Horses, cold weather and colics

[Avalon1984]

I just wanted to remind everybody that cold spills can sometimes cause colics to sensitive horses. Make sure your horse drinks enough, gets plenty of fiber and exercise this time of the year. One of mine just colicked after a hard frost and I nearly lost him. Not fun at all. He is very sensitive to weather so from now on we will keep a close eye on him. My vet said he has been treating colics nonstop for 10 days now.

 

[Orchid]

My oldest gelding coliced for the first time EVER last fall at the age of 32. It was scary.

A good reminder - people might not realized that their water tanks are iced over at night but open during the day. This can cause your horses to drink less and make them more prone to colic until you pop that tank heater in for the winter.

 

[Avalon1984]

I'll get mine out tonight for my guy with the colic. It didn't occur to me until I realized that he had had 2 mild colics previously each year, around the end of September, then a strong one on Monday. He'll be sure to get some extra TLC from now on for that belly of his.