Colic is one of the most frequent and dangerous problems any horse can suffer and should never be taken lightly.
The signs of colic are. If your horse/pony is rolling excessively, (We usually tell our staff here that if a horse rolls more than four or five times then stop and watch him/her to see how he/she behaves next) and if he/she doesn’t stop rolling, call the vet.
There will be pain in their stomach, so they might be looking round at themselves, they may be agitated or might be depressed, (not eating, head down) First stages of colic, are rolling a lot, biting at their sides, looking uncomfortable, not eating and not passing enough manure.
There are two basic types of colic “spasmodic” and “impaction” Spasmodic colic is where the colon is going into spasm regularly and usually strongly. Impaction colic is where the horse/ pony is not passing manure, is very uncomfortable and begins to look very depressed, there can be spasms with impaction too of course.
Secondly, if a horse/pony has been in pain with colic he/she will sweat up… and finally, the horse/ pony will become extremely agitated. Any horse or pony suffering with colic should be seen by a vet AT ONCE! Never wait to see if it passes, it is too dangerous a condition and if you call your vet and tell him the horse/pony has colic he will usually come out straight away because he will need to start treating the horse/pony as early as possible.
COLIC CAN BE A KILLER, never, never wait, please call your vet at once.
Untreated colic can result in death, the horse/pony can suffer extreme pain to the point of throwing themselves against walls to try to alleviate the pain and eventually go into shock and die. Sorry to be so dramatic, but early treatment of colic by your vet can mean the difference to your horse/pony surviving or not.
One of the main reasons for colic are worms, so it is one of the reasons why all horses/ponies should be wormed regularly, change of diet, frosty grass, are some of the other reasons, always important to keep their feeds the same and if you have to change their diet, then do it gradually.
We have quite a lot of older ponies in the Sanctuary at the moment and many of these have old worm damage to their intestines, so watching how much manure they pass every day is important. The word “Colic” basically means a pain in the stomach. If your horse/pony is eating well and passing manure regularly, then he/she should be fine.
