Colic isn’t just a first-world-horse problem. Equids around the world suffer from debilitating abdominal problems that can lead to death. | Photo: Stephanie l. Church/The Horse

Colic isn’t just a first-world-horse problem. Equids around the world suffer from debilitating abdominal problems that can lead to death.

In Kenya, for example, the incidence is relatively low, affecting only about 3% of the equine population each year. But researchers say that figure probably doesn’t include a good number of cases that receive “home treatment” and aren’t reported to veterinarians.

Expensive veterinary bills, lack of available veterinarians in an emergency, an owner’s confidence in his or her colic management skills, and easy access to prescription medications are among the reasons many Kenyan owners prefer to treat colic cases themselves, said Anderson Gitari, BVM, Mvet Surg, a veterinary surgeon at Andys Veterinary Clinic, in Nairobi, and a researcher at the University of Nairobi College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences Faculty of Veterinary Medicine