Dr. Alice also says a good way to decrease the pH level in the horse s colon is to increase the grain to hay ratio. For people who don t want their horses to be too energetic, this may not be appropriate. Provide daily exercise and avoid prolonged stall or small pen confinement, Dr. Alice says. Horses, she points out, need exercise to maintain intestinal movement of feed. Frequent small feedings, rather than a couple of large ones, will help keep bulk material moving through the large intestine.
Trichobezoars are a very specific kind of concretion made up of hair.
A trichobezoar then is nothing more than a hair ball. According to Dr. Alice, concretions can achieve a large size without causing problems. There is no characteristic symptom which can determine the presence of concretions. However, reoccurring colic without good reason might suggest a trichobezoar or enterolith, according to Dr. Alice. Problems for the horse develop when the concretion is dislodged from one place and becomes an obstruction in a portion of the intestine.