosted
by wet meals. Warm beet pulp is especially good because it soaks up four times
its weight in water. Pellets can also be soaked and many commercial feeds
contain enough beet pulp to allow them to soak up water.
Gas colic or spasmodic colic can
occur at any time of year, but lowered exercise and borderline hydration can put
the horse at higher risk. Further guard against this by never making rapid
changes in the diet (an occasional bran mash excepted), including in hays.
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