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Colic: Colic is a spasm and must not be confused with inflammation. If it occurs within an hour of a full meal it is usually in the small intestines; if it occurs at other times it is in the large intestine. Colic by itself rarely causes death; when a horse dies it is usually due to the added trouble of enteritis.
Symptoms: The horse is in pain and looks round at his flanks. As the pain increases he walks round his box, throws himself down and gets up again. The pain passes and then returns. There is no fever, but the belly is tense and sometimes swollen somewhat, and tender to the touch. The horse sweats. If the spasm has not passed in about six hours the case is serious. If the bowels act it is a favourable sign; lack of tension in the belly is also a good sign.
Causes: Generally, either incorrect watering or feeding, or lack of exercise. Sometimes the initial cause is crib-biting, or calcareous accretions, or insufficient mastication due to bad teeth. Sometimes colic is due to a sudden chill. In a gelding a dirty sheath may cause it. An abrupt change of diet also occasionally brings it on, as when, for example, a starved horse is overfed.
Treatment: Rub the belly with a straw wisp.   Rub
the legs and put on flannel bandages. A good colic draught is:
2 oz. of oil of turpentine, i oz. of tincture of opium,
in 12 oz. of linseed oil, or in a pint of thick gruel. If no medicine is to hand, gin, rum, whisky, or ginger may be substituted. But if the animal wants to lie down let him do so. As the pain decreases he usually wants to. The rubbing must be continued, and sometimes a little walking at intervals will ease the pain. It is, however, foolish to keep a horse continually on the move, as many grooms advocate.
Remember that the colic did not start without a cause, and it is up to the owner to ascertain what unusual treatment his horse has undergone. In slight cases, often intermittent for several days, the horse should be prepared for physic (i.e. soft food), which will probably prove a sufficient remedy.
Enteritis, or inflammation of the intestines, may be a sequel to colic.
Symptoms: Unlike colic, enteritis develops slowly. It is preceded by dullness with partial or complete loss of appetite. At first it is very similar to colic but without the intervals of ease, the pain being continuous. As it develops the horse gets cold extremities, a dry mouth, hurried respiration, and dilated nostrils; he sweats and his tail stands erect and quivering; he also looks anxiously round at his flanks.
Causes: The sequel to colic, or continued constipation, or indigestion, or the excessive action of a purgative. Usually it is a sequel of other diseases rather than a primary trouble.
Treatment: Soft food, perhaps starvation for 24 hours. Linseed jelly is good. Rug up warmly and avoid chill; give no exercise.
Staggers,   primarily   an   affection   of the   brain,   is nowadays very rare. It has two forms, mad and sleepy.
Symptoms: In mad staggers the horse is excited; in sleepy, he is drowsy and comatose. The eyes are set and the urine scanty. The horse appears to be mad but is only delirious.
Causes: An overgorged state of the stomach, as when a horse has been freely fed after a long fast.
Treatment: As the cause is indigestion, the cure is to give light soft food and to open the bowels. Large doses of purgative are wanted, as the brain has been affected. Hand rub the belly, and follow the usual careful management.

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