Help! My horse won't wee!

[trojanpony]

Does anyone out there have any bright ideas about how to convince my horse to wee?!

Tonight I was lungeing and doing some groundwork in the school and he was being all stroppy. I know he needed a wee because he kept stopping and 'assuming the position' :S but won't actually perform the act! I don't know what the reason is. He won't wee on a hack, or in the school being ridden either, but will happily wee in his stable (or on the lorry) and I assume he goes in the field and he doesn't seem to have any actual discomfort or anything.

As a rule it's not a problem, but sometimes like tonight or on a long ride, it can be a problem. He's an endurance horse and at one ride this year he decided he needed a wee about ten miles from home. I did everything I could, whilstling, standing in stirrups, even got off a couple of times and stood him on a grassy verge but to no avail! In the end after about a dozen stops and no action, I just had to make him go. Finally, about a mile from home he must have not been able to hold on any longer and he did actually go. Twice!

I have tried whistling to him when he goes in the stable but it doesn't seem to help. Any ideas of things I can do to encourage him??

Thanks!!

 

[spaniel]

This is quite common and really IME theres not a lot you can do. When he really really needs to go he will!

 

[niagaraduval]

My boy des this too. I also tried everything and it took us over an hour to finally get home (although we were only 15 mins away!). When we finally got home the second he got in his stable he let out the biggest wee (and very loud farts!) i've ever seen !

 

[trojanpony]

I wonder what the reasoning is? It doesn't seem to be surface related. He's no better on grass than sand or anything. In fact he's more likely to wee on the concrete outside his stable than in the school. I've even gone as far as taking the saddle off before but no result. He poos quite happily tho. Strange.

 

[Mare Stare]

I guess it's similar to people not liking public loos. I'll only use a public loo if I'm desperate.

 

[YorksG]

My mare is the same, only once in the nearly six years I've had her, has she wee'd with me on board We have been on 8 hour hacks and the last bit on the way home has been horrid, as she has been desperate for a wee, but will not go till she gets into her stable. I have also tried alsorts, but with no result. The only time she did it, there was nothing any different from all the times she hasn't, so it gave me no clues at all. I shall keep an eye on this thread, in case someone has a magic answer

 

[indie999]

When I use to hack my cob if he had a pee before we left in the field before being caught he was comfy on a hack.

If he didnt have his pee he was tetchy and uncomfy just irritable and not relaxed. But he would move to a stretch of grass on a hack and have his pee after much effort with me on board and then off we go all happy!

Patch of grass for mine!

 

[JennBags]

My old boy is like this too....very frustrating, especially at comps as he wouldn't perform if he needed a wee, and he wouldn't wee until he was home

 

[EstherYoung]

We sort of cracked this with H in three ways:

1) Make sure the saddle really really fits and that there's nothing making them sore if they stance up

2) Make sure he's well hydrated. Firstly if he's carrying water he won't be able to hold on and he'll have to go, and secondly if he's a bit dehydrated that may make him a bit reluctant to shed some

3) Harry finally had a real breakthrough when we started doing longer rides with a vetgate. He'd not go and not go and not go and then not even go in the vet hold, and then when I tacked him up to go again, he would without fail go within 100 yards of the start. After that he started weakening his resolve a bit.

That worked for Harry. We haven't worked out what works for Spud yet LOL. And when Spud does go, boy does he go. He must have a really enormous bladder. On one famous occasion he finally weakened at a really busy crewpoint and he was there so long he got a round of applause when he finished.

 

[Cuffey]

I would work on the whistling when he actually pees in front of you and then pat--good boy

Having had a pony who could hold all night and then peed in the field as long as I got him out quickly--I did manage to train him to a whistle.
Believe me he saved a fortune in bedding--because when he did go he could pee for Britain!!

 

[Boysy]

Have the same problem on and off with one of mine only my lad doesn't like weeing in his stable/on hard ground/in a sand school/short grass etc etc. He only likes weeing in long grass or on the box and has a favourite patch just inside the yard gate, he goes every single time without fail on his patch before a ride and if he doesn't go then he will be irritable the whole ride. Right pain in the bum over summer as he wouldn't wee in the field on the hard ground/short grass so would hold it all day til he came in to be ridden and would then rush to his patch!

So i whistle and loads of praise when he does actually go especially in the stable as that can be a real hang-up if i ever needed him to stay in, he lives out usually but odd occasions they come in for the day.

If they are in, i have been known to go up on a lunchtime and bring him out to his patch for a wee then put him back in but i suppose that is pandering to him and he really needs to learn he can pee in his stable (bearing in mind his bed is 6inches deep!)

We have nearly cracked it and at comps i can now take him on a verge and praise and he will normally pee before getting back on the box and over xmas he peed in his stable a few times so when i caught him doing it he got lots of praise.

Strange hang ups about peeing aren't they, my mare will pee anywhere and everywhere, couldn't give a monkeys whose about or where she is, she's even peed at X during a halt.....

 

[DuckToller]

Daughter's gelding is a bit like this - he can't jump clear if his bladder is full, but won't go very easily.

I found out that if I got to a show early, and walked him in hand until we found a patch of rough grass, he would relax and then go. It had to be long grass, and no-one around, and if he started to move his legs into position and then I looked at him, he would walk on again!

He was so frustrating, and I had to build in an extra 20 mins to the time we needed to arrive for the warm up, just so he could be walked round in hand to pee, otherwise there was no point going in the ring. Eventually we got it down to about 10 mins as he got the message, but if we were running late and he picked up my stress, forget it.

I think part of it is him picking up the tension, because at one show we got hassled into going in the arena, he hadn't been yet, and of course got lots of faults as his bladder was full and he couldn't concentrate, he then came out and went immediately on the hard tarmac outside as he couldn't hold it any longer.

So could you practice on long hacks, getting off when you think he might be full enough to need to go, find a quiet spot with rough grass and just giving him as much time as possible to see if he will get the message? Take a book and be resigned to waiting for some time. Then hopefully next time he won't take as long to relax and go, and he might make the connection between being led to a patch of grass and peeing.

 

[[59668]]

Mine has the opposite problem. He weed on the farrier last month. While standing on 3 legs!!!

 

[CeeBee]

Lol, Harvey is the same. He once peed when we were crossing a river and there were people swimming in it, then on the way back, poohed in the same place :0

 

[doratheexplorer]

B is the opposite - he can pee for England!

 

[EstherYoung]

If you can get the whistling thing to work, that's great - a friend of mine trained hers to go in a bucket, even if he didn't really want to go. Unfortunately I can't whistle

Forgot to add to my previous post. Running water has the same effect on them as it does on us, so maybe dribble a slosh bottle next to him when you're out on the trail (although that will probably make you want to go too LOL).

If you stop for a tinkle yourself they often copy you (depends on how busy the ride is as to whether that's a viable option....) and they also often copy other horses. If you see another horse stancing up, take yours over to it and then when they've finished position yours over where the other horse has been.

 

[bran mash]

just a thought, but bladder stones spring to mind - after the article in HH about them recently? might be just habit, but may be worth looking in to