Horse Owners - Looking For Advice Regarding Sand Colic

Yup, I hate it when horses do things like that

How much can you do in terms of management? If they are grazing a lot on very sandy pasture then probably not much you can do, but if they are being hayed, it really helps to establish a rubber matted area where you hay so that they are not eating off the sandy soil as much. In some cases this might be enough to prevent most sand colic problems.

If it's not feasible given your situation, then I would agree it is worth strategizing on how to get some psyllium into her once a month (well, for some *days* once a month, you know what I mean). If she is not overly thin and is not the type to colic from having a missed meal or two, I would try withholding her hard feed and see if 'eat it or lose it' finally tips the balance in favor of eating the supplement. YOu could also try mixing it with kool-aid powder (sweetened) or applesauce, unless she has issues where you don't want to be feeding sugar; it might well not work but some horses can surprise you.

Unfortunately there are a few horses out there, and I don't know whether your mare is one, that are just reeeaaaally picky about supplements and simply won't eat 'contaminated' food, no matter how tricky or sneaky you are. Those very few that can't be outwitted, there's not always much choice except to leave them to their own devices. But, to be fair, that is *very* few horses. Fortunately

Good luck,

Pat

 

Start feeding acouple tablespoons of garlic powder in the feed,then add in the Sand Clear.Works for me.

 

I hope that works for you.I hate colic and have only dealt with it once and its very stressful.

My barrel horse is a hard keeper.I can get weight on her,then she will loose it and I have gone through 4 different feeds,and finally she is gaining weight on Triple crown complete but its pretty expensive.I also feed,Garlic powder,loose minerals,vegetable oil,and Metamcuil.

My horses are on a sand lot so they get hay and I wet the grain down to help prevent choking and colic.

 

a lot of times the horses that sand colic are the low horses on the pecking order. this could also explain why she is hard keeper if she is living off what the others allow her to eat. if this is the case you might considering separating her from the others.

or if you just live in a sandy area there is not a lot you can do about it other than let the grass grow higher and feed her hay in a bunk.

next time you are out take a soft drink with you and see if she will drink it. mine like mountain dew out of a can. anything really sweet i would think they would like. if she likes the mountain dew you can mix it in there and give to her like she is getting a special treat, assuming the stuff is mixable.

 

Your mare sounds like a good candidate for ulcers....poor doer, finicky eater, inappetance. While Gastroguard may seem expensive, it is an awesome drug, and in the long run much cheaper than an emergency colic call. If it is something that you might consider, pm for dosage. Current therapy may be less than labeled.

 

have you had her checked out? i used to work with horses in college and a mare came thru that had 30 lbs of sand in her stomach that had to be surgically removed. they say they can have as much as 150lbs in there! may be a recurring problem ?

 

If all else fails, you can try the old-fashioned route and use wheat bran. Most horses love the taste. I make a hot bran mash and add half a scoop of feed to it. My pickiest eater will lick the bucket clean, then bang the empty bucket against the wall to ask for more! When I lived in Florida I branned every Sunday and Wednesday and kept my horses pretty sand-free.

I've been keeping horses a lot of years now, long before anyone was trying to use psyllium. It works very nicely, which is good because my oldest mare still walks away from any of the newer sand preventatives, but she loves her bran mash! Here in Alabama I don't have a problem with sand, but in Florida if we didn't bran regularly, sand colic was always the result.

HTH

Rusty