anything else to prevent sand colic?

Question

my 4yo paint had surgery for sand colic at christmas. he eats grain out of a raised bucket and hay off of a rubber matt. he gets sand clear every month, alfalfa every night and corn oil in his feed. he has constant access to very clean water. i am worried about his turnout though, it is very sandy in my area and although his pasture has good grass cover, i'm still worried he is picking sand up when he grazes so i only turn him out a fewa times a week. he gets worked for 1 hour 6 days a week and is in great condition. anything else i can be doing so we don't have to put him through this again?

Answer 1

In addition to all of those other good suggestions, you might want to go ahead and get one of those hay feeders (polytron, I think) with the bottom that looks like half of a barrel and the top holds the hay. You can also feed your grain in it as well..that way, when the grain or hay falls out of your horse's mouth, he will eat it out of the bottom of the feeder and not off the ground.

Answer 2

What we give our horses (we live in a sandy area also), is Equate fiber (from Wal-Mart). It's in the store by the laxitives, fiber pills, etc. I put 2 tablespoons in their feed everyday for 1 week each month (March through October). It gels with any sand they may pick up and passes it right through (kind of the same principle as Sand Clear). A container is only about 3 bucks and last a month or so. Never had a problem with colic.

Answer 3

You sound like a very concencious horse owner - your horse is lucky how careful you are being.
Have you ever tested your hay to determine that there isn't sand in it? If its locally grown hay, in a sandy area, its very possible that bits of sand are thrown into the hay while it is baled (Its happened to me, and I ended up horses with diarrhea) To check your hay, fill a tub with clear water, take a small flake of hay, and wash/soak/swish it in the water for a few minutes. Then take out the hay and carefully examine the bottom of the tub. Is there sand in there? If so, you will need to purchase hay baled at a different location.
The only other suggestion I have is to add several teaspoons of loose salt to your horse's daily grain. The salt will keep his water consumption up, and keep swooshing everything through.
Good luck and keep up the good work.

Answer 4

I haven't heard of the flaxseed, thats interesting, I will be checking into it also.

But here we use psyllium. I personally can't get my guys to eat it, even starting with a teaspoon, so it really must taste like crap lol. But other people feed their horses it and it helps.

Don't feed selenium, if you live in selenium rich areas like I do, adding it can cause serious health effects if your horses are already getting too much. It doesn't affect sand in the gut.

Answer 5

I want to second what paintgirl said. I feed 3-way and there was so much sand in the baled hay that the feeders were filling with it and I had to scoop the sand out. My horses also got diarrhea and I got to the point I was feeding psyllium constantly to clean them out.

Answer 6

you can get a rubber mask to put over the mussel so that the horse can not physically get to the sand it goes over the head or some attach to the head collar
the horse can still graze as the grass comes up through the holes but they can not get to the root s where the sand is

Answer 7

My horse coliced last may. Luckily we caught it early enough to where we just treated her for it, but anywho the vet told me to find bran mash twice or once a week to help keep the bowels moving. I've been feeding it to all my horses ever since and they have not coliced once. The recipie is:
3 cups wheat bran mixed with 3 cups water. You can mix in carrots, apples and electrolytes if you want. When its cold out I mix with warm water and when its hot out I mix with cold water. Hope this helps!

Answer 8

you can feed him out of a feed bag to prevent him from picking up sand off the ground when he eats. if he drops food he will try to pick it up and he wiil eat sand . my horse is 4 yrs old he eats out of a feed bag cause he used to do the same thing .

Answer 9

our vet told us to use metamusell human form she says its as good as sand clear and a whole lot cheaper it works have nooo colic here and they like the taste (orange)

Answer 10

Whole flax seeds. You have to boil them to get their full potential. Here are some links. Read about!! Very good to know!!!

http://www.enrecoanimalnutrition.com/retail/equine-faq.asp

http://horse.lifetips.com/tip/82935/feeds-supplements-feeding/vitamins-supplements/flax-seed-facts.html


http://www.infohorse.com/flaxseed.asp

http://horsecare.stablemade.com/articles2/flax.htm