The ever so hated "C" word. COLIC. Gaaah, first going lame.. now colic? Poor little Bones. =( When I got to the barn this evening I already expected a lame little Arab awaiting me. Little did I know it would be something new. We were coming down the drive way when I saw a fellow boarder getting Bones out of the field, along with a neighbor lady. I instantly thought it was something about his limping. But, turns out it was colic. They said he wouldn't take 10 steps without laying back down, they saw him roll completely over once also. He initially would paw and try to lay down so I kept him walking. I did not notice a limp at all, and no swelling. After about 10-15 minutes of constant walking he wasn't trying to paw when we stopped so I decided to give him a rest. He passed a few bowel movements while we were walking. He didn't paw anymore the rest of the night. He did, however, start limping pretty bad. He ate a couple nibbles of hay around 7:45pm. Which, by the way, was on of the most relieving feelings in the world. He started munchin' on the hay basically non-stop around 8:30pm. Got him ready for "bed" (cleaned his stall real good, put lots of fresh bedding down, heated water bucket, and plenty of hay) and right when I was about to leave (around 9:15pm) he peed! Yaaay, another super relieving feeling! ..for myself and Bones I suppose. Haha. I am calling the vet in the morning to come out and check his "ouchy" foot. I'm also going to discuss Bone's feed. Right now I'm giving him 2 1/2 scoops Purina Senior, 1 1/4 cups (the small cup that comes with it) Dumor weight booster, free choice grass hay and grass every day. I think I need to switch him off of the Senior.. but I'll wait to see what the vet has to say.
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Have you ever tried the soaked alfalfa cubes? This time of year is very common for horses to colic...moving from grass pasture to hay, cooler weather so they aren't drinking enough water and boom! You have dry feed packed into a dehydrated intestine = Colic. It happens. The trick is to get the horse to drink enough water. There are supplements that you can give that will make a horse feel thirsty so he'll drink more water. Check with your vet or equine nutrionist for recommendations. Or you can call the folks at Valley Vet, I've found them to be fairly knowledgeable in the past.
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