Ask The Equine Nutritionist

What diet for a gelding that colics easily? QUESTION I have a  6yr old Gelding who had colic surgery a few years ago. His secum (sp) was inflated so they had to go in and deflate it, pulled out his intestines to make sure there was nothing wrong with them and they were fine they did however find some scarring on them from worms.  They assume he was
not on a proper worming schedule as a youngster.

This gelding has been colicking fairly often and mildly and we are not sure what is setting it off.   Last time he coliced nothing had been changed in his diet or anything like that.

His colic episodes are not nearly as bad as the first when he had his surgery but they do still occur often, and he goes down quickly.  But with a shot on banamine, he bounces right back to normal again.

We are beginning to wonder if it is his diet?  Is there, perhaps, a very "bland" or easier-than-typical to digest diet for a horse in his situation?  Right now, he is being fed a  grass/brome/alfalfa mix free choice from a round bale, and the recommended amount of a complete pelleted product. 

Answer

I’d suspect that the scarring has resulted in a tight spot in the intestine which results in a mild slight blockage at intervals, try increasing the amount of water in his GI tract or add in a lubricant like whole flax seed. Whole flax has is coated in a mucilage, which when it hits water turns into a slimy mess, this slimy mess is a great GI tract lubricant and can help the feed slip along nicely.

The ground flax does not seem to have this lubricating property for some
reason, so for your horse, use whole flaxseed.

Feed him his feed wetted all the way to a soupy consistency, add in 4 – 8 oz of whole flax seed as well. You can also wet the hay if it is feed from a small bale in a stall, but that is hard to do in a round bale situation.

Any way I would definitely wet the feed.


Dr. Melyni Worth Ph.D. - 2004 (c)

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