Checking gut sounds in a horse is a great way to help diagnose any problems, as healthy horses produce a sound every 20 seconds while colic horses can be completely silent. Use a stethoscope to properly hear a horse's gut sounds with helpful advice from a veterinarian in this video on caring for horses.
Hi I'm Dr. Joanna Robson. I'm a doctor of veterinarian medicine with Inspiritus Equine Incorporated. I'd like to talk to you about how to listen or auscult for gut sounds on your horse. If you suspect that your horse is colicing, your veterinarian may ask you what are your horse's gut sounds like? Now a horse's gut is actually divided into what we call four quadrants. Most important thing, invest in a decent stethoscope. Every barn should have a first aid kit available. One of the things you can add to your own personal kit is a stethoscope. It doesn't have to be the most expensive one on the market, but every barn should have one, it's also not a bad idea to keep one in your tack trunk or even if your truck if you go out to the barn regularly. You want to place the stethoscope with the ear pieces pointed forward in your ears. You're going to divide the horse's abdomen into four quadrants listening to the upper quadrant and the lower quadrant. And you're going to check for gut sounds on both sides of the horse. Ideally you should hear movement or what we call borborygmus. One sound every 20 seconds or two to three rolls or waves of gut sounds within a minute. Horses that are colicing may be completely silent, you might not hear anything at all. Horses that have colitis or diarrhea sometimes have a very overactive gut sound, what we call hyperactive, constant sounds, sometimes easy enough to hear without a stethoscope at all. So in review if your veterinarian asks you what do your horse's gut sounds like, sometimes you can just hear them by placing your ear next to your horse's gut but much easier for you if you invest in a stethoscope. Take the time to listen to your horse to develop what they hear like when they're normal and then place a stethoscope in each of the four quadrants, two on each side to listen to your horse's gut for normal gut sounds.
Specialty: Vetrinary Medicine
