If you have experienced a horse suddenly pawing, sweating, repeatably lying down, kicking, or biting at their flank then you know how quickly colic becomes a stressful situation for you and your horse.
After urgent veterinary care when these signs appear, it can be tricky to find out what caused colic in the first place so that you can stop it from occurring again. There are a variety of nutritional factors that can increase the risk of colic in your horse. Once you know what they are, you can implement the necessary changes TODAY!
Below are some of the common nutritional factors that can increase colic risk.
- Water intake
Has your horse reduced their water intake? Horses that consume less water are at risk of developing colic. Make sure you monitor your horse’s water intake daily. If you are travelling, horses tend to be quite picky with water sources other than the ones they are used to at home. Take water from home during your travels to reduce the chance of them turning their nose up to a new water source when they arrive.
Handy tip: In winter you can provide a warmer water source to your horse to ensure they keep up their water intake.
- Diet changes
Your horse has a very sensitive gastrointestinal (GI) tract. It isn’t a big fan of sudden diet changes as it can’t handle them very well. If you introduce new hay or concentrate, a higher quantity of feed, or reduced time on pasture, these abrupt events increase the risk of colic.
You might be thinking why? There is a delicate balance of the microbiome in the GI tract to help with fibre and nutrient digestibility. A sudden new diet causes the balance to be disturbed and ‘all hell’ to break loose! To keep this balance happy and functioning optimally we need to give the microbiome time to adjust to the new change. This is why nutritionists recommend changing to a new feed over 1 – 2 weeks.
- Forage diets
We don’t need to remind you that meeting your horse’s forage requirements is essential. But how does forage play a role in colic risk?
Horses eat little bits of feed continuously throughout the day and night. This means their hindgut is constantly full and holds large amounts of water. Good hindgut bacteria work hard to break down hay, pasture, and other forages to supply essential energy and nutrients to the body. If your horse isn’t consuming enough forage, it can reduce how full the GI tract is and cause “twists” in the gut with colic being a serious pain symptom.
High forage diets have significant health perks like maintaining a healthy stomach, helping to clear sand out of the GI tract, and keeping your horse hydrated!
Handy tip: Aim to feed a minimum of 1.5-2% of body weight per day in forage for a healthy GI tract.
- High grain diets
If you are feeding grain as part of your horse’s diet, be mindful that if your horse eats above 2.5kg of grain in a single feed, this could lead to an increased risk of colic. If a large grain meal moves through the foregut too quickly and begins to be rapidly fermented by hindgut bacteria, it can lead to the hindgut becoming acidic. The good bacteria will then die off leading to a cascade of hindgut issues that can cause colic.
Handy tip: Don’t forget to weigh your horse’s feed. You can use a kitchen scale or luggage scale. You might even discover ways to save on feed costs!
- Gut health supplements can help!
When you choose a daily high-quality gut health supplement, such as GastroAID Everyday, your horse will thank you for helping to improve fibre and nutrient digestibility, optimise GI tract function, and stabilise the microbiome so that it can handle small changes WITHOUT the consequence of large negative effects such as colic.
The ingredients that will make your horse eagerly eat GastroAID Everyday out of your hand are:
- LIVE enteric-coated yeast probiotics. They stay alive during the manufacturing process and reach your horse’s GI tract to help it cope with diet, stress, and management changes. They are the reason the delicate microbiome balance stays intact. But what if your horse is already struggling with GI issues such as diarrhoea? The specific prebiotics and probiotics we have chosen help firm up manure!
- Calcareous marine algae, psyllium husk and lecithin. Let’s not forget about stomach health! This synergistic blend of ingredients reduces the acidity of gastric acid whilst also strengthening the integrity of the stomach mucosa, leading to a healthy stomach environment. In some cases, when stomach health is significantly impacted and causing stomach ulcers, this can increase the risk of colic. If this sounds like your horse, you’ll need to reach for GastroAID Recovery to be part of your daily routine. The research shows that daily supplementation with GastroAID Recovery reduces the incidence and severity of gastric ulcers.
- Melon derived antioxidant. And yes, you read that right! The chosen antioxidant we use is the first line of defence when fighting the production of free radicals caused by everyday equine life. This antioxidant protects the cell membranes from oxidative damage which can present itself as poor immunity and lack of recovery post-exercise.
All these changes can be implemented today! Even if you make a small change in management, your horse will thank you in the long run.
What’s next?
If you want to find out more about our gut health supplements, visit our product page, or get in touch on 1800 KELATO or email technical@kelato.com.au
