Home Remedies for Equine Colic

Colic is a general term for abdominal disease and is the leading cause of death in horses despite recent progress made in equine medicine. Not many home remedy treatments for equine colic are known or proven to be effective. However, there are many home remedies that are proven to prevent colic from developing at all. Colic is often the result of poor nutrition and a sparse supply of natural grasses and weeds.

  1. Allow Horse Acess to Natural Environment

    • In the wild, horses are forage animals. They graze on whatever scrub, grass or weeds that are available to them. If they are ill, they know which weeds help their stomachs. Today horses kept confined in small spaces are fed processed feed and supplements. Space is often an issue on horse farms but, if possible, allow your horse ample grazing time every day and plenty of exercise.

    Maintain a Pasture

    • If your horse's grazing environment becomes barren, it can increase the likelihood that it may develop colic from being forced to graze on either poisonous plants or sandy soil. Seed your horse pasture with a variety of grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, orchard grass and alfalfa. Allow the development of weeds natural to the environment and rotate horses out of a pasture in the winter and spring to give the plant life time to regrow.

    Minerals

    • There is a branch of study called zoopharmocognasy which studies animals and their natural ability to select plants and herbs according to their needs and illnesses. Horses also will select their own minerals. Salt and other minerals are often sold in blocks that can be placed in a horse's stall and pasture. They should be kept separate from one another, so that the salt does not deplete intake of the other minerals.

    Homeopathy

    • Certain herbs should be available to horses in their pasture, including Cape aloe leaf, senna leaf, cascara sagrada, burberry root bark, ginger root, fennel, aged garlic powder, wild yam root and cayenne powder.