My TB is having his usual Fall colic

[ThoroughbredFancy]

Every Fall, around this time my TB has a bout of gas colic. I cannot for the life of me put reason to it. It must be the weather changes.

The minute I noticed I gave him a dose of banamine, electrolytes with some water and milk of magnesia.

As of this moment he seems lively with an appetite and passed solid manure.

I'm just hoping it doesn't get any worse. :(

[atr]

I think when the temp fluctuates as much as it does at this time of year (we are swinging through about 40-45 degrees night to day at the moment,) they forget to drink when it's cold and then get dehydrated and gassy when it warms up during the day.

I add water to everyone's feed buckets at this time of year, which seems to help, and make sure they are polishing them off in a reasonable time so stuff doesn't have a chance to ferment.

I don't have much grass to speak of, but that's another consideration if you have grassy pasture--it's nutrient content changes quite a bit at this time of year.

[Semi75]

We have had a lot of luck with Equishure, especially with our gas colic prone horses. Here is another thread from a month or two back. You may have it available locally or give KER a call, it's definetly worth a try.
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=214036

Equishure (http://kerx.com/products/EquiShure/)

[ThoroughbredFancy]

Hm, never heard of EquiShure before.


His diet is pretty good IMO. BS Carb Guard, Alfalfa Pellets, Flax, Canola oil, a pre/pro biotic and good quality grass hay and a timothy/alfalfa cube snack.

I Power Pack him every year and I follow a good worming rotation and make sure he is never under dosed. I also treated him for ulcers for the heck of it this summer. He wasn't really showing any sings but I wanted to see if I would notice any difference after the treatment and he still seems like the same horse. Granted, he might not have had any in the first place.

It's got to be a weather thing. It's happened the last three consecutive years...every September.

It did get worse after my last post and he did lay down for a short time (no rolling) and then walked him for another 20 minutes after and for the past hour he seems like himself. Perky and hungry.

The whole time he was passing small amounts of manure but I could tell he was bloated by looking at his stomach area. Gut sounds were always apparent.

Hopefully this will continue into the morning and nothing else will come of it.