colic in horses
Horse Symptoms: When to worry
Horse symptoms come in 2 categories, acute and chronic. We tend to get more worried about the acute symptoms such as severe lameness, colic in horses or fever. These horse symptoms are all red flags that something major is wrong that may need immediate, aggressive intervention. Acute horse symptoms often come on quickly, are intense [...]
When Colic is not Colic
You walk in to your horse’s pen with his evening feed and instead of coming to you he stands off in the corner and paws the ground. For most of us this creates an immediate fear reaction. Oh my God, my horse has colic. But then, after taking a deep breath, you regroup. Your horse [...]
Horse Colic: Caused by Emotions?
Most horse owners have dealt with straightforward impaction, gas, or spasmodic colic associated with changes in diet, weather, management, or the environment. Whether you choose to alleviate this kind of horse colic (with known causes) using conventional or homeopathic approaches, you can at least deal directly with the cause. But what if you have a [...]
Holistic Horse Health: Why I feed probiotics
What is the first rule in feeding horses? Don’t make drastic feed changes. This is true because horses depend on a population of friendly bacteria to maintain healthy digestion. Drastic feed changes can alter the balance of healthy bacteria which can lead to colic or laminitis. Stress, drugs and weather changes can also alter the [...]
What Actually Causes Colic?
As the weather shifts into fall, with its unpredictable changes, horse owners begin worrying about the possibility that their horses may colic. Why? Because it seems that abrupt weather changes and colic often go hand-in-hand. But does a change in weather actually increase your horse’s chances of colic? Yes … and no! As always, when [...]
Horse Temperament: Punkin gets a saddle
Punkin is progressing at a steady pace despite the fact that Kim and I have not been able to work with him every day. As a Jue Yin(Wood/Fire) horse temperament, Punkin does not really need a daily work routine. He is quite happy when he gets attention and just as happy when he is left [...]
Horse Temperament: How to avoid a Metal horse colic
Boy, has this been a dry winter/spring in Central Texas. It is only April and we are regularly in the nineties with single digit humidity. The Metal horse temperament is the most at risk for colic under these conditions. The Metal horse temperament often has challenges with the lung and large intestine so a Metal [...]
Holistic Horse Health: Managing and feeding a horse during wild weather
Last week was sunny and warm which was quite a contrast from the previous week of sub freezing temps. Unfortunately, this is typical for Central Texas in February. On Monday night it was 80 degrees and by Tuesday morning it was 24 and we did not get above freezing for 3 days. We had multiple [...]
Horse Temperament: Metal Horse Digestive Support
The weakness of the Metal horse temperament is his digestive tract, specifically the large intestine, and excessive dryness will damage this organ. Impaction colic in horses can be the result of dryness in the large intestine so monitoring water consumption is very important. Metal horses also have an extremely high pain tolerance, which can allow [...]
Food Sensitivities in Horses: Bud’s last chapter
Food sensitivities in horses are hard enough to deal with but in Bud’s case it turned out he was battling a tumor as well. Bud came to my clinic in June 2009 with a history of severe weight loss and colic symptoms. After observing Bud for some time it became apparent that he was frequently [...]
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