Horse eating poo !!!

[Pedantic]

Why would a horse eat poo when there is grass in the field

?
saw it today, poo looked fresh not old !!

 

[Shilasdair]

For a number of reasons;
1. To repopulate the hind gut with bacteria (by using another horse's poo bacteria)
2. Short of minerals and vitamins.
3. Short of fibre in the diet.
4. Foals routinely do this with their mother's dung to kick start the gut bacteria.
Your only worries really, are that your horse could contract worms, or it could become a habit 'coprophagia', I think.
S

 

[Hippona]

One of our dogs used to eat poo (retches

)....

.....the vet said one reason could be there was still still alot of 'goodness' in it despite already having gone through the other dog...

..........perhaps it smelled of Cherry chaff or Blue-chip and was irresistable

 

[Pedantic]

Never seen it or heard of it before, dont know if it was it's own poo or another horses

 

[Shilasdair]

[ QUOTE ]
Never seen it or heard of it before, dont know if it was it's own poo or another horses

[/ QUOTE ]

It's quite common, and not a sign of huge trouble.

If it was your horse, you could give him extra hay for fibre, a vit/min supplement to be safe, and definitely pro-biotics, to help establish a healthy gut flora.
Worming, and making sure there is enough to eat in the paddock might also be useful.
S

 

[cjdjivanovic]

I consulted my vet the first time I saw my horse eating poo; he said not to worry; they do it all the time in the wild. If he was already getting a good diet, don't change anything. The horse stopped doing it after a few weeks; the next year, at the same time he did it again for a few weeks and then stopped of his own accord.

 

[Chico Mio]

FB did this for a bit. I did the following:

Gave him a new mineral lick
Upped his forage and gave him a bit more hard feed (I have an odd feeding regime, not normal to you lot with grass!)

He soon stopped. I did wonder if he was bored or stressed as he was on his own at the time, but the diet change seemed to work.

 

[flowerlady]

Occassionally my other horse used to do it this time of year as Shills said often lack of minerals. I put a salt lick in field and stable in winter stopped straight away. Normally a lack of something in diet.

 

[NeilM]

I knew what the title meant, but it did conjure up a scary alternative, if you think of 'man eating shark', that is either a gent enjoying a nice shark steak, or the reverse, so 'horse eating poo' could describe something very scary indeed.


I'll get me coat !

 

[Pedantic]

[ QUOTE ]
I knew what the title meant, but it did conjure up a scary alternative, if you think of 'man eating shark', that is either a gent enjoying a nice shark steak, or the reverse, so 'horse eating poo' could describe something very scary indeed.


I'll get me coat !

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea I get it now

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

saves pooh picking?

 

[kellyeaton]

horses will do this if they are lacking sometyhing in there diet!