Testing for sand in a horse’s digestive tract, and sand treatments in general, have been a subject of debate, believe it or not. Some have strict protocols for sand clearing at their barns; others have never treated their herd for sand and have had no issues.

Sand colic is thought to make up about 30% of colic cases and can cause life-threatening impactions. Testing for sand in the digestive tract of your horse can be a small routine task to check for any buildup, and it’s incredibly easy to do.

There are a few ways to test for sand, but the easiest is to combine manure and water and let the sand particles settle out of the mixture. This can give you a baseline estimate of sand burden in your horse’s system and can guide you and your veterinarian’s recommended treatment plan if necessary.

Sand Colic

Sand colic is as serious as any other colic, possibly more so considering sand particles can quite literally cement in the intestines to cause a very hard impaction. Sand is naturally a heavier substance than hay or grain when passing through the digestive tract and can collect in the ventral colon, leading to buildup over time.

Sand colic is the most common in, well, sandy areas. Compounding this risk are short pastures, horses that are grained and hayed on the ground, and dry lots on sandy soil.

How Do I Test For Sand?

The simplest test is to float some of your horse’s manure in water and let the sand settle out of the mixture.

All you have to do is take a few fresh balls of manure from the top of a pile, making sure no soil is grabbed during collection, place it into a livestock exam glove or a clear plastic bag, add enough water to cover, and slosh it around (carefully!) to break the manure up.

Then, hang up whatever you’re using as the container and let the sand settle out for about 15 minutes. If using a glove, you should be able to see sand in the fingertips; if using a plastic bag (like a Ziploc), I tend to hang it at an angle so that it collects in the corner.

To give some perspective, for every 2-3 decent-sized manure balls, if there’s 1/4 teaspoon of sand or more settling out, there’s a high likely hood of a significant amount of sand hanging out in your horse’s GI tract.

What If I Find Sand?

If you find a significant amount of sand in your horse’s manure, it may be time to call the veterinarian to discuss treatment or the inclusion of a psyllium protocol.

Each vet has preferences in their practice of how to go about this; mine recommends a monthly sand treatment protocol for prevention, I’ve had a sport horse veterinarian recommend a full month psyllium cleanse every six months for our area (eastern NC can be very sandy), and I’ve seen other veterinarians recommend tubing with various oils to flush out the ventral colon.

Regardless of the amount of sand you find, if your horse is demonstrating any colic symptoms or if you have a significant concern for impaction, always call your vet for a thorough assessment.

Monthly Sand Treatment

In my area of Eastern NC, which has a high sand component to our soil, our local veterinarians recommend treating horses with psyllium for one week out of each month, either using psyllium pellets or psyllium powder like Metamucil.

I follow the directions on whatever psyllium pellet brand I’m using (usually, the generic is the cheapest), and if I’m using psyllium powder, I dose it at 1/2 cup twice a day.

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As always, go by your veterinarian’s recommendations if you’re wanting to start a psyllium protocol for your equine; don’t assume what I or anyone else does is what’s best for your horse.

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Other Techniques

Another technique that can be used to test for sand is to use the float method in a jar or bucket instead of a bag if you’re testing for sand over consistent periods of time. This way, you can mark how much volume of water, manure, and sand are in each trial to keep results as accurate as possible for comparison.

Your vet also might be able to see sand in the ventral colon using xrays or simply listening with a stethoscope (if there’s a lot of sand, it will sound like the beach), but these may not be entirely accurate.

There have been many instances of sand impaction that weren’t identified as sand impaction until the horse was on the operating table, such as the case of my friend’s horse, which came from Texas.

This particular horse started her monthly sand treatments here in NC after receiving none in Texas and seemed to tolerate them well until she had a bout of serious colic. Turns out the sand treatment, after years of never having any, had congealed all of that collected sand and created a blockage.

Thanks to insurance, her owner was able to send her to NC State Veterinary Hospital for colic surgery, and despite the diagnostics from the farm call, the sand impaction wasn’t able to be detected until the surgeon was elbow deep in her abdominal cavity.

This was a bit of a tough situation; if this horse wouldn’t have started her monthly sand treatments, an impaction would have most likely still formed, just at a slower rate and with more discomfort.

Another technique I’ve heard of horses receiving is nasogastric tubing of magnesium sulfate and psyllium or tubing with mineral oil and psyllium. Some studies have been conducted with successful results in Finland using the magnesium sulfate and psyllium combination, but I have not seen or heard of this technique being widespread in the US.

Happy Horsing

Check with your vet to see if they recommend any sort of sand treatment protocol for herds in your area; it can be a simple preventative measure that can save your horse a lot of discomfort and possibly their life.