[jeanienej]

My gelding who is a little too fat and very healthy had a severe reaction to (we think) a bug bite or sting. I saw him trotting around the field and when I called him and he came in he had some very troubling things going on that caused me to have an emergency vet visit. He had the following things all happening at once: Sweating, constant muscle spasms on one side of his body with skin wrinkling (constant), kicking at his stomach and pawing if asked to stand still. He would not walk - he either stood still or trotted. He pawed when still and kicked at his stomach when trotting. His heart rate was elevated and he was obviously in pain. My first thought was colic but he wasn't trying to roll or go down. It lasted about an hour. The vet gave him Banimine (sp?) and a couple of days worth of an antibolic steriod. He was fine within 90 minutes - as if nothing had happened. Very scary at the time though. Just curious is anyone else had had anything like this happen? And if it was only a one time thing? I hate to keep him in but am afraid to put him back out with the others in the field. Any info you guys can give me will help.

[Ryle]

Did your vet do a rectal palpation? It sure sounds like a colic and that can be the case even if the horse is not trying to roll--depends on the horse. I would sure check on him regularly for a while in case it's more than an allergic reaction.

[jeanienej]

I've seen lots of colic and this wasn't it. It's been several days now and he is absolutely fine. The whole thing was scary and weird. Plus he pooped right in the middle of the episode and had good gut sounds.

[Ryle]

That's good.

[Blistering Winds]

Colic is such a generic term.

The actual definition of colic is "abdominal pain".

And any number of issues can cause abdominal pain. From eating something wrong to

Some horses will want to roll, others won't.

You may have experienced one that was "abnormal" to what you've experienced before because the "reason" may not be gut related.....

FYI, TOO Much gut sounds can lead to colic too. ever have really bad diarrhea and bad gas pains? Same difference in the horses.

And horses can and will poo during a colic episode. All depends on the cause of the colic situation. if twisted gut, then poo AFTER the twist can still move through, and poo can exist for 24 - 48 hours within the GI tract.......



However as to your question of what to do, definitely watch the horse for the next few days. If you can pinpoint the reason for this episode, it would be great. Because there are a tremendous number of things that could have triggered what you saw.....I would jot down everything so if it occurs again, you can help pinpoint things for the vet.