Shedding light on deadly colic

New research by The University of Nottingham has found that more than 90% of horse owners did not feel confident in spotting early signs of colic. Now, The British Horse Society (BHS) and The University of Nottingham have teamed up to help horse owners combat the life-threatening condition at today's (1 September) launch of the REACT Now to Beat Colic campaign. The evidence based research, revealed today at the BHS's 2016 welfare conference, also found that colic accounts for one in three emergency veterinary call outs. At least one in ten of these cases may be critical, and up to 80% of these critical cases result in death or the horse being euthanised. In a bid to prevent colic reaching critical stages, the two institutions aim to educate horse owners about the wide range of issues relating to colic, in particular identifying the more subtle, early signs of colic. A comprehensive library of new resources has been produced to support horse owners in being prepared should colic occur. The charity has also created a simple acronym, REACT, to help horse owners spot any early signs of colic: R - Restless or agitated E - Eating less or dropping reduced A - Abdominal pain C - Clinical changes T - Tired or lethargic Professor Sarah Freeman, from The University of Nottingham's School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, said: "For the past five years we have been conducting systematic reviews of the evidence on risk factors for colic as well as different diagnostic tests.