Free Essays,College Free Essays,Free College Essays at Anti Essays

Many different sicknesses and diseases affect horses each year. But there is one that is

not only a problem in horses but in human babies. The term Colic means any pain in the

abdomen. This sickness affects more horses each year than any other health problem.

Studies have shown that Colic is the most common reason for horse deaths or euthanasia.

Even though Colic is most common in the digestive tract, the term is also used to

describe pain in the urinary tract, uterus, liver, or other organs. Colic in the digestive tract

may be caused by spasms, it may also be caused because of twists and torsions of the

intestines. Even though any age of horse can get Colic older horses are more

receptive to getting it because they get huge tumors that wrap around the intestines.


Probably no other disease or sickness has as many different causes as Colic does.

The basic cause of Colic is the horse’s internal anatomy, because of that fact that their

stomach is so small. A horse’s abdomen contains about 100 feet of intestines. This makes

it very easy to cause problems in the digestive tract.

Another major cause of Colic is the way people feed and manage their horses. Horses

are more susceptible to Colic when they are over fed or if a horse gets into a whole bunch

of feed. A horse may also receive Colic if they are fed different feed than they are used

to. An inaccurate feed schedule can also contribute to Colic. The different types of grain

that are finely ground can get clogged up in the horse’s digestive tract, this can lead to

impaction.

One more major cause of Colic is parasitism. This is mainly caused by roundworms

and blood worms....