Horses have a unique digestive system, finely tuned to efficiently digest a constant supply of low starch, fibrous feed. Domestication and modern horse management have meant that horses are sometimes fed very nutrient dense diets that the digestive system is not well adapted for.
Unfortunately, a less than natural feeding regime can result in potential digestive health problems, one of which is colic. Colic is one of the most serious conditions a horse can suffer and can be life-threatening.
However, the chances of your horse getting colic can be decreased with the right feeding principles. Lisa Elliot MSc, of Equine Nutrition Solutions, details 9 key steps to take when feeding your horse to reduce the risk of colic.
1. Feed Forage first!
Forage and the essential fibre it provides should always be the foundation of your horse’s diet, fed on an ad-lib basis to support good digestive health. Providing good-quality forage with higher digestibility is key because the less digestible a forage, the more the risk of colic will increase. Ad-lib, good-quality forage will help reduce the risk of colic in two ways.
- A constant supply of forage travelling through the digestive tract keeps it moving to reduce the risk of feed getting stuck in the more ‘bottle neck’ areas of the gut and potentially causing an impaction.
- Forage promotes the growth of beneficial microbes and helps support microbial equilibrium in the hind gut. Forage should never form less than 70% of the horse’s diet, or 1.5% of bodyweight per day to maximise digestive health. Research has shown that forage fed horses have a more stable and balanced microbial community and this is important given that an unstable microbial community and potential microbial dysbiosis is an important risk factor for colic.
Feeding plenty of forage keeps the gut microbes happy and healthy and healthy microbes = a healthy horse!
2. Ensure Dietary changes are Gradual
Sudden dietary changes are probably the most important risk factor for colic so it’s important to ensure these changes are very gradual. When introducing any new feeds changes should be made over 2 – 3 weeks to enable the hindgut microbes to fully adjust and minimise the risk of colic but this doesn’t only apply to bucket feeds.
Research has indicated that the risk of colic is greater when a horse is changed to a new forage, for example, if switching from hay to haylage, a different batch of the same forage and when changing from winter to summer grazing.
Compared to winter grazing, spring or summer grass can be higher in non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) which can pose a colic risk due to higher levels of fructan reaching the hindgut, potentially causing microbial imbalances or ‘dysbiosis’, so the change still needs to be very gradual to help reduce the risk.
Turning out on to spring grass should be done very gradually over a period of weeks, this ensures the gut microbes have a chance to adapt to increasing grass intake to help minimise the risk of digestive upset and colic.
3. Minimise Starch
Whilst small levels of more digestible cereals like oats, can provide a source of energy from starch for those horses that need it, overfeeding them can heighten the risk of colic. Excess starch which reaches the hindgut can result in hindgut acidosis and microbial dysbiosis, due to rapid microbial fermentation, both of which are risk factors for colic so it’s important to keep starch levels to a minimum.
Ideally the amount of starch fed per meal should be no more than 2g per kg bodyweight (BW) per meal but to help further reduce the risk, meals can be divided into smaller meals so that the horse receives only 1g per kg BW per meal.
If your horse needs more energy for work than forage alone can provide, it’s best to supply that through sources of highly digestible fibre, rather than higher starch cereals. When additional energy is required, this can also be supplied through sources of oil.
To reduce the risk of colic from cereal starch, fibre should always be the first choice and if your horse is more prone to colic it’s probably better to avoid cereals completely.
4. Feed little and often – in sympathy with the digestive system
Feeding large, infrequent meals poses a higher risk for colic through imbalances in microbial populations, fermentation and by significantly reducing gut mobility.
Making sure you feed your horse little and often is an important strategy to help negate this risk. By mimicking the horse’s natural eating habits and feeding in sympathy with the digestive system, to provide a more constant supply of smaller feeds, you can help reduce the overall risk of colic by optimising digestive health.
5. Provide Regular Grass Turnout
Free access to grazing is beneficial to digestive health because it mimics a natural diet and allows horses to carry out normal eating and social behaviours along with gentle exercise.
Pasture turnout has generally been found to reduce the risk of colic, which in turn, increases when horses are stabled. So, to minimise the chance of colic, it’s important to make sure your horse is turned out regularly, ideally for more than 12 hours per day.
6. Be Aware of Seasonal Changes
Whilst regular turnout at grass reduces the risk of colic, it’s important to be aware of how seasonal change can impact the composition of grass and influence this risk.
Sugar levels in grass can fluctuate regularly with the seasons and can become much higher during spring leading to higher levels of the storage form of sugar – fructan.
Horses are unable to digest fructan in the small intestine, so it passes into the hindgut for fermentation by the hindgut microbial population. In general, provided the horse has been introduced to spring grazing gradually, this isn’t a problem as the fructan passes through in small amounts.
However, recent research has shown that ponies in particular can often consume well above 2% of bodyweight when given free access to grass, meaning that if they are grazing fructan rich grass, they could be consuming much higher levels of fructans.
High levels of fructan passing into the hindgut will invariably result in a drop in pH and excess gas due to rapid fermentation, leading to hindgut acidosis, imbalances within the microbial population, and increased potential for colic.
If your horse or pony is prone to overindulging on spring grass, it’s advisable to restrict intake by strip grazing or using a grazing muzzle. Ensuring an alternative from of forage like hay is available is also good for digestive health.
7. Supply plenty of water
Water is key in helping to prevent colic because it helps stimulate gut motility. Making sure your horse drinks enough water is therefore essential.
Adding salt to feed or via a lick is ideal to encourage drinking and adding hot water to warm up your horse’s drinking water in winter can also help maximise water intake.
8. Support the Microbes
Pro and Prebiotics provide support for beneficial microbes and research has shown they shown they can stimulate the growth of beneficial hindgut microbes, help stabilise the gut microbe population and enhance fibre fermentation.
A stable, balanced microbial population, along with enhanced fibre digestion will help reduce the risk of colic so try to ensure your horse’s feed includes daily pro and prebiotics such as Ye-sacc, scFOS and MOS to keep those all important microbes happy and healthy.
9. Combat Colic with Coligone
The unique action and combination of active ingredients within Coligone mean it’s ideal for helping to prevent and mitigate situations that can result in colic.
Coligone has a unique ability to buffer acid and support a healthy balance of microbes with generous inclusion of yea-sacc, scFOS and MOS mean it can be used in any situation where the potential risk of colic is increased.
Coligone Oral Syringe can be used, for example, if your horse has overindulged, working rapidly to help mitigate the effects of excess starch or fructan and reduce the potential for colic.
Coligone liquid or powder can also be fed as a supportive aid at times of dietary change, the most important risk factor for colic, like changing from winter to spring grazing. Feeding Coligone at these times to help to maintain a healthier hindgut pH and support a more balanced microbiome, will help to reduce the risk for both hindgut acidosis and microbial dysbiosis, helping to decrease the potential for colic. Coligone liquid or powder can be fed daily to all horses and ponies to support enhanced digestive health, and is packed with beneficial nutrients for overall health, performance and condition.
Coligone Fibre Cubes can also play an important role in combatting the risk of colic. They are packed with beneficial fibres to help create diversity and stability within the hindgut microbial population along with essential fibre for a healthy hindgut.
Supplying plenty of fibre is key in the battle against colic, so feeding extra fibre sources like Coligone Fibre Cubes could help prevent and reduce the risk. Coligone Fibre Cubes can also be used as a beneficial alternative to cereals to provide energy for work and performance in a way which helps to minimise the potential for colic by supporting optimum digestive health.
