You Live & You Learn | An Adult Amateur's Experience with Colic Surgery

By: K.M. Thornton
Last Friday my eight-year-old unicorn left for the winter on a Brookledge truck from a stable just seven minutes from my home in Boise, Idaho to a show barn more than 14 hours away in Scottsdale, Arizona. This move was one of the most difficult decisions that I have had to make as an amateur rider. For the first time in years, I feel that I am experiencing exponential growth in my riding skills: I now own a nice show hunter, my personal schedule and logistics finally allow for daily riding, and I have solid local coaching that focuses on fundamentals. Why, then, would I make such a drastic decision to send my only horse, Sazerac, to a location that is essentially two flights away?

The answer: a preventative measure against colic.

Colic

“The word colic is a vague term that indicates clinical signs of pain in the abdominal cavity. It is not a specific disease but rather a combination of signs that signal the presence of abdominal pain in horses. These signs can range from mild to severe and can rapidly become a life-threatening situation. (1) “

On January 15, 2016, I was away at HITS Thermal for business when I received a call at approximately 7 pm from our barn manager/owner that Sazerac was showing signs of colic that included not eating his dinner, pawing, and trying to lay down. He had demonstrated the similar behaviors one-week prior, but this episode was more dramatic and upon physical examination by our primary vet, it was recommended that we move him to the region’s large animal veterinary hospital for fluids and additional testing. By 9 am the next morning he was in surgery.
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As hypothesized by the veterinarians’ pre-operative examinations and diagnostics, the surgical results indicated that colic surgery was the correct decision. Upon incision, it was determined that he had: 

• COLON DISPLACEMENT: Colon displacement (to the right of the abdomen) often involves the cecum. Clinical signs usually include severe gas distension and pain. The ability to feel tense bands of the colon through rectal examination usually confirms that this is the problem. The treatment for this type of colon displacement is surgical, with a good outcome in about 80 to 90% of the cases. (2)
• FEED IMPACTION: Feed impactions in the large or small colon are common problems that produce abdominal pain in horses. Impactions can be produced by poor dental health (not being able to adequately chew the hay), lack of water in cold weather (frozen water), dehydration from exercise, decreased motility in the bowel, and poor-quality (coarse) hay. Clinical signs produced by feed impacts are usually similar to gas colic since the impaction will also prevent the passage of gas. Generally, an impaction is suspected if the horse has not produced feces in the last few days or if the feces appear dry, very small or covered by mucous. (3)
• GAS ACCUMULATION: Gas accumulation in the colon and cecum is the most common cause of abdominal pain in horses. This can be produced by a decrease in normal motility or accumulation of feed in the bowel. Often horses may show some pain and get better without treatment or after some minutes of hand walking or trotting. Other times, an analgesic or anti- spasmodic agent is required to relax the bowel and allow the gas to start passing out. (4) 

​I believe the communication and diagnosis by our primary veterinarian and his communication with his peers at the large animal hospital saved not only Sazerac’s life, but also his career as a show hunter. Damage within his system was limited because of their proactive practices in diagnosis. Each surgical case is unique due to both cause and the extent of the internal damage. I feel very fortunate that we had an excellent veterinarian staff that patiently explained all options, were accurate in pre-op analysis, and made quick decisions to give him the best care possible.

THE POSITIVES

​I would not wish the emotional or physical pain of colic surgery on any horseman or equine, but it is important that I note the positives of my personal experience.

First ride post surgery - March 2016

BONDING: I have never bonded with a horse quite like I have with Sazerac. This was due to the sudden panic of thinking he might not be in my life, the daily post-op follow up care, and the hands-on rehabilitation process.

COMMUNITY: I had multiple unsolicited messages from owners with competitive horses that shared their colic surgery success stories. These equestrians became important resources for advice regarding stall rest, rehabilitation, feeding and most importantly, hope.

SUPPORT: I was out of town the night of the colic and enroute from California to Boise the day of the surgery. I am still amazed at the friends that stepped in, no questions asked, and helped out. This includes, but is not limited to, hauling him late at night to the veterinarian hospital and staying with him until he was stabilized and visiting post op to and send me photos with updates of his progress.

FUNDAMENTALS: Rehabilitating under saddle from colic surgery requires A LOT of flat work. As Sazerac become more fit, we were able to concentrate on higher-level skills that later benefitted our jumping. Realizing the benefits of a very broke horse on the flat was a big reminder to me that this is a step in training that we must methodically develop. ​​

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MY ADVICE FOR ALL HORSEOWNERS

My past interactions veterinarians almost always has stemmed with lameness issues. Colic surgery was something I never thought I would experience, but it was a true wake up call to increase my basic stable and health care knowledge.

1. RECORD KEEPING:  I use StableSecretary.com, an online record-keeping platform that can be used anytime from anywhere. Stable secretary stores health and maintenance records in one central location. ADDITIONALLY, administrative records, including insurance policy numbers, may also be stored. This was invaluable to me when the clinic told me to call our insurance company in the middle of the night and I was able to easily access the information from my Stable Secretary phone app, even though I was out of town.
2. TERMINOLOGY:   The veterinarians I spoke with had to spend extra time explaining basic colic terminology so that I could make informed decisions. My lack of knowledge of general stable management terms was a major precipitous to me participating in the USHJA’s Stable Challenge presented by the Plaid Horse.  Our entire barn benefitted as we reviewed (and learned) shoeing theory, anatomy and basic health care. 
3. FEED & SUPPLEMENTS:  I rely on my primary veterinarian to make all final nutritional decisions, but I complete some of the leg work by consulting with feed and supplement companies to learn the benefits of forage, roughage, probiotics, vitamins and preventative medications to proactively minimize future incidences of colic. This is a practice we all should be involved in to meet the needs of our horses based on activity and health requirements.
4. KNOW YOUR HORSE’S DAILY ROUTINE: Make sure to know if your horse naps during the day, size of manure, eating patterns, etc. As an example, I am aware that Sazerac naps in his grass paddock every afternoon. At the first show after his surgery, I had a few calls from people at our stalls that were concerned because he was lying down and breathing hard.  Had I not known that he was just snoring and enjoying his daily nap, I most likely would have called the show vet. 
5. READ, READ, READ:  I read several boards that recommended referring to the book, “Back to Work” by Lucinda Dyer. As explained by Amazon, “In Back to Work, you find guidance from 11 highly regarded veterinarians and professionals—all experts in rehabilitating horses. You also read the stories of 40 amateur riders from all walks of life (some of them tantalizingly close to having achieved their competitive goals) as they come to grips with diagnosis of tendon and ligament injuries, colic surgery, or laminitis.” I found the book highly useful and I have added it to my equestrian library as a resource.

HINDSIGHT

Sazerac is ten and half months post surgery and he appears to be fully back to normal and in great health. We are not completely sure what caused his colic, but there was a much higher incidence of cases throughout the Boise valley when he fell ill. The cases were hypothesized to be related to a change in weather that included freezing temperatures and a fog inversion, thus horses were not inclined to drink water during turnout.
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Additionally, Sazerac is a cribber and I did not have him fitted correctly to a collar that would prevent this behavior. I had given him the month of January off, but due to the frozen ground he was not eating forage during his daily turnout and was instead using this time and extra energy to ‘suck wind’ out of boredom. I am not a vet, nor can I dispense veterinarian advice, but given the sequence of events and our protocol since, there seems to be a correlation between cribbing, continuous forage consumption and boredom.  

First show back - August 2016

SNOWBIRD!

​These are the factors that guided us to the difficult decision to move him to a warm client for the winter with a trainer that I trust implicitly. I know from experience that without an indoor arena, it would have been impossible to keep him active every day as necissated in the post-operative protocol that was developed specifically for him. Although I miss Sazerac, I am excited that he is in a top show barn on the West Coast and he is already benefitting from having a steady program of daily work to keep him active and his level of training progressing. I am also looking forward to challenging myself to learn other skills that will raise my level of acumen within equestrian sport. Not to mention, I now have an excuse to escape the cold Idaho winters to ride and show in the Southwest. 
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For Sazerac and I, colic surgery was not been the end of a career, but rather the catalyst to help me become a better horseman and develop a close bond with a special, once in a lifetime horse.  

Source: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ceh/local_resources/pdfs/pubs-HR26-1-bkm-sec.pdf