Old horse becoming colic-prone

[Weezer]

My 29 year old gelding colicked for the first time about 6 months ago, second time yesterday. In both cases, I found him slightly colicky first thing in the morning, got on it immediately, and he worked through it without too much trauma. Both times he passed manure a few times while being walked, but continued to go down and want to roll if I let him stop moving - so we’re thinking gas colic rather than impaction colic. I can’t figure out why he has become colic-prone because:

• He’s on 24/7 turnout on a VERY quiet farm with just one other horse. This gelding is the undisputed boss

• He has easy access to clean, heated water

• He gets salt in his hot mash twice a day, and also has access to loose salt

• He is blanketed carefully to keep a consistent warmth when temperatures fluctuate

• He has unlimited access to quality hay (from the same field for the past 10 years, consistent quality and nutritional value)

• He gets probiotics every day

The only variable that has changed is that he is significantly less active. He has unlimited access to 6 acres of pasture, and covers it all in a day, but definitely at a much slower pace these days. I will start hand-walking him regularly.

Vet is coming to run tests for a general wellness check, but his health seems fine. Fortunately I have very little experience with colic, so I’m looking for general management tips to help reduce the chances of him colicking again. He’s at home so I have flexibility to do whatever. Thanks!

[Saddle_Search]

My senior horse also started with mild colic’s every winter. All my horses were on 24/7 turnout (access to 40 acres) with unlimited hay, heated waterer. I switched her feed to more beet pulp with more water added, that eliminated the colic for about 2 years then it started to return. My vet told me that as horses age they can develop polyps in the intestinal tract which contributes to the mild colic. Certainly in the winter months they did not move around as much as in the summer, but I don’t think that was a factor for her. I eventually lost her to colic, that was ten years ago, still miss her.

[cristalle]

@Weezer it sounds to me like you are doing everything right to avoid colic for your fellow.
The first thing that came to my mind when I read the subject line was lipoma which sometimes develops in old horses.
I sadly lost two of my precious older horses to this, and they too had been treated with the utmost care to avoid colic their whole lives. Neither had ever coliced, up to that point.
Neither was a good candidate for surgery and in any case, my vet did not recommend surgery for either of them.

Best of luck with your boy

https://equusmagazine.com/horse-care/lipoma-in-senior-horses/

[Displaced_Yankee]

I will say that access to clean, heated water does not always mean he is drinking it in my experience. It is hard to tell if he turned out with another horse as well.

We had an older guy here that started to get colic prone. Each time the vet diagnosed that he was also dehydrated, despite plenty of clean, warm water available. We started making his senior feed very soupy. We also added a scoop of hay pellets or alfalfa pellets soaked in a full 5 gallon bucket of water, twice a day. (I don’t have the poundage of pellets, it was just to get water into him. It poured out of the bucket like cow patty consistently) We never had another colic issue and put him down due to other issues 3 years later.

It sounds like he has a great setup at home! But sometimes as they age you may have to adjust with them. What worked 5 years ago may not work now. Good luck!

[Weezer]

I agree it’s hard to tell if he’s drinking. Pinch test didn’t indicate dehydration but I’m thinking of setting up a trail cam at the trough to see how often he’s drinking - we did that years ago with a colicky boarder and it confirmed she wasn’t drinking enough. I’ll make sure his beet pulp is extra soupy!

[Weezer]

I’m sorry for your loss. These companions take a piece of our souls when they pass on.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he has something similar going on. A couple of winters ago he started getting chronic runs throughout the winter. Putting him on probiotics cleared it up, but he continues to get winter runs if he’s not on probiotics, so he is definitely having changes in his digestive system. I suppose it’s to be expected it older horses.

[Weezer]

It sounds like he might be experiencing something like this too. I wouldn’t put a 29 year old horse through surgery either, so I will focus on keeping him comfortable for as long as possible. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[walkinthewalk]

@Saddle_Search

My senior horse also started with mild colic’s every winter. All my horses were on 24/7 turnout (access to 40 acres) with unlimited hay, heated waterer. I switched her feed to more beet pulp with more water added, that eliminated the colic for about 2 years then it started to return. My vet told me that as horses age they can develop polyps in the intestinal tract which contributes to the mild colic. Certainly in the winter months they did not move around as much as in the summer, but I don’t think that was a factor for her. I eventually lost her to colic, that was ten years ago, still miss her.

@Saddle_Search I am so sorry for your loss. I also lost a horse to colic brought on by polyps, except my vet called them “strangulating lipomas”. The. Eat he given my horse six months but I put him on Succeed and that bought him 2-1/2 years. He had been with. Me 24 of his 27 years. Like you I still miss that fella.

@Weezer it is difficult to check for lipomas in the hind gut but that is also my guess. My horse had never colicked a day in his life. He was 24 the year he colicked NINE times. I put him on Succeed and the colics stopped until that last huge one that took him when he was 27.

Ask your vet about strangulating lipomas , aka hanging lipomas.

https://cvm.msu.edu/vetschool-tails/lipoma-no-more-spartan-veterinarians-perform-standing-colic-surgery-on-equine-patient

While this link says lipomas are uncommon, I strongly disagree. They aren’t that common but they seem to be somewhat common in older horses, particularly stallions and geldings.

At any rate, the link is informative.

https://vetster.com/en/conditions/horse/strangulating-pedunculated-lipomas#:~:text=Strangulating%20lipomas%20are%20uncommon%20in,is%20crucial%20to%20good%20outcomes.

[Laurierace]

You don’t survive a strangulating lipoma without surgery so if the horse is still alive that rules that out.

[JB]

Right, if a lipoma has done something to cause colic, the odds of it resolving are about 0. I too lost one, the real JB, to this. That morning he was fine. We left for a few hours and came back to him having obviously been rolling in excruciating pain, got my vet out, banamine barely touched it, took him to NSCU, long story short, I opted for surgery and they found many feet of dead intestines.

Old horses simply start slowing down in everything, including how well their gut functions.

What does his mash consist of?
What probiotics?
How are his teeth?
When was he last dewormed and with what?

His teeth won’t be chewing hay as well as they did even last year. Do you have an analysis on this year’s hay? I’d wnat to know the ADF especially, as that’s a function of the indigestible fiber.

[walkinthewalk]

My horse managed 2-1/2 years of quality life after diagnosis, without surgery. Perhaps he was diagnosed at early onset and the Succeed helped him until it didn’t.

[JB]

@walkinthewalk

My horse managed 2-1/2 years of quality life after diagnosis

how was that diagnosed? They can have lipomas, but nothing dietary or management can keep them from growing or strangulating something

[Weezer]

Just had the vet out to do a post-colic look over and pull bloodwork. Teeth are good, gut sounds good. He’s due to be dewormed so I’ll take a fecal in. Vet suspects it could be some sort of intestinal change, like many of you have mentioned. But I’m not going to bother with an intestinal biopsy or anything because I wouldn’t go surgery. We’ll just manage one day at a time as long as he’s happy.

[Weezer]

I’ll look into Succeed. Thanks!

[cristalle]

My understanding is that the lipomas develop (grow/increase) over time, which is why they present acutely most commonly in older/old horses. They are there, and may or may not cause some discomfort until they reach the point of strangulating.
In my case the one horse was stoic and never showed the typical signs of colic. I called my vet because he was NQR to me, and she diagnosed strangulating lipoma.
The other mare would have mild colics which started suddenly when she was 24, and would respond immediately to banamine. Of course I called the vet, but the diagnosis of SL was not made until a few months later, when she had a displaced colon and was being treated for that. She survived the displaced colon and lived happily for a few months after that.
This is of course my own experience and not a diagnosis or suggested treatment for anyone else.

[Weezer]

Mash is beet pulp with salt, Absorbine flex-max, Integrity-t, vitamin E &selinium, and Mad Barn probiotics.

I don’t remember what I dewormed him with in the spring, but he is due now so I’ll take a fecal in. I didn’t test the hay this year, but after two colics, it may be time to do that.

[Laurierace]

Right. They don’t cause problems until they do and once they do the horse does not survive because they don’t have blood flow to that part of their intestines

[Laurierace]

Your horse would be fortunate to survive 2 days after strangulation, if he survived 2 1/2 years he did not have a strangulation

[JB]

I suppose it’s possible for a lipoma to displace some section of colon enough to cause discomfort, then move and release things. I’m honestly not sure you can see that with an ultrasound though. But if it gets to the strangulating part, that’s quick and severe, with no recovery without surgery. You CAN recover, if no intestine has died yet, or a small enough section for a ressection can be done. No diet change can get you out of anything related to a lipoma, they don’t work that way. Not Succeed, not anything

[Mango20]

I had an old pony who would colic 4 or 5 times per year for the last few years of his life. The first time was always when the weather turned cold. In most cases, I would load him up in the trailer and drive to the shopping center about 4 miles away then check on him. Most of the time, that would make him pass something and he’d be feeling better already. About once a year, I needed to have the vet’s help in resolving a colic. He got soaked senior feed and beet pulp but didn’t like it if it was too liquidy. I think he drank enough, I think he just got old and things didn’t work as well. He died at 33, and it wasn’t from colic.