Nutritional Management in Horses: Selected Aspects to Gastrointestinal Disturbances and Geriatric Horses

Nutritional risk factors and dietary management in equine colic
Acute diseases of the equine abdomen associated with signs of pain are commonly called colic. The colic incidence varied between 10-26 cases/100 horses (Uhlinger 1992, Tinker et al. 1997), and is one of the most common medical problems in adult horses. Lesions associated with colic have been anatomically and functionally categorized as obstruction, strangulation, nonstrangulation infarction, enteritis, peritonitis, ulceration or ileus (Tinker et al. 1997). Epidemiologic studies have revealed several risk factors, and it is pointed out, that mistakes in feeding and feeding management will increase the risk for colic several fold. An absence of water on pastures and drylots, the consumption of whole corn, large amounts of concentrates, and changes in type of roughage are particularly notable (Reeves et al. 1995, Cohen et al. 1999).Colics which are located in the stomach are mainly due to changes in microbial fermentation or a result of motility loss. These colics appear briefly after feeding (Table 1). [...]