Q. My horses normally get turned out daily. After a few days at a show, I took my stall-bound horses to a round pen to roll and move around on their own. Someone suggested I don’t do this, because it could cause my horses could get torsion colic.

Does the actual act of normal rolling cause torsion? Also, is there a relationship between torsion colic and time of feeding or amount fed?

Patti, via e-mail

A. Normal rolling as a cause of colic is very common misconception among horse owners. However, it is very unlikely for normal, healthy horses to get colon torsion from rolling, so I would allow your horses to do it. Regarding the second part of your question, the only relationship related to feeding and colic is that many concentrates (such as sweet feed) predispose horses to colic but not necessarily to colon torsions. Horses are meant to eat continuously, so frequent feelings are best