How environmental and management factors contribute to colic risk and what changes can reduce this major welfare threat.
Environmental management for colic prevention reflects the fundamental welfare principle that horses do best in conditions closest to their evolutionary design: movement, social contact, consistent forage access, and outdoor living. The epidemiological evidence that stabled horses with restricted movement and intermittent large grain meals have higher colic rates than pastured horses with continuous grazing reflects this mismatch between management and physiology. For horses that must be stabled, the welfare-protective approach creates as much environmental richness as possible: maximum turnout time, social contact, appropriate forage available throughout the day, consistent management, and regular exercise. Colic prevention requires not just feeding management but holistic attention to the horse stress load from management changes, transport, competition, and social disruption — factors that affect gut motility through the gut-brain axis.