horse got into bag of moldy feed

[welsummerchicks]

Please, No.

Do not keep walking and walking and walking continuously through the night. You do not want to exhaust the horse or dehydrate him, if he is colicking or foundering. However, you must keep walking him intermittently through the night. A usual schedule is to walk the horse for an hour now, and then 15 minutes out of every hour through the night and until you hit the 12 hour mark.

Check the color of the horse's gums. The gums are normally a rather pale pink. Whitish or a deeper red color or a blue color is an ominous sign.


Look for signs of founder -

Standing with the front legs pushed out in front of him, and/or the hind legs bunched up forward, under his body.

Lifting first one forefoot and then the other. Both are intended to take weight off the front legs.

Other possible signs are the hoofs or lower leg feeling hot, a bounding pulse in the artery in the pastern


Look for signs of colic -

Stretching, peeing repeatedly, looking back at the flanks, lying down and getting up over and over, lying down in strange places where the horse doesn't normally lay down (or if confined to a stall, lying down).

Abnormal sweating, such as a light droplet like misting of sweat on the forehead, face.

Worried, frightened facial expression, dull, disinterested appearance, abnormally quiet

Then please - discard all moldy feed - discard all bags of feed with any mold in them. Put a spring and 'slam lock' on your feed room door so it always locks when someone goes through it. If you do not have a feed room and cannot secure your feed, do not store it in the barn.

 

[farmmomofmany]

well she isnt showing any signs of anything its been about 2 hours now. She had a runny poop but she was wormed this morning also and she will get loose stool from that. The vet just said to watch her not much to do at this point but watch for signs of colic no sense in having a big vet bill if not need be. UGGGHHH didnt really want to be up all night ...

 

[georgialee]

Welsummer has some great advice there.

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

DH says to watch out for laminitis. He said he had his show paso, who did the same thing and it took him lots of money and time to "fix" the feet. Good Luck!

 

[farmmomofmany]

out of all my horses if one could handle it , it would be her. SHe seems to be acting normal. My daughter did take her for a ride in the yard just bare back no stress involved and turned her back out with other horses she is just acting normal with them. SHe has had 2 stools since we noticed the feed bad tipped over. We had just opened the bad and it was molded that is why it was in room have to take it back tomorrow to feed store We dont usually keep molded feed around or anything in reach that can hurt them. Thank you all for all the words of wisdom

amy

 

[welsummerchicks]

"Out of all my horses she could handle it"

I wouldn't make any assumptions like that. The toughest ole ironguts horse I ever had, had the worst colic.

I would not become too assured if the horse was 'quiet'. 'Quiet' is not always really quiet, sometimes it's 'hurtin' so much I don't wanna move'.

Keep taking her heart rate and pulse and respiration once an hour. If you see these increasing she is colicking or foundering.

I said there is a 12 hour point where if you have seen no changes or symptoms you can take a deep breath.

I would monitor for 24 hr and not assume you are out of the woods til then.

Do you have a stethoscope to take the heart rate?

You can take her pulse by putting your fingertips against any artery, I usually do the ankle.

Don't assume if you see no symptoms, that you are out of the woods. Keep taking the Pulse, heart, respirations for 12 hr.

Founder is bad, colic is bad. Together they are probably the biggest causes of mortality in horses.

If the horse starts to colic, and it eases up, do not assume you're done. Keep checking. Severe colics very often will seem to start out as mild pain that goes away, then it will come back much worse in a couple hours.

Stay watchful, take the pulse, heart, resp.

 

[patandchickens]

OK, just keep an eagle eye on her for the next 48 hrs, it can sometimes take a while for things to show up. Be good to feel her feet (all 4) every time you check on her, and check her every 3 hrs or so if at all possible.

It's certainly *better* to have the vet out right away in case of getting into the grain (if you wait and see, damage may be done such that by the time you see signs it is too late to head it off), but I do understand about economic realities and if you think it was not so much then hopefully she will be ok.

I would second the comment above about NEVER walkwalkwalkwalkwalk a colicky horse (you can walk it a *while* to try to get things moving, or walk it if it seems to otherwise want to get down and thrash violently, but relentless walking just gives you an *exhausted* colicky horse) and NEVER walk a horse you fear may be on the brink of laminitis.

Good luck, hope she's still feeling ok,

Pat

 

[dewey]

Quote:
That's what I was going to say to the TEE, do this then call the Vet tomorrow, you don't need to waste $$ on a vet until any syptoms show up, he will tell you that anyway. Walking him is important now so he doesn't colic or founder, here is the thing !!! If you cannot walk him well into the night get help, if you walk off or get lazy and he lay's down then you got bigger fish to fry. Go get some bodies to help you if you want to save him, my suggestion would be whomever left the tack room door open should do most of the walking and less whining.

AL

We've enlisted help whenever possible for those all night walks. God bless good friends and neighbors, especially when one goes down and 1 person alone can't get them up.

We were also always advised never to feed anything.

Hoping the best for you.

 

[farmmomofmany]

Ok called vet again gave shot of banamine as he recommended. Said to watch her close for another 2 hours and then every three through the night then she should be ok. The fact that we are out about 5 hours now and all is well is a good sign. I realize we need to continue to watch her but feeling alittle better. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers

AMy

 

[farmmomofmany]

Horse did great last night!!! called in an old timer who had some advise also and did a few t hings he recommended and she has a messy stall today WOW!!! Thanks so much for all the prayers and help. We are still watching her closly but seems to be doing great Praise God.

Amy