The C Word Horse Owners Dread
I just heard that an well known NW roper lost his competition horse to colic, I’m Susan Allen and for horse owners that “ C” word is something we all fear, stay tuned after the break I’ll share how British researchers are working to keep horses healthy. Wikipedia’s definition of colic is basically any abdominal pain. The term colic can encompass all forms of gastrointestinal conditions which cause discomfort as well as other abdominal pain not involving the gastrointestinal tract. In a nut shell colic is a bad stomach ach for a horse that can quickly turn deadly indiscriminately striking the million dollar race horse or the backyard pet. Horses were designed to graze, it’s healthier for them to on pasture rather than stabled, but since that isn’t always practical British researchers studied why there is a higher rate of colic in horse that are stabled, in order to cut down on the incidences. Using ultrasound, horses that we’re kept in a riding lesson facility were monitored after they were fed hay and grain and exercised, then compared to horses on pasture 24 hours a day. The stalled horses even after a good work out had reduced digestive movement in stark contrast to horses that ranged freely. In the second part of the study, the free range horses were brought into a stable and allowed to settle in for a couple weeks before testing. Again the results found horses that had been on pasture had better digestive movement then those always kept in stalls. Now since so many horses spend their existence in stables the research team will continue to study ways to make stabling more horse friendly until then remember a happy horse is one that simply gets to be…. a horse. .
