Has anyone here had a horse either die from sand colic, or survive it? id like to hear your stories because about 2 m onths ago my horse miraculously survived a severe case of sand colic.... i now have her on pysillium and excessivly clean stall matts. I was just wondering what you might have doen to save your horse or wha you wished you had done. know.. messaging my horse pretty much was the deciding factor.
Sand colic....
- Thread starter donkeydressage
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Mareish
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Hi I live in Perth West Aus and it is very very sandy here so sand colic is something I am very aware of. Touch wood but I have not had to deal with it personally but know people that have.
I drench my two horses twice a year, don't feed your horse on the sand and feed a lot of roughage, chaff and hay. That is the advice my vet has given me
also if you want to check if your horse is taking in a lot of sand give them water in a bucket for the day and if there is a lot of sand at the bottom (you are meant to mearsure the sand but I can not remember how much sand it was, sorry ) in it you will know that your horse is still eating sand.
I drench my two horses twice a year, don't feed your horse on the sand and feed a lot of roughage, chaff and hay. That is the advice my vet has given me
also if you want to check if your horse is taking in a lot of sand give them water in a bucket for the day and if there is a lot of sand at the bottom (you are meant to mearsure the sand but I can not remember how much sand it was, sorry ) in it you will know that your horse is still eating sand.
No experience personally with sand colic. We live in FL, though, and sand is a constant concern. My horses get a preventative does of psyllium twice weekly...
I spoke last week to someone who'd had a Shire stallion go down with sand colic. She said they thought they were going to lose him for a while--he was at the large animal clinic but in terrible shape. They tubed psyllium and mineral oil down his throat at regular intervals, and eventually he came through.
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A way to check if your horse has a lot of sand in his bowel is to take some manure, shake it up in water, then wait for it to settle. If there's sand at the bottom of the container, then the horse has sand in his diguestive system.
I spoke last week to someone who'd had a Shire stallion go down with sand colic. She said they thought they were going to lose him for a while--he was at the large animal clinic but in terrible shape. They tubed psyllium and mineral oil down his throat at regular intervals, and eventually he came through.
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A way to check if your horse has a lot of sand in his bowel is to take some manure, shake it up in water, then wait for it to settle. If there's sand at the bottom of the container, then the horse has sand in his diguestive system.
I have heard of gal's sand test before. I think pengapenga's sand test could be alittle misleading as it might mostly indicate how much the horse paws that drinks out of the bucket.
Bixby had two mild colic episodes over the last month (never had it before) and we do suspect sand colic. We've had the driest and hottest summer in 80 year history and hardly any grass is left. We are trying to preserve some pastures by closing them off (so they can bounce back in the event it should EVER rain again... ). The area around the barn is a sand pit right now.
She didn't have a full-blown colic with rolling or looking at her tummy. Basically she just didn't have any appetite and wanted to lay down quietly for a little bit. I sat with her. After about an hour she would be back to normal.
We mentioned it to the vet yesterday (took the kids in for their fall vaccines) and he gave us banamine to keep on hand. While she was there she was already sedated for her teeth floating so they suggested we also pour down 3/4 gallon mineral (through a nose tube- pur Bixby) to clear out anything she might have in her system.
We are going to up our Psyllium routine a bit, too. And pray for rain of course...
Bixby had two mild colic episodes over the last month (never had it before) and we do suspect sand colic. We've had the driest and hottest summer in 80 year history and hardly any grass is left. We are trying to preserve some pastures by closing them off (so they can bounce back in the event it should EVER rain again...
). The area around the barn is a sand pit right now.She didn't have a full-blown colic with rolling or looking at her tummy. Basically she just didn't have any appetite and wanted to lay down quietly for a little bit. I sat with her. After about an hour she would be back to normal.
We mentioned it to the vet yesterday (took the kids in for their fall vaccines) and he gave us banamine to keep on hand. While she was there she was already sedated for her teeth floating so they suggested we also pour down 3/4 gallon mineral (through a nose tube- pur Bixby) to clear out anything she might have in her system.
We are going to up our Psyllium routine a bit, too. And pray for rain of course...
KarinUS said:
Thinking back and reading gals sand test I think it is the same one, I just forgot about the manure part
sorry it was misleading. It was a very long equine nutrition lecture, some was very interesting but parts were bum numbing 
My friends horse survived it but it was hard work, weeks in hospital then the never ending after care.
I think I reacently averted a near disaster, I brought my horses in for a short while just to groom so while I did one the others were in their stables, I then chucked them back out and went home, a couple of days later I realised that I hadn't taken the droppings out of their boxes. When I went to do it I noticed that on the dried droppings there was a complete layer of sand clearly visible - panic stations, I went straight to our local tack shop and got some psyllium which we gave them every day for a week, the manufacturer then suggested giving it once a month for 7 days for maintainence, but I just do the test once amonth and if I notice a build up will give the psyllium, the reason being that Bo hates it and it is a nightmare to get him to eat it.
J x
I think I reacently averted a near disaster, I brought my horses in for a short while just to groom so while I did one the others were in their stables, I then chucked them back out and went home, a couple of days later I realised that I hadn't taken the droppings out of their boxes. When I went to do it I noticed that on the dried droppings there was a complete layer of sand clearly visible - panic stations, I went straight to our local tack shop and got some psyllium which we gave them every day for a week, the manufacturer then suggested giving it once a month for 7 days for maintainence, but I just do the test once amonth and if I notice a build up will give the psyllium, the reason being that Bo hates it and it is a nightmare to get him to eat it.
J x
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