Colitis is one of those “under the radar” conditions: It occurs infrequently enough to rank below a twisted gut, laminitis and similar conditions on the list of horse owner concerns, but it’s not exactly rare. You probably don’t need to worry about it too much, but you also probably should know more about it than you do.
Essentially, colitis is a form of colic, and the early signs of the condition are indistinguishable from those of other types of digestive upset: loss of appetite, lethargy, digestive discomfort, elevated respiratory rates and a rapid heartbeat.
But colitis affects a specific portion of the horse’s digestive system and that gives it some particular characteristics. “Colitis is an inflammatory condition of the colon, which is the large part of the intestine of the horse,” explains Gary Magdesian, DVM, DACVIM, DACVECC, a professor at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
In a healthy horse, the large and small colon extract water and nutrients from digested food, allowing firm stools to form as
