hard poo's

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vicksey

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Help, my horse has recently had a few episodes of tummy ache, I wouldnt say colic as such but definate early signs. I've caught it early, given him a bran mash and it seems to have passed. But his poo's are hard and dry. I have put him on speedi beat and chaff and a pro biotic as advised by the nutritionist, but I think maybe the dryness of his poo could be due to a not drinking. He hardly touches his bucket of water, but I soak his hay (for diet control) and make his feeds very sloppy. Any advise on why he may have this problem or how to encourage him to drink. Thanks!
 
Try putting hot water into his bucket of cold water at night. It will take the chill off of it, lots of horses hate drinking icy water in winter.

I sometimes add a little pure apple juice to water to encourage them to drink. Experiment and see what works for your horse.

Also ensure plenty of turnout as the walking about will encourage his gut and bowel to work better, plus the water content in the grass too...

Above all I would get the vet to run some tests to rule out any medical problems.
 
Thanks for that, he does get turn out during the day and is schooled or lunged every night. Love the apple juice idea, so will try that and the hot water tonight. Thank you.
 
Not drinking could be dangerous. You need to be a bit of a Sherlock Holmes. Is his bucket clean? Not cleaned with anything that leaves a taste? Not getting peed in by mice, birds, yard cat? Drips from the roof contaminating it in any way? When did he change his drinking habits? Is it linked to any other changes in his life/management? Are his teeth ok? Eating well otherwise? Is he peeing less? How old is he? Any other signs eg Cushings, kidney probs? Have you changed his feed or turnout? I'd be worried if it was me. He might be dehydrated and might need a drip.
 
He has clean water 2x a day, has a bucket and water feeder both clean. No contamination as far as I know, no cats at the yard and no mice found in the bucket, although we do have some mice, feed buckets are covered. He looks bright and healthy in himself, good weight, eating like a ganit which is normal for him, and drinking water left over from feed, licking the bowel dry.

Had dentist in October, everything. Deep litter is wet when I take it up weekly so he is weeing, and wee's when we hack out. Moved yards 3 months ago, noticed this change in poo when the very cold weather set in. Did have a change in feed which I think may have caused this initially, so thats why Ive changed to a higher fibre diet and making his feed very watery.

I think I'll phone the vet!
 
My Filly's droppings turned noticably harder when I changed her from seed hay onto meadow hay... it could just be the change in diet and the occasional bran mash should help keep him moving...
 
Thanks for that, on thinking, we have gone from good quality haylege to hay, which is also good quality. When we first moved however I was put a bit of haylege in but ran out so just carried on with the hay. Might get a bot of haylge and see if it helps.
Thanks for that!
 
I was told by my vet when my horse had hard droppings to add a dose of salts, worked a treat but he was looking at my horse so not sure if it works as a rule.
 
I have a friend who has a similar problem with her little pony. He has had impaction colic numerous times due to not drinking enough.

What works best for her, if I recall correctly, is to make him up some sugar beet in LOTS of water. He loves the sugar beet flavoured water and readily drinks it.

I think she also tried apple juice in his bucket too.
 
Don't understand how you know he's not drinking if he has an automatic waterer as well as a bucket? Could be he's just going through a patch where he prefers to drink out of the automatic waterer! I wouldn't add salt or anything that has a laxative effect if it is the NOT DRINKING that you are worried about rather than hard poos. Adding salt would make him thirsty but if he's not drinking for some reason, this could turn a dodgy situation really nasty. Also, giving laxatives will attract more water to the gut so, again, if ned is not drinking, this could make the problem worse. Take a big pinch of his loose skin eg on top of his withers and pull it up into a tent. Let it go. It should immediately disappear back to normal skin. If it stays tented up, then he is dehydrated and could need a drip. But I still don't see how you could say definitely that he isn't drinking if he has an automatic waterer???
 
Another tip for getting more water into his diet might be to try something like allen and page Fast Fibre.
I use a similar feed made by Rowan Barbary (Sp?) called ReadyMash which a lot of people on our yard swear by for dodgy tummies - worked a treat for my mares overactuve tummy.
They both require soaking and are super for fibre intake!
 
I second A&P fast fibre and linseed oil. Try putting extra water in his feed so that his hindgut gets some.

My horse has Fast fibre and mollychaff. Are you feeding your horse enough fibre?

Linseed is great at getting the bowels to work, but feed it sparingly and over a couple of days. You want him to have soft poos not explosive diarrhoea!
 
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