colicky horses

[brahmergirl]

Last night we had a pretty scary night.  WE went out to put some round bales out for the cows at about 9:00 last night.  When we went out my husband went to the horse pens for some reason first and noticed that four of our five horses were down.  Laid out flat, not getting up, nearly dead to the world.  We got in there haltered all of them, pulled on their tails and got them up and walking.  One acted like it had been drugged with something.  Really sleepy, kept trying to lay back over and we just knew they were colicing.  The two we had the most problems with was 8 mos old and 32 years old.  The 10 month old and two year old snapped out of it pretty quick.  We went and got them some prairie hay but they just kept passing gas.  I just kept walking them and walking them but even as they were standing, they acted like they couldn't keep their eyes open! 

It was really scary!  We're still not sure what caused it.  They appeared fine this morning.  ???

 

[red]

WOW, it must be in the air! You with last night & me with the night before. Doesn't help on the gray hairs does it?
Hope all better but I know nothing much about horses.
Red

 

[ELBEE]

I would definitely look around for something unusual that they ingested. Horses are notorious for doing things they're not supposed to. And their digestive systems are rather fragile.

 

[DL]

Agree with ELBEE - sounds like they ate something they shouldn't have - the fact that the oldest and youngest were most affected supports that - check your feed/hay/paddock/pasture etc. Any chance of vandals dumping something into the horse pen? Give your vet a call and ask for his/her suggestions - don't know exactly what toxic things you have in your neck of the woods! I don't know if getting a blood sample now would be worthwhile or not..........wierd..... (cow)

 

[brahmergirl]

They are in panels under the barn.  The only things we know are we just opened a new round bale of prairie hay and had given some of that for the last four nights.  We also had just bought a new load of horse feed.  It is bagged and not sold bulk.  They are not on grass as they are under the barn in panels or corrals.  So i know they didnt' get a hold of any weeds from the pasture but there might have been something in the hay.  I looked at their feed, it has not been moldy or anything, doesn't appear to have changed in any way.  The 32 year old horse doesn't get the same feed as the other 3.  I don't know.  I just hope it doesn't happen again!

It was hard to see 4 registered quarter's going through that.  Especially the old guy, he is priceless.  He's my kid's babysitter and teacher.  I am going to investigate the hay a little more tonight.

 

[red]

I'd pull several samples of the hay & send them to a loab for micotoxins & such. since it's a new bale of hay, that could be the problem. would probably check that source out carefully.

Red

 

[Barrel Racer]

Agree with ELBEE and DL, sounds like they got into something they shouldn't have.  I would definately check your pasture for any toxic weeds.  Anytime any of my horses coliced they did not act simliar to what you are describing, mainly the sleepiness.  Were they moaning at all? High respiration?  Gums color normal?  Maybe you caught it exremely early before they got to that thrashing around stage, but for all of them to be doing it at the same time seems more likely they ate something they shouldn't have.  Please do check your horses area though as I learned that lesson the hard way.   I had an extremely talented barrel horse that I lost a few years ago to some uknown toxin.  He went from fine at 10 p.m. to so bad he couldn't be saved even after a 6 hour surgery at 5 a.m.  I do feel your pain and have been there with you walking them all night, horses GI tracts are so fickle they don't need much to set them off.   Hope they all get to feeling better!!

 

[brahmergirl]

Checked their gums, pink as bubble gum, no heavy distress or anything.  I am going to check it out tonight.  Thanks guys for all the advice.  I will investigate more tonight.

 

[ELBEE]

I'm wondering about the new bagged feed. I lost a high dollar Paint show stud to colic back in the 80's. Necropsy report, died as a result of compaction of Purina show feed. Who'd ever thought! Watch to see that they're not eating too much, too fast.

 

[genes]

Ad just one more note, just because the feed doesn't look mouldy to your eye, there could stil be soem tiny mcotoxins you can't see.

 

[DL]

I would check samples of feed and hay. Call your feed guy - tell him what is going on, ask if others have had similar issues. Is there anything around they could get in to - cattle love lead batteries - anything new they could be licking or chewing? Are they close to the road? Any chance bad or stupid people could have access to them? The sleepy is wierd - makes it sound toxic - good luck, DL

 

[TxAdmin]

That would be a scary scene  :-\ - hope you can figure out what it was, but it almost certain to do with what they injested.

 

[brahmergirl]

Whatever caused it, as of last night they had snapped out of it and appear to be fine!  Off on vacation next week to put up fence with hubby who is on vacation!  I can't hardly wait 

We have been waiting since September for the property fence between us and our neighbors to be put up and the fence guy is finally coming!  (clapping)

Then we're going to build horse corrals, arena  and round pen.  Not all next week but we're going to get started!!!  Yeeeehawwww!

 

[brahmerboy]

            Hi  (welcome)
We had some horses eat the shingels and truses on the barn. They can get that caught up in there stomaches. Do you have any Molded Hay ??? Do you feed lespedeza ??? From Brahmerboy ))