Two years ago I had a foal come in for her moring breakfast on a typical May morning and the second she hit the stall she went down and coliced so fast and so bad we ended up putting her down.
A year later a yearling comes in on the exact same day I put the previous foal down and she coliced, this was not as bad and she came right out of it but really freaked me out. My vet can’t understand what is making my foals colic in the spring they normally can handle the grass?
I was curious if anyone else has experienced this and could offer some reasons as to why?
I now only allow limited turn out in the spring just to be on the safe side. I have lived on this farm for 5 years with other horses and never had this problem before? I’m very confused?
We always have a week or so in Oct where we treat colics every night - all different types for impactions to gas colic to surgical colics. It varies from year to year, but it is always in October. Wish I know why - maybe change in temp, grass - who knows? - but it always happens…
I have never had a foal colic. But I have had afew mature horses show some fairly obvious signs of discomfort in those first few weeks of cold nights and rainy fall days.
I have never had a “colic” a dose of Banamine didn’t fix (knocking wood furiously), but I think pasture horses might well be sensitive to the water being colder, the nights colder & wetter…in other words, going from the days of heat and warmth to cool & wet.
It often happens almost overnight in my neck of the woods…so I keep a close eye on my horses during that time.
That’s all I can really guess at…
As for your foals – did you ever determine the cause of the colic in your first foal? Was there an impaction?
Mine have had colic this time of year after eating what we thought were red maple leaves. One of mine seems especially susceptible to them.
Maybe some have blown into the pasture?
I always always give my horses sloppy soaked beet pulp this time of year. It seems they go from hot summer drinking a TON of water to WHAM cold and they just don’t drink like they did when it was hot. I’ve never had a colic problem doing this so I don’t really know if it did prevent a problem OR if they wouldn’t have had a problem anyway. But I do know they’re getting water they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
I have had 3 different horses, colic 3 years in a row, on my birthday (luckily I always have it off from work). The weather each time has been completely different.
Sounds like OPs colics were in May, not Oct. . . . but I haven’t any idea why!
Afterall winter eating hay you have to be careful when you put your horses into the fresh new grass. I never had problem as I start slowly, 30 minutes the first day, one hour the second, half a day the third and fourth day and then they are good. It always work good.
Now in the fall… I always had one horse, not the same one, but always one that had mild colic in the fall. Now I learned as the day get shorter but even worst after the first frost the grass still looks good and appetizing but is not good for the horses. It often produce high levels of a type of sugar called fructans. Horses cannot easily digest fructans, and the sugars end up in the large intestine where bacteria multiply and break them down. The overgrowth of the fructan-digesting bacteria upsets the normal balance of the digestive tract and can cause colic.
So now from the middle of September (I am in Ontario)I put all my horses in a dry lot until November and I had no more colic.
25 years of owing horses and I only had one other colic and it was fixed with Badamine. Trust me I take all the safe measures when the weather changes but this was the first time I had foals on the property and the vets could not figure out what happend. They say gas colic but I’m wondering if it was something growing in my field?
I’m just very hapy the second foal came out of it where my first foal never had a chance it was so severe so fast it was the worst thing I ever saw and hope to never experience it again
Every spring my yearlings colic. Now mind you, I have only bred every other year to this point, so in other words I have a yearling colic every other spring. It doesn’t matter if the yearling is in a paddock with grass or if it’s in a dry lot with a roundbale. Every yearling I have had to this point (I have had three) has coliced in May. I just come to expect it…kind of like taxes :sigh:
It’s always a colic that some Banamine and Torb can fix. I look at it as a good way for the kids to begin a happy relationship with my vets. They can’t figure out why they do it and I sure as heck can’t, but come next May, I will be eyeing my filly for her bout with it. Of course, she is my first filly, so maybe she will be the one who breaks the trend. I can always hope!
Sometimes the little buggers just want to make sure we’re really sure we want to be parents I think :winkgrin:
