horse pooing like a cow! should i worry?

[Trules]

Hi, just after opinions really, my mare who i have had for 3.5 years, lives out 24/7, and is a fit tb/eventer, seems to be producing excessive green slime more recently, if i bring her in from the field she can produce 5 or 6 cow pats in the space of 10 minutes. she seems to be suffering more from nerves as she is getting older, she is 12 in the new year.
she is as good as gold to ride, travel etc. came 4th in an open hunter trial last weekend. but the state of her stable after half an hour in is unbelievable. it would cost a fortune in bedding to keep her in at night cos she can reduce a clean shavings bed to slime in 24 hours.
she has a small hard feed twice a day, sugar beet and an active mix. Any ideas? would you worry or just think it's a combo of grass and nerves. she is wormed up to date.

thanks in advance..

 

[wizoz]

Just a thought, could she be sugar intolerant? We had to watch what we fed one of ours, he couldn't have haylage as it made him very squitty!

 

[Echo Bravo]

Could be the extra grass spurt, with this mild weather,but the grass is mostly water or have you had early morning frosts.

 

[muff747]

Have you tried cutting out the sugar beet?
I think I would be worried if it lasted long term as I would have thought she will not be getting enough nutrition from her food if it is passing through her so fast.
She sounds quite a stressy horse and could be suffering with ulcers. Horses have been competed on fibre feeds and without any grains.
I would try a change in diet to a high fibre feed but leave out the sugar beet. If you need some moisture just dampen with a little water but not much.
A young mare at my yard had the same problem. The owner got the vet in and she wasn't too worried but recommended a yeast type supplement which would help restore the gut flora, she liked the one I use from Equimins called Fibre Digester.
Unfortuantely, the wet weather and grass won't help the problem and the vet recommended keeping her in with just a hay diet for a few days to see if that would help to stop the cycle.

 

[Trules]

thanks for the replies,i'm off to the feed shop tmrw to try a fibre based feed and see how i get on.
she can be a bit quiet to ride hence the active mix, but it's got to the point recently where i need to leave the wheelbarrow and shovel on standby when she's tied up outside her stable and it will literally be half full be the time i've tacked up!

thanks all!