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  Discussion on Mare in foal colics once every two months!
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Posted on Monday, Dec 13, 1999 - 4:08 pm:

I have a 7yr. maiden mare in foal that up until she was in foal, had never coliced. She began bouts of gas colic at 3 months. I chalked it off to her first foal..stretching, sharing blood supply, etc. 9 weeks later, depressed,distended, loss of appetite...gas colic. At each episode I administered 10cc Banamine per vet recommendation. At that time I put her on grass/alf & grain diet-3#am and 3#pm. She's always been grained this amount with a probiotic and strongid. 2 months later she coliced again, then once more over this past weekend. Only this time she isolated herself in the pasture, got hung up in some panels somehow, in the am when I found her every leg was painted kelly moore green, swollen beyond definition, superficial wounds all the way around. It had been storming, but my guess was that she was uncomfortable/colicy, left the herd and went to roll. I'm concerned because this is a really big QH mare, this foal looks enormous-as even my vet agrees! Is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable. I also had to put shoes on her front feet, due to the extra weight to make her comfortable- she is not fat, but to give you an idea, we put her on a cattle scale one month ago and she was #1450-she is 15.3 and N/H. The stallion was a bit smaller. I am not so concerned with the foal, my concern is fear of founder or losing her to colic prior/during/after foaling? What do you think?

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 14, 1999 - 6:48 am:

Hello Kristi,
I would give her a good deworming with ivermectin and then try and divide the concentrate portion of the meal up into 4 feedings a day. This will decrease gas production if that is what is causing the colics.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 15, 1999 - 1:00 pm:

Thank you Dr.O, I will give this a try.

Posted on Monday, Dec 20, 1999 - 11:30 am:

Try taking her off the alfalfa. Not all horses can handle it as it causes alot of gas. I have several broodmares that will colic bad if they get near it. I have one that was fine for years and then started colicing at the sight of it. Those mares have to be kept seperate and receive other protein supplements while they are nursing.
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