Step1
Be aware of the signs of colic. Twisting of the GI tract causes multiple problems in other systems. Medical colic (the kind that is treatable on the farm/ranch by a skilled horse person or medical practioner) include:
-Horse kicking at its belly
-Increased heart rate (determined by placing finger on facial artery on jaw or by listening to the heart). Heart rate of normal horse is 30 beats per minute. In 'medical' colic, heart rate can go up to 45 or 50 beats a minute
-Gums pink, with refill time (return of color after you press on them) within two to three seconds
-Lowered gut sounds (rumbling on all four 'quadrants') in the abdomen (the 'tail half' of the trunk of the horse) or gut sounds in only part of the belly
-Evidence that the horse has defecated---or is able to
-No fluid extractable from the bottom of the belly if you push a needle into it or fluid that is pale and small in volume
-Discomfort which is staying the same or getting better
Step2
Be aware of signs of Surgical colic (the kind that requires surgery---and fast) which include:
-Heart rate of 60 or over
-Capillary refill time more then 3 seconds
-Pale and sticky gums
-Absence of gut sounds
-Discomfort which is getting worse
-Fluid in the 'abdomenal tap' which is dark yellow, thick or (worse) red, and which is in high volume (this means that the wall of the intestines are breaking down, leaking blood and bacteria into the abdomen)
Step3
If you have a medical colic:
-Give Rompan (usually five mls of 100 mg/ml) by intramuscular injection or Banamine by IV injection, once to see if things improve, then 30 minutes later if you have to. These drugs decrease pain and cause an mild anesthetic effect. Beware that occasionally you can cause the horse to faint if you give too much Rompan.
-Inject 20 cc's of Penicillin into the muscle in the neck (not the vein) to decrease bacterial infection.
-Stimulate UB 20 (acupuncture point) and UB 21 with acupuncture needles (insert and twirl several times clockwise) or mix ginger with emu oil or DMSO and apply the mixture to those points. Stimulate Stomach 36 (below knee, 1/3 distance down the leg) as well with these methods. Do these only if you have acupuncture charts or knowledge of the methodology.
-Insert stomach tube into ventral meatus (lower nostril), push until you can smell and hear 'stomach' at the other end. Once you are sure you are in the stomach, insert a SMALL volume of mineral oil (half a coffee-cup's worth) into it, and be sure that you don't cause coughing (if you have, you are in the lungs and have to re-insert the tube). Then put in another small amount of mineral oil, and if okay...pour half a gallon into into the stomach tube. Re-assess gut sounds, discomfort levels, heart rate and gums. If better, take tube out and offer horse hay, water and brown mash.
Step4
If you have a Surgical colic, get the trailer ready and prepare to bring horse in for colic surgery at a specialized horse practice (a $5,000 bill, which works best if you get the horse there fast) or prepare to put the horse down.
Step5
Assess what could have caused the colic for the rest of the herd. Causes of colic include:
-More sand than water in the diet (which can happen with small amounts of snow or water and much mud or dirt)
-Worms...strongulus vulgaris in particular, which likes to live in a particular ares of the intestine and which is eliminated by regular deworming with ivermectin or other commercially available agents.
-Nephrosplenic or connective tissue 'entrapment', in which the intestines get 'stuck' in between organs in the abdomen---a situation which occurs in older horses.
-Dehydration, often after working horses very hard in hot weather.
-Bad hay or grain (particularly if there is fungus in it).
Novice 
