Preventing Fall and Winter Colic

Although I’m sure most of you are looking forward to fall; cooler weather, football and pumpkin spice everything, this time of year can be risky for the gastrointestinal health of our pasture pals.  Cool weather often signals an increased occurrence of colic, but we can decrease the incidence by paying close attention to our management practices.

One of the most common causes of fall and winter colic is an abrupt change in diet.  Even horse pastures that are fortunate enough to be able to grow a good stand of cool season grasses, such as Fescue or Ryegrass, typically have to feed hay at some point in the cool months.  This change in diet, increase in dry matter and natural decrease in water consumption during the cooler months can create issues in a horse’s naturally sensitive digestive tract.

Some tips for preventing hay/water related colic:

• Make the transition from grass to hay gradually-try giving at least a two week period of adjustment to new forage before making a complete switch.

• Have fresh, thawed water available at all times-this can be difficult during the coldest months when water is prone to freeze overnight, but using a heated water bucket can help.

• Regularly check pastures for poisonous plants-when grass becomes scarce horses can begin to nibble on things that wouldn’t normally appeal to them.  Keep an eye out for pokeweed, horse nettle, black nightshade and bracken ferns, all of which can cause physiological distress in livestock.

          Cherry and maple trees are also at their most toxic (and most palatable) when the leaves begin to change color.  

          

                Pictured (From top to bottom):  Pokeweed, horse nettle, bracken fern

• Monitor hydration-all animals, humans included, drink less in the cooler months when water is not being lost to perspiration.  When animals decrease drinking enough for dehydration to ensue, however, it can cause major issues, specifically impaction colic in horses.  Using the skin tent test on your horse’s shoulder is a great way to assess hydration status.  If tented skin is slow to go back to flat, this is an indicator of dehydration and extra water should be added to ration and/or hay should be soaked prior to feeding.

            Pictured: Skin tenting to help determine hydration status

Another way to prevent fall and winter colic is to make sure your horse’s gut is in top notch condition at the beginning of the season by following a good parasite prevention program.  A fecal egg count will give you the best indication of whether your horse needs to be dewormed and what to use.  A veterinarian or your local livestock extension agent can help you with this.  Although dewormers are important and have their place, using good sanitation practices is one of the best ways to keep the intestinal parasite population to a minimum on your farm.  Removing manure piles and keeping the proper stocking rate in your pastures are two of the main practices that will help you with this.

With good management practices, a watchful eye and a little luck you and your hooved companion hopefully can make it through the upcoming fall and winter seasons with little complications!