Research has repeatedly shown that horses which live on pasture have fewer episodes of colic than horses living in stalls, but it's important to keep in mind that the research is derived from large numbers of horses and that studies report the average findings.
Study conclusions may not be the same when applied to small numbers or individual horses that differ from study horses in their locations, preventative health programs, and activity level, reported Dr. Anthony Blikslager, professor of equine surgery and gastroenterology at North Carolina State University.
Though findings may not correlate perfectly to each horse, they can still be useful when managing individual horses or smaller herds. Blikslager begins gathering quality information by searching for information regarding medical studies on PubMed, a medical search engine maintained by the National Institutes of Health.
Items included on PubMed go back to 1996 and are searchable by terms. Not all veterinary journals are included in the database, but most of the best vet journals are. Specifically searching “colic,” “horse,” “risk,” and “pasture” brought up a PlosOne review that included as many studies as possible in one larger study.
This review assessed all the other studies and the horses used, then narrowed the factors increasing the risk of colic as follows:
- No pasture or recent decrease in pasture time or space
- Number of hours stabled per day
- Cribbing and increased time in stall
- Change in stabling
- Increased risk of small intestinal strangulation if time in a stall increased in the last 28 days
- Increased risk of large colon torsion with increased stall time in the last 14 days
- Increased risk of enteroliths if horse spends less than 50 percent of time outdoors
Each point has references that could be investigated further.
Though an individual horse owner's experiences may vary, and there are very well-managed stabled horses, the overall scientific research has repeatedly proven that pasture turnout is helpful at preventing colic by increasing the ability to move and to allowing continuous access to forage.
Read more at EQUUS magazine.
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