Winter can bring additional factors that may lead to colic. We asked Caroline Hearn, an equine specialist and founder of Hedgerow Horse, to highlight what can be done to avoid this potentially serious problem.
Please note that any type of colic must be regarded as a veterinary emergency and your vet should be contacted at the first signs of abdominal discomfort.
The most common type of colic in the winter months tends to be obstructive or impacted colic. This can happen when the horse spends more time stabled, moves less and consumes much more dry forage and little moisture-rich grass. The speed of this change in regime can also increase the risk of a horse colicking.
There are many reasons why horses are stabled in the winter. It could be due to flooded paddocks, sudden deep snowfall, the horse becoming ill and needing to be stabled or commonly it`s the livery yard’s policy that restricts turnout in order to prevent the fields becoming poached in wet weather.
The horse’s gut
The equine digestive system has evolved over thousands of years to suit a prey animal that has to deal with an almost continuous trickle of forage. Feeding the domesticated horse should mimic this feeding behaviour as much as possible in order to optimise gut health. As a result of their ancestral lifestyle, horses have a relatively small stomach, roughly the size of a rugby ball, in which food can pass through in as little as 15 minutes. The food then travels into the small intestine and again the process is brief, taking around 30 minutes.
Moving into the caecum and large intestine, which is referred to as the hind gut, the speed of the digestive process eases right down. The caecum slows the passage of food allowing time for the gut bacteria to break down fibre during the fermentation process. This can take approximately seven hours. As with other species such as ourselves and our dogs, the health of the gut microbiome is crucial. The bacteria that are present in the caecum can only digest familiar food, so you need to make any dietary changes gradually over seven to ten days to allow the bacteria time to adjust. It can be beneficial to add a quality probiotic supplement designed specifically for horses at times of change to support the gut and digestion.
Improving hydration
Adequate hydration is essential for the gut to work correctly and to replace water that is constantly lost through sweat, urine, droppings and the increase in saliva production in order to chew hay.
Horses need to drink between 24-36 litres a day and up to 45 litres if there is increased consumption of dry forage, such as hay.
For horses that are poor drinkers or dislike the feel of ice-cold water a few adjustments need to be made in order to make the water more palatable. This can include topping up water buckets with hot water to take the chill off, or adding a couple of slices of apple, a sprinkle of fresh or dried mint leaves or a tablespoon of apple juice to the water buckets. Always establish that your horse enjoys these additions and have a plain bucket of water alongside for choice. Water buckets should be scrubbed clean and the water changed daily to further encourage drinking.
If the stables have automatic drinkers it is hard to monitor water intake so an additional bucket should be placed in the stable.
The horse’s feed can also be made wetter by adding molasses-free soaked sugar beet pulp or a separate bucket of hay replacer. These are grass pellets, often timothy, alfalfa or a herb mix which, when soaked, forms a sloppy porridge. The hay replacer is also excellent for very elderly or dentally challenged horses and ensures they have adequate fibre.
Soaking or steaming hay will add moisture and soften the strands. This can also be beneficial for horses that find large amounts of hay hard to digest.
Signs of dehydration
These include passing small hard droppings, tacky gums and lethargy. It is useful to be familiar with carrying out the skin pinch test which involves pinching and lifting the skin on the lower neck, holding for two seconds and then releasing. The lifted skin should immediately return to normal. If it stands proud or is very slow to return then this would point towards the horse being dehydrated.
Movement
Long periods of time in the stable will decrease gut mobility so food does not move efficiently through the gastrointestinal tract.
As well as ridden exercise, the horse can be walked in hand to forage, lunged and long-lined or worked from the ground in the menage incorporating simple pole work to keep them flexible. If snow and ice make conditions underfoot treacherous then the only option may be to clear a circular track and lay down soiled bedding to provide at least a safe place to walk
the horse in hand.
Enrichment
You can be inventive in the stable to not only add enrichment to the horse’s regime, but also to encourage movement to some extent.
Ideally, hay should be fed loose on the floor to minmic a natural feeding stance. If this isn’t practical, then provide at least one option for the horse to stretch down and eat in a natural way, such as always feeding from a bucket on the ground or placing some hay in a large trug bucket to save on waste.
If you have to use a haynet, remember that if the horse is given a single haynet, they tend to just stand in one position, fixed in the same posture. Instead, offer hay in a variety of ways and in different areas of the stable. There are hay bags that can be placed safely on the ground which also encourage the horse to eat in a natural position whilst stretching the neck muscles and importantly, those over his/her back. The new design of hay ball feeders could also offer variation.
Haynets with very small holes should be avoided for horses with neck and back problems.
As an alternative, plastic treat balls can be used to add interest by filling with high fibre, low calorie nuggets. Again this means that the horse is stretching down and in a more natural trickle feeding style. It should be said, however, that some horses are expert at emptying these balls in minutes whilst others seem to take hours and keep going back to them until its empty.
Carrots, apples, pears and parsnips can be hidden in haynets to provide succulent treats and as a way to relieve boredom, although don’t forget you may need to restrict sugar intake for laminitis-prone horses so this may not be suitable.
Fresh grass and herbs, such as dandelion leaves and cleavers, can be picked and added into haynets if you are unable to take your horse out to forage.
Salt should be freely available. Himalayan salt licks seem to be really popular with horses and are frequently used if hung in the stable.
Herbs such as Chamomile, Vervain and Passiflora can help calm the nerves and gut of horses that do not adapt well to being stabled and also offer extra interest at mealtimes.
Be mindful when caring for greedy ponies or those that are on restricted diets due to laminitis. They still need plenty of fibre and lack of this can cause stomach ulcers as well as colic.
Bedding
I have known ponies to eat an entire straw bed overnight with the potential risk of impaction colic. Changing to a shavings bed, mixing their hay with quality straw to provide bulk without additional calories and incorporating a feed or hay replacer which is specifically for managing those with laminitis and metabolic syndrome is a good idea. I particularly like the Thunderbrook feed range that offers organic and very low sugar feeds for these types of conditions.
Teeth
Poor dentition, tooth pain or tooth loss cause an inability to effectively chew and break down food which can go on to cause digestive problems. It is essential to have regular checks from a qualified equine dental technician (EDT) or a vet that specialises in dentistry.
Living out
Horses that live out have the benefit of being able to move around freely but keeping them adequately fed and watered is still a big challenge in the depths of winter.
Putting out multiple hay piles in the fields will reduce bullying in larger herds and also encourage them to walk from pile to pile.
Providing a constant water supply to outwintered horses can be extremely difficult and most troughs will quickly freeze over. Keeping the troughs as full as possible will make breaking the ice easier and prevent the water freezing into a solid lump. It may be essential to make more frequent daily visits to the field just to ensure the horses are receiving enough water and hay.
Always having a number of filled water containers at hand is important just in case there is a burst water pipe or you are unable to break the ice.
Offering feed that is damped down with warm water and contains moisture-rich ingredients such as soaked beet pulp will all help towards hydration. As ever, make any dietary changes in small increments over several days to avoid digestive upset.
Useful links
Blogs about winter care for horses and other animals
Other blogs by Caroline Hearn
The Eriskay Pony Society – find out more about this critically endangered pony as classified by the Rare Breed Survival Trust.
Caroline Hearn, MICHT, Dip. ICAT
Caroline is a Member of IAAT, the International Association of Animal Therapists. She is a sports, remedial and holistic massage therapist qualified to treat canine, equine, and human patients. Caroline has a lifelong obsession with dogs, a passion for holistic healthcare and natural nutrition, and a love for foraging in the countryside; all of which lead her to form the company Hedgerow Hounds which makes veterinary-approved nutritive herbal blends for dogs and other natural healthcare products. She has recently developed Hedgerow Horse.
Caroline also writes regularly for the holistic magazine Edition Dog and covers subjects such as raw feeding, canine therapies and the progress of the herbal sensory garden she created for her dogs.
Links for more information: