It's not always something one can prevent.
It sounds as if the animal had a very severe blockage or rupture. Such a terrible shame.
Some animals have had their digestive system damaged before we ever got them. Many animals aren't wormed routinely - especially if not wormed during the first months and years of life, parasite activity can damage the digestive tract permanently. This makes the intestinal tract work unevenly, and can lead to a twist or a clump of food.
Too, animals that are kept on sand or around debris, can pick up a lot of sand that later blocks the intestine, or, a bit of a nail or piece of hardware can get into the digestive tract, and a 'stone' (enterolith) form around it. It often isn't debris from the current land owner - junk can work up through the ground that was buried or dumped there eons ago. My neighbors were appalled to find their pony with a badly sliced up foot - hubby went out and walked the pasture with a magnet, and found a while row of metal fence posts - broken off just above the surface of the ground!
It's probably to late, but an autopsy might have shown what caused the blockage. Then one can make any changes needed, if possible. Since many blockages are due to previous damage - often there is nothing one could have done for that animal. But it did make us very vigilant for hazards after our friend lost her pony. Her pony couldn't have been helped as the damage was done bfore they even got him, but she did a lot of research after and shared it all with us.
First, she found that many colics are associated with vaccinatable illness, and she urged all of us to stay up to date with our vacccination program (we already were).
Providing good quality hay - not too rough and stalky, and not too fine(tends to wad up or pack), helps the feed be processed and the intestinal tract to work normally.
Cleaning up feeding areas - being on the lookout for bits of metal, wood, plastic, nails and the like, can help prevent ingesting hardware and enteroliths. Magnet sweepers can be used to go over loafing and feeding areas from time to time.
Putting a stall mat or two out over any sandy feeding areas, can help prevent horses and donkeys from picking up too much sand. In sandy areas, some people have hay feeders with a flat tray below, to catch all seeds and bits of feed, so the animals do less nibbling around in the sand.
Reducing stocking rates, so fewer animals per acre are on the pasture or grassy areas, can help prevent animals getting down into the soil and nosing around for bits of grass.
There's nothing that can be done many times, but most horsemen go way out of their way to be sure 'nothing could be done'.
It sounds as if the animal had a very severe blockage or rupture. Such a terrible shame.
Some animals have had their digestive system damaged before we ever got them. Many animals aren't wormed routinely - especially if not wormed during the first months and years of life, parasite activity can damage the digestive tract permanently. This makes the intestinal tract work unevenly, and can lead to a twist or a clump of food.
Too, animals that are kept on sand or around debris, can pick up a lot of sand that later blocks the intestine, or, a bit of a nail or piece of hardware can get into the digestive tract, and a 'stone' (enterolith) form around it. It often isn't debris from the current land owner - junk can work up through the ground that was buried or dumped there eons ago. My neighbors were appalled to find their pony with a badly sliced up foot - hubby went out and walked the pasture with a magnet, and found a while row of metal fence posts - broken off just above the surface of the ground!
It's probably to late, but an autopsy might have shown what caused the blockage. Then one can make any changes needed, if possible. Since many blockages are due to previous damage - often there is nothing one could have done for that animal. But it did make us very vigilant for hazards after our friend lost her pony. Her pony couldn't have been helped as the damage was done bfore they even got him, but she did a lot of research after and shared it all with us.
First, she found that many colics are associated with vaccinatable illness, and she urged all of us to stay up to date with our vacccination program (we already were).
Providing good quality hay - not too rough and stalky, and not too fine(tends to wad up or pack), helps the feed be processed and the intestinal tract to work normally.
Cleaning up feeding areas - being on the lookout for bits of metal, wood, plastic, nails and the like, can help prevent ingesting hardware and enteroliths. Magnet sweepers can be used to go over loafing and feeding areas from time to time.
Putting a stall mat or two out over any sandy feeding areas, can help prevent horses and donkeys from picking up too much sand. In sandy areas, some people have hay feeders with a flat tray below, to catch all seeds and bits of feed, so the animals do less nibbling around in the sand.
Reducing stocking rates, so fewer animals per acre are on the pasture or grassy areas, can help prevent animals getting down into the soil and nosing around for bits of grass.
There's nothing that can be done many times, but most horsemen go way out of their way to be sure 'nothing could be done'.
