Cross Breeds

What could be the cause of this colicing?

My 21 year old TB gelding has coliced 2 x's in the past month. He gets equine senior (soaked) all the hay he can eat (in the stall at night and round bales dureing the day). There are 2 warmed troughs of clean water in the field, and stream, and he has 2 buckets of fresh water in his stall. He is wormed every 6 weeks, has his teeth done every year and is in good condition, with no stress. He is a retired race/show horse who had ulcers when i bought him 16 yrs. ago. He had cancer (sarcoid tumors on head and neck...since i bought him) which just seems to have disappeared last year...vet has never seen anything like it. the only change in the past 30 days was i pulled the hind shoes (first time ever) and started him on cortaflex, because he has arthritis in his hocks. The vet does not have any answers...could it be the cortaflex? thanks for the good advice, so far! i will add the loose salt to his feed, he does have a salt lick, but never uses it. also, he is on poor pasture...so he may well be injesting dirt, because there is not much grass left (15 acres w/5 others), and the field is never rested.

Public Comments

1. Hmmm, It is very possible that the cortaflex is causing this. There are many ways a horse can get colic, sometimes if there eating grass in a field that's sandy they swallow some of the sand, and that way its very easy to catch colic. My mare has caught colic multiple times from digesting to much sand. It may be the water in the stream even, how pure is the water? Make sure your feeding him the right hay as well, it may be that your horse is just very old and has problems digesting his food making it easy to have a stomach ache. Hope that help, Good Luck & God Bless
2. How frightening for you and your gelding. If the vet doesn't know what the cause is, and he's aware of everything your horse is ingesting, it's probably not the cortaflex. Diet sounds good. My only thought is that he seems to have access to plenty of water but is he drinking enough? If he's needing cortaflex, it may be too painful for him to bend down far enough to drink from the creek or troughs unless one is elevated so it's not a stretch. Also, our vet said that when the water's cooler, even with a trough heater, horses won't drink as much and suggested we add a tablespoon or two of loose salt to the feed. Our horses are drinking more water since we started that. Good luck.
3. Some horses are more prone to colic than others. You seem to be doing every thing right. The only thing you didn't mention was salt. He may have plenty of water, but may not be drinking enough. A salt block night help.
4. Is he boarded at a facility or at your home?! Have any of the other horses in the barn had signs of colic? Because at a barn near me when they got a new load of bedding in, two horse's started showing signs of colic. It ended up that there were black walnut shavings in the bedding causing the horses to colic. Check things that might have been changed up in the barn, feed, bedding etc. Good Luck, I hope your horse gets better!!!
5. Wwell colicing is very comman on horses. It is cause by them being dyhidrated or not enough food in there stomach. Alos if you feed them to much they get bloated and without enough enough energy they colicted. After your riding you want to walk your horse before you suddenly give him or her water. If you don't it will cause colicing.I hoped I helped.
6. Did he just start colicing after you put him on the cortaflex? If so than yes it is the cortaflex! and take him OFF! If that isnt the case then it could be just of 'old' age
7. Don't let him drink or eat after a long hard ride, cool him down first.
8. My horse was having the same problem, although he is a little younger 15 year old paint. We first changed his food to Legends Maturity and at night additionally give him bran mash, I use "Vita Bran" [wet/soaked, you would be surprised at those who attempt to feed it dry]. And of course that would have to be done very gradually. It is good that he has a sufficent amount of hay supplied to him. You also might want to try feeding his grain to him 3-4 day (same amount he is getting now, just rationilized differently) rather than once or twice. Some older horses just naturally digest their food much easier, especially knowing his history of ulcers. Also be sure that he is getting adequate exercise, especially due to the fact that he is stabled at night. Many have suggested that sand colic could be the problem. If you think this could be true than try this: Take a zip-lock food storage bag, turn it inside out over your hand and pick up two or three relatively fresh and clean manure balls. Turn the bag right side out again and squish up the balls. (If the manure balls feel unusually hard when you squish them, you probably have a dehydration impaction rather than a sand problem.) Fill the bag about half full with water and pin or clip the bag to hang on a post or wall. After a few minutes inspect the bag and see if sand or dust has settled out of the manure. If you feel there is a high amount of sand that has settled than talk to your vet about your findings and let him see your manure test. That helped my vet out a lot when we were trying to figure out what was wrong with my gelding. I wish you the best of luck with your horse and solving this problem!
9. You've got 4 possible sources of the problem: Take him off the cortaflex for 3- 4 weeks. I did have multiple colics on a similar joint compund. ( you can try a different brand or add the ingredients separately later) The round bale - many times these have mold, damp, recured Dirt - You can check that by getting a 1/2 gall. jar - put some manure in it and shake it. Pour off the solids that are floating. Dirt will settle to the bottom. Ulcers have flared up. Could try Tagamet. Hope this gives you some ideas.
10. Do the test that's been described here for sand, and then I'd start your gelding on something like Sandclear for a week or so, just to be sure it isn't that. You can also have the vet check him for ulcers again- just because they were cured once doesn't mean they're gone forever- they can reoccur. Try backing off a bit on the Cortaflex, and see if you can substitute another supplement in its place, such as Cosequin. Otherwise, I think you may be in for a period of trial and error. Is there any chance that the hay could have mold, since your horse is eating off a round bale during the day? Most round bales tend to be outside, where they get exposed to the weather, and they can mold when they are not kept eaten down. Sometimes, they can mold if they aren't cured properly prior to baling, and this can cause a horse to colic. You may want to look into this question- many horses are allergic to mold, just like some people are. What about the feed- it's good that you are using Senior, but how fresh is it- and also, why are you soaking it? How long has it been since your horse last had his teeth floated, and had a dental checkup? Dental problems can cause colic- big time, because horses who have them usually can't chew their food properly and therefore don't get the benefits from it. This statement of yours about how you are soaking the Senior ( which is made to be easy to chew and digest, without soaking) makes me suspect that your horse may have a dental problem that needs to be addressed. At 21, it's easy for problems of this sort to get out of hand quickly, because the teeth tend to wear in irregular patterns as a horse ages. We have a gelding who is 24 this year, and we have to watch him carefully to make sure he doesn't get this kind of problem. Could he be drinking large amounts of cold water from the stream in the pasture? If so, that could also be contributing to his problem. Going from warm to cold and back to warm again is hard on any animal's system, just like it is hard on a person. Maybe you need to restrict his access to the stream. I hope I have given you some ideas on what to look at next. This is a puzzle, for sure. Good luck.
11. ulcers. trying giving him some ulcers treatment, he's an old race horse he probley most deff has them again, i had the same probley, try treating them i garentee he will stop colicing. the cortaflex could be messing with them!
12. I have a horse that will colic on hay that is very fine stem-ed. Like Bermuda grass hay. It compacts very easily in there intestines and they can't pass it. We quit feeding the fine stem-ed hay and he has been great.