Horse eating poo?

[chestnut12]

Posting this on behalf of a friend,
she is worried as her horse is eating her other horses poo, was wondering what this means/any deficiency?
Any ideas will be great thanks!

 

[SVMel]

Yep you're right. I think its called 'coprophagia'. It is usually as a result of lacking something in the diet, or boredom.

You could try a broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement, years ago a horse I knew who did it was put on a seaweed supplement and that seemed to do the trick. You should also ensure the horse is getting plenty of fibre.

I haven't had to deal with this in a long long time, so don't know what's new on the market for it!

 

[curio]

hi one of mine did this and i gave a red rockies salt and mineral block and they stopped

 

[pocket]

Ralph did this a few years ago, I was both disgusted and worried, so emailed my vet for advice. As previously stated it can be that the horse is lacking in something vitamin wise, boredom or generally just a disgusting horse!

Having discussed diet etc, we came to the conclusion that Ralph was just disgusting and bored!! I increased his hay and he's not done it since, also, it was not long after my pony had died, so an element of depression may have been the case.