Six Tips for Feeding Horses to Minimize Colic

If you’ve been unlucky enough to hold a stall-light vigil during the wee hours of the morning, then you know how terrifying a bout of colic can truly be. If you know that your horse is at risk for colic, consider some of the following strategies to avoid future episodes:

1. Recognize there are a large number of reasons that horses can colic, including change in season, activity level, dental status, internal parasites, and nutrition;
2. Abrupt changes in diet can change the delicate microorganism balance in a horse’s intestines;
3. Avoid feeding large quantities of concentrate or cereal meals, varying grazing times, and other dietary changes, including supplement use;
4. Higher fiber diets are helpful for maintaining a healthy gastrointestinal tract. Offer horses a minimum of 1-1.5% body weight in forage daily (2-3% is ideal unless weight gain is an issue);
5. If forage is restricted for any reason, slowing intake rather than limiting intake is recommended; and
6. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, changing batches of hay can be problematic. In fact, experts* suggest that switching hay can pose a greater risk of colic than changing concentrates. Hay should be switched over the course of two to three weeks.

In sum, the equine digestive tract evolved over thousands of years to process a high-fiber, low-starch diet that was gradually consumed over approximately 16 hours each day. Such a diet supports a stable and constant population of microorganisms in the equine digestive tract. Rapid alterations in the population of microbes due to changes in diet can trigger colic episodes in many cases. Thus, manipulating management to best mimic a horse’s “natural” diet and feeding pattern can help minimize colic, especially in at-risk horses.

*Durham, A. 2013. Feeding the horse with colic. Proceedings of the British Equine Veterinary Association Congress.