Colic Risk Factors

For both you as a horse owner and trainer and myself as a veterinarian evaluating pre-purchase exam x-ray findings is a challenge. You will get a great deal of information and it can be hard to determine which findings are significant enough to avoid making a purchase and which findings you can accept as part of purchasing a horse, especially one who is engaged in an athletic life.

Each year frustrated horse owners come to me for advice on dealing with a horse that chronically kicks the walls in its stalls, kicks in the trailer, kicks when it is fed. The barns are damaged. Nerves are frayed. Periodically kicking becomes so profound that horses create self-inflicted lameness and injury. There are several strategies to deal with stall kickers and protect themselves and your barn from harm.

Cold therapy has been used for a long time. It has an anti-inflammatory effect and is used on sore tendons, joints, and hooves. The question always arises as to what method is best used to apply cold therapy.

There is a big emotional, time, and monetary commitment when purchasing a young horse as a prospect for higher performance.  With that in mind, I was intrigued to read the research conducted in Sweden extending from 1982 to 2005 on over 8000 horses. *  Researcher Lina Jönsson, PhD of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences did the hard work of digitizing young horse inspection reports on 4 and 5-year-old Swedish warmbloods presented for inspection as prospect dressage and show jumpers during that period.  

In April of this year, I had the pleasure of seeing the World Cup of Show Jumping and Dressage in Las Vegas.  The world championship not only brings some of the best competitors from around the world but also brings vendors to demonstrate their products at the shopping area adjoining the competition.    

Veterinarians and horse owners often wonder if a horse has an ulcer when they see a horse with chronic low-grade colics, a horse that becomes girthy, develops a poor appetite, has a poor attitude towards training, a dull hair coat, decreased performance, or becomes a stall kicker, among other issues.  Now a stall side test that can give you results in about 10 minutes costing only $54 is available (price may vary through the years).

For a little over a decade, Tildren has been used to treat Navicular Disease along with a number of other conditions such as back pain associated with "kissing spines" of the vertebrae, and bone spavin.