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I'm not going to tell you all about colic in general. You have come here because you have a problem and want it fixed or want to know what to do in an emergency. You can get a lot of useful theory on other web pages or books if you have the spare time.
Colic just means abdominal pain from any cause at all.
Symptoms
Your horse will be uncomfortable, looking behind, maybe sweating and wanting to go down and even roll over. It could look exhausted or have signs of bruising and hair loss from being down. There are subtle differences between the behaviour with different sorts of pain, but leave that judgement to an experienced person. If the pain is mild the horse may only lie down occasionally.
Most colic cases are emergencies because of pain.
If you can't get me quickly then get someone else. The pain is often extreme and it must be relieved. If you can't get a vet quickly there are one or two trusted people that I will allow to visit on my behalf and they will be under my instruction. If you are not going to do anything about the pain (but just wait and see) then both the horse and myself would prefer that you shoot it on the spot or get someone else to do so.
There are two types of colic.
1. The sort that will cause death (almost no matter what is done).
2. The sort that will not cause death, (almost no matter what is done).
That may sound too simple (and it is a bit), but it may help if you think of it that way. I do not mean we can't do anything. We can push horses a little from category 1 to category 2, we can relieve pain and suffering
and we can make a prognosis. ( A judgement as to the future).
The vet's visit
A pre-treatment blood sample may be taken to assess the circulatory state before treatment. That may be disposed if recovery occurs quickly. Early treatment is mostly to minimize pain. That may be followed by further examination if the horse was too distressed at first to examine completely. Depending on severity and / or response to the first treatments the vet may choose to give large amounts of fluids into the vein. (20 litres or more). Other drugs may be used if it is believed that infection or worms are involved. It is less common now to give anything by stomach tube but one may be passed to the stomach to check abdominal pressures. (Reflux).
An early decision is made by the vet as to just how bad it is. This decision is arrived at by the basic examination involving heart rate, abdominal sounds, circulation, Also judging response to pain drugs and fluids and often by checking the abdominal cavity contents by special needle through the bottom of the belly. Pain killers often give us some breathing space to investigate further or in some cases they may be all that is needed. If the examination suggests that it is a serious case and you do not, (irrespective of cost) want to consider euthanasia, then it quickly needs to go to a specialist surgery equipped with proper facilities and skilled surgeons. Be prepared to spend in excess of five thousand dollars and possibly more than ten...and then with a high chance of a fatal outcome anyway. If you can't get it to that place then euthanasia may be the only option. Field surgery may be considered but it is not a good idea at all. There are some colics that can't be saved. The skill is knowing when to recognize that. Some people put degree of pain as a criterion (as judged by heart rate) but I prefer to use heart rate as only one of many factors.
Prevention
If you want to know how to prevent it then read some books on the subject. You'll find that it's mostly to do with worm control including tapeworms from when a foal to the present and also with feeding. In performance horses it is occasionally from metabolic exhaustion associated with fluid and electrolyte depletion. Gastric ulceration from high energy foods and boredom and stress as well as ulceration from the increasing use of drugs pre and post racing to minimize joint degeneration. That is to do with the racing of immature horses which is endemic to that industry.