Sand Colic HELP

[Sue S]

Hi, I have a big horse that is laying down alot today we went and checked her, she has sand colic, we are walking her and when she poops its got alot of sand in it, We went and got some Metamucil and are giving it to her. Is there anything else we should be doing, this has never happened her before.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I have heard that feeding flax daily will help clear the sand from the system. Also if you feed on the ground get a rubber mat or a piece of plywood and feed off of that to help minimize the amount of sand the horse picks up with its feed. (of course if you are grazing thats different)

 

[Miniv]

Talk to your vet about giving banamine. Sometimes just relieving some of the pain helps relax their gut enough that it makes things pass through...... We also use a 60 cc syringe OR a gravy baster and give them several doses of mineral oil to help push stuff through.... Just do it carefully and gradually, making sure she swallows it.

Since you're in a sandy area, I'd suggest looking to feeding her either metimucul (like you mentioned) or a product like Sand Blast about once a month according to the instructions. Also, feeding her hay on a rubber mat may help too.......

 

[Sue S]

Hubby just went after some banamine from the vet, and she said to give her some metimucul and veg oil or mineral oil if we can get it down her, she said about a gallon, ick, to walk her which we have been doing and she is drinking water, not alot but some, if I have to I will get some apple juice to put in her water, maybe that will help her drink more, She is one of my beautiful Reg.tobianos, her and her full blooded sister ride and drive. I hate seeing my horses get sick. We read that a bran mash would help. I am so worried. Thanks

for your help. I just looked out there and she is drinking some water.

 

[running in the red]

we give one full scoop [the same scoop as the electrolites] 4x's a week and 1/2 scoop to the minis- this helped with my snad problems very much!

 

[Charlene]

i live on sand, too. are your horses on pasture or dry lot? mine are on dry lot and even when i feed off of rubber mats, it's a constant battle to keep the mats free of sand. i used the product suggested by miniv (it's actually called "sanblast", without the "d"

). one of my minis picks around it so i add a tiny bit of molasses to his helping.

if you feed bran, make sure it's a warm mash. don't feed bran dry, it can "bind" a horse up and cause more problems.

i've never found anything that truly keeps sand moving through the tract like i would love it to do so i use the sanblast. hope your mare feels better soon!

 

[whitney]

Uckele has a pure psyllium which is cheaper than sand clear/sand blast and has no fillers. It worked REALLY well for my mini mare.

 

[lilmiraclesfarm]

Yes my vet told me to feed soaked hay and grain. Add a mineral/veg oil to the grain. They make something called sand clear or sand blaster, I've never used it so don't really know alot about it, but probley something you can check out. I bought this stuff from our vet its a Selenium that I sprinkle on their grain once a week. Its to help clear the sand out of them. Just keep her up and walking. Watch her thrashing, I just had to put my horse down Monday becuase he punctured his eye during his colic and it progressed to quickly. We couldn't do anymore to save it and looseing it would still give him a 50/50 chance of it not cureing him and putting him down anyways. Your horse should go every 4 hours. If she doesn't get the vet out. They might try and tube her with a bucket of water and mineral oil and electrolites. We had to do this twice before we started having normal boul movements.

Good luck, keep us updated

 

[wade3504]

I just went through this about a month to a month and a half ago with my draft cross gelding. He's very mouthy and we live in Florida. He ended up in an equine hospital for about 5 days. He originally was on sand clear for one week out of the month every month. That's not enough for him. When he was in the hospital he was on I.V. as his intestine had done a flip flop. All the fluids flipped it back thank God. He was also oiled, bran mashed, had psyllium, and at first definitely no hay. He was not passing manure.

My vet told me that he needs psyllium daily. He also needs to eat his hay whether in stall or grass pasture off of a mat.

He had been down there for 3 days and the 3rd evening she thought it was safe to take him home. He went back the following morning and on rectal exam literally pulled out a handful of sand. He went back on I.V. and was there for two more days. They hand walked him to graze for only about 5 minutes a day. During all of this he was on banamine.

My local vet told me that if you have access to a trailer that sometimes gets things moving. When he went for his trailer ride down to the hospital it didn't do a thing. I had this horse on trial period at the time. Owner paid the bill and I'm still keeping him.

I hope your horse does better and that it's not extreme.

Amanda

 

[Sue S]

We have Gypsy Rose on banamine which seemed to help with the pain, she has gone poop a few times, and we are still walking her, she isn't thrashing around like she was, she is standing most of the time, Don't know if that is right or not. She was neighing for her sister who is about 7 feet from where she is so Suzie is standing on the other side of her fence keeping gypsy company all night. They are inseperable. We have to keep her on the metimucul for 3 days, 2 cups aday besides oil and a handful of hay besides her grain. I sure hope this is working for her.

 

[Kathy2m]

I live in Florida too, my vet recomends 10 days of metimucil AFTER they have had a sand colic, then depending on how much sand they are on every other day or 3 times a week. I feed my big horse 1 c., minis 1/4 c. on M-W-F-. Hope your horse feels better soon, Kathy

 

[Marty]

Sand colic is dead serious. Its' a good thing you are attentive and noticed this right away. This is nothing to play around with or do a self-home-experiement with. I haven't read this entire thread but if your horse is sand colicing he should be under the care of a vet immediately as this is a full blown emergency so please treat it as one and get the vet there now. He should be getting oiled by tube, not by you or by mouth, but a tube should be getting passed down his throat and pumped in by your vet. He should be getting banamine and being walked about and allowed to eat nothing but grass grazing if he will as per your vet.

After recovery, he should be placed on Sand Clear or Sandblast or a product such as that which is make especially for horses. Good luck to you and best wishes for a very speedy recovery.

 

[Watcheye]

Sand Collic.... grrrr. I battled that with my mare about a year and a half ago. It is very serious. I almost lost her. She was falling down with cramps. She was a trooper though and between the four of us (me, mom, vet, Tasai) she pulled through. Have your vet out to oil your horse. That is what we had to do. Two or three times. Sand clear is what we use to work on sand colic prevention.

 

[whitney]

Not to disagree with vets but before you take your horse off of psyllium make sure the poop test shows no sand. Thats the ONLY way you know you got it all. With my mini mare it took a little over a month to get it all.

Poop test: 4 or 5 turds soaked in a bucket of water pour off excess liquid and refill with water until the turds disolve and all thats left at the bottom of the bucket is the sand anything more than a pinch of sand keep treating with psyllium.

Horse Journal had an article that said oil and psyllium worked better than just oil.

Good luck and prayers sent your way!