Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition
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Dr. Getty
My daughter's horse, Shandi, is recovering from colic surgery. She is an otherwise very healthy, easy keeper - 15.2hh Appy/Paint. This was her first colic and she had an impaction due to eating Hickory nuts. The trees are all over the property and cover the area the horses are turned out in. Luckily there were no twists and nothing was cut/spliced etc. The impaction was milked to her cecum. She was home 10 days before she coliced again. Another impaction due to not drinking enough. She spent another week at the vets before coming home two weeks ago. A couple of questions.
1. We soaked her hay and fed her one flake every four hours round the clock for the first 10 days. She is currently up to 2 flakes (2nd cut Timothy/Grass mix - nice, nice hay) three times a day. I can no longer soak it as the temperature is below freezing - according to Shandi, cold, wet hay is gross.
2. She isn't on any grain. Before her surgery she got one quart of hay stretcher, a cup of BOSS, 1 lb of Purina's Mare & Maintenance, and a tsp. of probios - twice a day. Since her surgery she gets a cup of bran, 1/2 scoop Digest-It, 1 tsp. of probios, 1/4 cup of corn oil, 1 tsp. of ginger, 2 tblsp. salt, 1/2 scoop Electrolytes, and a handful of Denji - again twice a day. I add about a quart of hot water to make a soup.
3. I have a salt block in her stalls, and along with fresh water, I give her a bucket of CoolAid 
. We tried mollasses, GatorAid, Apple Juice - wouldn't you know, Shandi's a Cherry Cool Aid girl.
4. She has completed her stall rest and is now on small paddock turn out. We have her in an in/out situation to keep her moving.
To get to my questions - can you recommend anything else we can do to ensure she drinks enough? Can you recommend anything I can add/change to/with her diet?
This has been such a rollercoaster ride. SHe is my 11 year olds entire life. A month ago we faced having to put her down, and even now I feel we're going day-to-day. Any help/advice, etc. is appreciated.
Thanks for all you do.
Sean
Where are you from? Massachusetts
How did you locate this forum? Search engine
Hello Sean,
I am so sorry that your horse had two bouts with colic. I hope that this is behind you and that she is now on the road to recovery.
In regard to your questions...
1. I understand how you can't soak the hay in such cold weather. The goal is water consumption, so have a bucket of water right next to her hay so she can consume as much as she wants. You'll want to get heated water buckets to ensure that she drinks enough. Water that is below 50 degrees is often not consumed adequately. So, make sure it is temperature regulated.
2. Wow -- you sure gave her a lot of supplements! Stay away from sunflower seeds because the high omega 6 content increases inflammation. The same is true for corn oil. Instead, get a nutritious complete feed or stay with the Dengie feed. Don't add salt plus an electrolyte. Instead, give her 1 Tablespoon of plain, white table salt in each meal. And consider adding a vitamin/mineral supplement that is flaxseed meal based, such as Glanzen Complete to fill in the gaps and reduce inflammation.
3. A salt block is fine -- plain white one. With the salt in her feed, she may not lick the salt block, but it's good to have it there. Kool Aid? Hmmm... if it gets her to drink, then ok.
4. Movement is essential and all the grass hay she wants.
I hope this is helpful. If you want to go into detail, please consider setting up a phone visit so I can go over her history, environment, exercise, medical interventions, feeding, etc. in order to customize a plan for her healing and prevention of another colic episode.
So, please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
All the best,
Dr. Getty
Where are you from? Bayfield, CO
She's on small paddock turnout until the end of December. She is in an in/out situation so moves around some on her own. We also walk her two/three times a day.
Thanks.
Where are you from? Massachusetts
How did you locate this forum? Search engine