While you can’t necessarily prevent or squelch every equine ailment by adjusting his diet, what a horse consumes can impact certain maladies. According to Meri Stratton-Phelps, DVM, MPVM, Dipl. ACVIM, ACVN, owner of All Creatures Veterinary Nutrition Consulting, in Fairfield, Calif., veterinarians and owners can use certain dietary ingredients to reduce a horse’s risk of developing particular medical conditions such as colic, gastric ulcer syndrome, and developmental orthopedic disease and to help manage some pre-existing conditions such as obesity and equine metabolic syndrome. She presented on the topic at the 2011 Western Veterinary Conference, held Feb. 20-24 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Before delving into dietary details, Stratton-Phelps stressed that caretakers changing horses’ diets should go about it very slowly, as a rapid change in feed could cause colic itself. She suggested stretching changes out over about 10 days (or more if the horse has a history of colic associated with feeding adjustments).

Impaction Colic

Impaction colic is a common condition in which feed material obstructs the large colon. According to Stratton-Phelps, a common cause of impaction colic is a decrease in water intake: "Many impaction colic cases can be prevented by ensuring an adequate water intake at all times