# Horse Coliced From Sand Impaction( pictures)



## Kura (Nov 16, 2008)

Wow, those are some amazing pictures! (Sorry, it's the future vet in me. xD). I'm so glad she's all right, though.


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## riccil0ve (Mar 28, 2009)

I'm glad she's ok. My friend's horse was put down in November because of sand colic. I'm with Kura though, great pictures. I'm trying to get into vet school. =]

I actually just bought some sand-rid stuff today.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Wonderfully informative pictures. And the sand -- wow. 

She looks very stable in her hospital stall. That's definitely what insurance is for. I wish her a healthy, speedy recovery.

I wonder where she got the sand from though? How old is she? Did the vet give any advice how to prevent this from happening again?


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

poor thing. I've dealt with sand colic on and on for years but never to that extent. very scary. Glad things are looking up.


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## Junebug (Jan 18, 2009)

We think from the patures overtime and the paddock from her stall it's all sand and she eats her alfalfa to bits, the doc said to do a gallon of oil and bran every month to clean it out of her system.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Oil and bran, hmm? Anyone else tried this? Maybe I should add it to my girls' diets because they are on full time pasture and right about now, some of it is pretty thin.


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## ragazzabella023 (Aug 8, 2009)

awww i have those same pictures when my horse had surgery back in May! I am so glad your horse will be fine in the end. I just started being able to get my horse back into shape, he didnt have sand colic but he had 2 ft of his intestine that had to be removed =( but he is doing good now. he still has some bad days tho, but it was a major surgery.

what else does the vet recommend that you do to prevent the sand colic?


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## 7Ponies (May 21, 2009)

I live in the south, our soil is very sandy. We routinely feed Sand Blast or you can use plain ole Metamucil (get the Walmart brand, it's much cheaper). It binds with the sand in the intestine and helps remove it.

I'm sorry your horse had to go through this. I hope she'll be okay. Did they have to remove any of her intestines?


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## Junebug (Jan 18, 2009)

7Ponies said:


> I live in the south, our soil is very sandy. We routinely feed Sand Blast or you can use plain ole Metamucil (get the Walmart brand, it's much cheaper). It binds with the sand in the intestine and helps remove it.
> 
> I'm sorry your horse had to go through this. I hope she'll be okay. Did they have to remove any of her intestines?


Uhh i dont think so, i just remember them throwing down somthing that looked like intestines it just was a little bit , i didnt know what it was.


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## Junebug (Jan 18, 2009)

She is getting better


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I'm glad she'll make it. I have to use sandclear once a month. He drops his grain and then eats it off the ground, which is really sandy. I still have issues every so often and have to have a vet out. Good luck to her!


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## FGRanch (Feb 9, 2008)

Metamucil is one of the best, cheapest preventitive treatments to sand colic! Hope you horse has a speedy recovery!


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## ClassicalRomantic (Jun 2, 2009)

I'm so glad she came out of if it on a good note! its always nice to hear the happy ending stories!


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

FehrGroundRanch said:


> Metamucil is one of the best, cheapest preventitive treatments to sand colic! Hope you horse has a speedy recovery!


How much? How often?


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## Hali (Jun 17, 2009)

Glad to hear your horse is doing better!!

I've always wondered... how do they get the horse on the operating table???


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## Qtswede (Apr 16, 2009)

We use psyllium husks to clean 'em out.


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## Junebug (Jan 18, 2009)

Hali said:


> Glad to hear your horse is doing better!!
> 
> I've always wondered... how do they get the horse on the operating table???


 They use some crane thing that hoists them onto it when they are asleep,i asked the same question.


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## Ryle (Jul 13, 2007)

What kind of oil did the vet recommend? If it's not mineral oil it won't do you any good because vegetable oils (and any other digestible oil) will be broken down by the body long before it can do any good for sand. And bran isn't really any better. The recommendation for feeding oats makes no sense at all as it isn't going to move sand through the gut and increasing the amount of grains in the diet increases the risk of colic. 

"Other causes of colic--such as sand ingestion--are often related to restricted access to hay. Restriction of fiber and/or boredom that induces a horse to nibble at scraps of hay and dirt increase risk of accumulation of sand in the bowel. The best prevention for sand colic is to feed ample hay, and when possible, use feeders (like large tractor tires) to confine the hay and keep it from being strewn across the ground. Many commercial feeders do not accomplish this end, so sand ingestion might not be prevented entirely--it is recommended to feed psyllium for a week each month to move through any sand that has collected. "--http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=10551

The Horse | The Sands of Time article on sand colic

The Horse | Feeding Horses: Art, Science, or Both? article with a discussion on bran as a laxative


Studies have shown that your best bet for moving sand through the gut is adequate forage or the use of psyllium.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Thanks, Ryle for that info.

Where do people get their psyllium from? I've never heard of it.

FGR -- what about this metamucil thing? How much, how often?


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## Junebug (Jan 18, 2009)

Ryle said:


> What kind of oil did the vet recommend? If it's not mineral oil it won't do you any good because vegetable oils (and any other digestible oil) will be broken down by the body long before it can do any good for sand. And bran isn't really any better. The recommendation for feeding oats makes no sense at all as it isn't going to move sand through the gut and increasing the amount of grains in the diet increases the risk of colic.
> 
> "Other causes of colic--such as sand ingestion--are often related to restricted access to hay. Restriction of fiber and/or boredom that induces a horse to nibble at scraps of hay and dirt increase risk of accumulation of sand in the bowel. The best prevention for sand colic is to feed ample hay, and when possible, use feeders (like large tractor tires) to confine the hay and keep it from being strewn across the ground. Many commercial feeders do not accomplish this end, so sand ingestion might not be prevented entirely--it is recommended to feed psyllium for a week each month to move through any sand that has collected. "--http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=10551
> 
> ...


Im just telling you guys what the Equine Surgeon told us to do Bran mash and a gallon of mineral oil once every month, they also told us that metimucil works but however much you put in your horse ( such as a tablespoon) only a tablespoon will come out. Thats doctors orders


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

NorthernMama said:


> Thanks, Ryle for that info.
> 
> Where do people get their psyllium from? I've never heard of it.
> 
> FGR -- what about this metamucil thing? How much, how often?


feed stores usually have those types of products. I've read articles against feeding straight psyllium (people have blamed it on deaths of their horses). I use Sandclear which has psyllium in it and I honest to gosh believe it helps.


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## dashygirl (Nov 21, 2006)

Wow, thank you for posting those pictures, very interesting. Thank goodness she's going to be ok. What a procedure!


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## Junebug (Jan 18, 2009)

they removed 25 lbs! we found that out yesterday!


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## SpiritJordanRivers (May 31, 2009)

OMG I can't believe that I might have to do that one day . . .  I wanna be a vet . . . I'm so glad she's doing better, I've never heard of a horse getting sand colic (I mean, I know that they can get it, but I haven't heard a story about a perticular horse getting it)


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## cowgirlfitzy (Jan 27, 2009)

Yea I have been told by our Vets to use bran mash. How do they want to administer the mineral oil? I always thought you weren't suppose to give the stuff orally for the risk of aspiration of it into the lungs, because it is so "thin" and thats why they do the nasogastric tube

Just wondering has anyone heard of flax seed helping get sand out? I heard this once not sure its true.


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## ridesapaintedpony (Apr 14, 2009)

Wow great pics and thanks for sharing. I'm sorry you had to go through that though and I hope she's 100% soon


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## Qtswede (Apr 16, 2009)

Metamucil is a psyllium husk product. You can look up psyllium husk and find dozens of products. I believe sand clear is one of them. I get mine bulk at our local grain elevator. Yes, psyllium can cause them problems, but only when they don't have free access to LOTS of water when you give it to them. Once a month we give our horses a cup a head, for 5 days. You can check and see if it's working by taking a few clumps of manure and putting it in a bucket of water. after the manure is dissolved, and removed, you will see sand in the bottom of the bucket. 
Sand colic is a big problem around here where it's all sand dunes & clay.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Qtswede -- thanks for that info.


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## PalominoStarsky (Dec 18, 2008)

I am so glad that she is okay. It must have been pretty scary going through all of that. 

On a side note, we just got my niece a black QH/welsh cross whose name is Junebug. How weird.


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## ZiggyKlepto (Aug 23, 2009)

Wow. Those are quite the images! Thank you for sharing. I'm glad that Tinker is going to be okay. Talk about scary!!

We lost a horse from sand colic. He was just never quite right after the first time and eventually got a bad enough case that there was nothing to be done (couldn't afford the surgery). All my horses get their weekly doses of Fibersyll, but it's nothing but sand where I live, so you always have to keep an eye out for it to show up.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

Junebug said:


> they removed 25 lbs! we found that out yesterday!


Did they say how long (over time) it would have taken for her to have ingested that much sand? Is she fed in a sandlot? I only ask because my horse has coliced off and on w/ sand over about the last 10 years and I'm curious. I feed him in a stall for the most part because he drops his grain and eats off the ground... (yucky teeth). Is she home yet?


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## Junebug (Jan 18, 2009)

farmpony84 said:


> Did they say how long (over time) it would have taken for her to have ingested that much sand? Is she fed in a sandlot? I only ask because my horse has coliced off and on w/ sand over about the last 10 years and I'm curious. I feed him in a stall for the most part because he drops his grain and eats off the ground... (yucky teeth). Is she home yet?


No shes a show horse so she gets turned out early in the morning till about 11 in her own pasture( all the horses have one) and they are pretty big and its all grass. She is home and she is getting much better she has to be hand walked for 2 weeks and i have to wait a month to ride. We think she is mineral defficent becasue she is eating the sand now and we give her minerals in her food bucket and licks it dry. So we are getting blood work done to check if she is diffcent in a mineral so that we can stop her nasty habbit!


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