Feeding the Horse With Colic

Feeding horses with colic essentially falls into 2 main areas of veterinary involvement: firstly, nutritional advice provided as a preventative or mitigating strategy when an increased risk of colic is perceived in a horse or group of horses; and secondly, the nutritional management of individual horses following abdominal surgery for colic. Although many of the basic principles are shared between the 2 scenarios, this presentation will primarily focus on the former.

Colic is a diverse syndrome potentially caused by many different disease processes that may arise for different reasons and from different origins within the abdomen. Therefore although some dietary strategies might reduce the risk of colic in general, it is unlikely that all colic subtypes will be reduced by any one course of action. It is also possible that dietary changes intended to reduce the risk of one cause of colic, might increase the risk of another. [...]