Select FIBERPSYLL - Equine Fiber

  PREVENT SAND COLIC - A natural dietary supplement with psyllium, wheat bran and

  beet pulp. 90% PSYLLIUM for maximum expansion & effectiveness. 15% WHEAT BRAN

  for additional insoluble fiber for bulk and flavor. 15% BEET PULP valuable in reducing high

  dust levels in Psyllium - adds soluble fiber bulk & flavor.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Colic
Colic is still the number one cause of death of horses today. It used to be that verminous colic (caused by worms and other parasites) was the primary type of colic, but now in many areas sand is the most commonly seen form of colic. Sand colic is the result of the building up of sand in the intestinal tract of the horse. There can be as much as 150 pounds of sand lying in the bottom of the horse's belly.The pain from sand is caused primarily by two methods. The sand presses on the bottom of the intestine, preventing blood from entering the area (Just like when you press on your fingernail, the pinkness (blood) goes away). This causes the long term, low grade pain that can cause a horse to eat poorly without ever really acting colicky. You know how it feels to not get enough blood to an area if you have ever tied a rubber band around a finger for very long.

Eventually the sand can build up to the point that it totally blocks a loop of intestine. At this point, the horse becomes very painful from the buildup of hay and water in front of the blockage. Once this pressure builds to a certain point, it either pushes out the sand blockage or pops the intestine like an overfilled balloon. The intestinal rupture is always fatal.

Sand Colic is Preventable
Sand colic is one of the most preventable diseases known. The buildup of sand is simply the amount of sand being eaten minus the amount of sand passing through. If the same amount is going out the back as is coming in the front, there can be no buildup.

Prevention of sand intake sounds simple, but often heroic efforts are fruitless. Horses eat sand whenever there is sand below where they eat. If they are fed in feeders that are not big enough for them to spread out the feed, they will pull the feed out and put it where it can be spread out, usually on the ground.

Horses lick their lips between nearly every bite of hay. If the horses eat off the ground, every time these wet lips touch the ground, the dirt will stick to the lips and be consumed with the next mouthful of hay. Some horses simply must vacuum up every last morsel of hay and in doing so, they also vacuum up quite a quantity of sand. Horses in pasture that pull up the grass, roots and all, get a mouthful of dirt with the roots.

Young horses all seem to go through a stage, as do people, dogs, and many other domesticated species, where they feel that they need to eat dirt, often by the handful. This behavior in young is normal and you cannot stop the desire until they outgrow it. The overt eating of dirt in adult horses is not normal. It is often found that there is some form of deficiency in the adult's diet. The most common is the lack of salt or other mineral deficiency. Stress and boredom can also drive an adult horse to eat dirt.

Moving Sand Through
Sand is moved through the intestinal tract by the normal peristaltic movement of the tract. Regular exercise can be the most beneficial way to help the intestines move the sand out. Moving sand that is in a hard lump may be impossible, but shake it up with some good trotting and it will break up and move right through.

After exercise, feeds play the next major role in moving the sand out. Concentrates such as grains and vitamin supplements do nothing to remove sand. Roughages such as alfalfa, timothy, coastal, and other hays are the traditional source of fiber for horses. Hay alone can move through a small amount of sand just fine.

Psyllium is the best feed stuff known for the prevention of sand colic. Psyllium cannot cause enteroliths. It is fed in such small amounts that your horse cannot gain weight from its use nor will it cause any nutritional imbalance when fed normally. Many horse owners feed oil to their horses. Most do it for the nutritional benefit (increased weight, shinier coat, etc.). Some mistakenly belive that it will help move through sand. Plant oils (vegetable, corn, safflower, etc.) are digested and absorbed long before they get to the sand. They do not lubricate the digestive tract. Mineral oil (liquid paraffin) is not digested or absorbed. It tastes terrible to most horses. Horses will not voluntarily eat mineral oil. Mineral oil does help loosed up tightly bound sand, but it does not move it out as well as psyllium.