colic

[Marlene Moss <MARLENE.MOSS@WCOM.COM>]

Hi all,
We've got 1 horse that has repeatedly shown mild signs of colic - looking at
his belly, a little antsy - but never anything further.  Continued passing
manure and had decent gut sounds.  We never did anything other than keep a
close eye on him.  A few weeks ago, it was more serious and had the vet out.
He was tubed and drugged etc.  I think that whole process might have been
worse than what he was going through, but since we didn't know if he'd
recover on his own, it had to be done.  The vet found a bit of intestine
that seemed a little oddly placed, but nothing else to indicate the cause.
He took a fecal sample to check for worms but the lab lost the sample.
Things have been hectic enough that we haven't managed to get another sample
out - vet is coming tomorrow for floating and strangles vaccine, so we were
planning on getting a sample then.  We did keep the horse in and introduced
him back to pasture slowly.

Anyhow, this morning he's displaying colic signs again, after about 1 week
back on pasture full time.  We went on a conditioning ride on Saturday where
he got to eat some richer grass and a little alfalfa - maybe 10 minutes
total.  Last night we went on a ride and he got a small amount of grass
(less than 5 minutes worth) but also had some exciting moments.  We had a
very large truck use a jake brake and hit some washboards right next to us
and he got scared.  Afterwards every larger vehicle that was hauling
something seemed to hit bad road or make some noise right next to us.  One
truck hauling a tractor going way to fast purposefully drove right next to
us.  I saw him start from the middle of the road and aim right toward us.
Anyhow, this caused this horse (which my husband was riding) to get more and
more nervous.  And now the colic this am.  It doesn't seem too bad this
time, looking at belly some attempts to roll, but had pooped and still has
good gut sounds.  I gave him banamine and he seems fine now.  My mom will be
spending the day with him - again keeping him off pasture - and ready to
call the vet if needed.

Our pasture is very slowly getting grass, but it's enough that they won't
eat their hay.  We've got 3 other horses that haven't had any problems.  One
is going through the same training as this gelding.  But no problems.
Should we be keeping him off pasture?  For how long?  Obviously we need to
get the fecal sample tested - but could one horse have problem with worms
and not the others?  Could the excitement yesterday have caused this?  Could
it be the alfalfa from 3 days prior?

We've given this horse pro-biotics - for a week after the last colic and
planned to give again if we saw more issues.  I think we'll just give him
some once a week on going.  Is there anything preventative we can be doing?
Obviously knowing the cause would help!  What else can we do once the horse
starts showing signs of mild colic?  Obviously if it looks major we call the
vet, but he does this often enough to financially ruin us if we called every
time he looked at his belly but still had gut sounds.

Any and all ideas are welcomed.  I've never had a horse colic before this
one - in fact never had a sick horse before.  So I really need an education.

Thanks,
Marlene