Horse using poo as a pillow!

[Paint Me Proud]

Every day I get to the yard to find Kasper with poo stains all up his neck and on his face.

Inspection of his bed reveals poo neatly staked along the back wall but a section of it is always squashed flat.

The only theory is that Kasper uses the poo to rest his head on, I do know he does like to lie down a lot but this does he really have to rest his head in the muck.

I have made his bed bigger to give him more room but he still insists on his poo pillow.

Any suggestions?

 

[holeymoley]

Hahahaha! That's hilarious lol. Sounds bizarre, perhaps try chunkier bankings? My boy is very neat and tidy but strangely enough I know when he lies in his poo he's feeling it a bit chilly, obviously some heat from it!

 

[Dustygirl]

Our lovely grey connie does this too!!
I think he likes to have a warm pillow!!

 

[NiceChristmasBaubles]

My grey connie cross does exactly this as well. The poo is always encrusted on his right cheek, in his right ear and his right eyelashes. The rest of him is pretty clean!

 

[LisaS]

Same here, my grey just loves to plaster poo all over his neck and face, always the right hand side :-(
When I wash him the day before a show or Dressage competition I do put his Snuggy hood on. That saves the worst of it, although how he can still get some stains around his eye on occasion when he's got it on does make me despair !

 

[MissChaos]

Yet another with a grey Connie who enjoys this. All too familiar with mud battles but the poo pillow love is a new one with this boy! Grim, grim, grim.

 

[L&M]

My grey connie rolls in his own droppings in the field - you can see him actively searching them out....

I have only had him since spring so has been out 24/7 to date, but will be intersested to see what happens come winter.

Hope you find a solution!

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I honestly think that this is "A Grey Thing!". We have a grey Holstein/Selle Francais & every morning he is bathed to get the stains off his head & neck. It's not a case of 'is he dirty this morning?' it's a case of 'How dirty is he going to be?'

We have a bay who is kept identically & he rarely is dirty in the morning.......it is a grey thing!!

 

[khalswitz]

I read a very interesting theory once that grey horses are selected to be more dirty - in the wild, they would stand out much more to predators than bays, blacks and chestnuts, so the ones that spent more time caking themselves in mud were less noticeable to predators - natural selection for muckiness. Whether it's true or not I don't know, but I thought it was an interesting theory. Sure explains why my grey was always a MINGER, inside or out, and yet my bays have always been very clean unless cold.

 

[muddygreymare]

I went to get my mare in last night, and out of the whole entire field she had decide to roll in the biggest pile of sheep poo i have ever seen... And changed the meaning of 'dreadlocks'... EWW! I think greys just don't like being grey

 

[MissChaos]

I read a very interesting theory once that grey horses are selected to be more dirty - in the wild, they would stand out much more to predators than bays, blacks and chestnuts, so the ones that spent more time caking themselves in mud were less noticeable to predators - natural selection for muckiness. Whether it's true or not I don't know, but I thought it was an interesting theory. Sure explains why my grey was always a MINGER, inside or out, and yet my bays have always been very clean unless cold.

That sounds quite logical... depressingly.

 

[skyrock]

My yearling coloured filly does this every night. She lies on her left side and has poo stains on all the white bits of her neck and shoulder. her mum also coloured never lies in poo. Just wish she'd have taught her daughter brtter stable manners! lol

 

[Bobbly]

My Irish connemara bog pony, a confirmed wannabe Poobald!! Every day virtually I have to wash bits of him before I can ride. Don't you just love them? (NO!)

 

[SuperH]

I had a bay pony that always used one poo to rest her head in. I had her for several years and she always did it. Her stable was huge and there was lots of room so she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to. Maybe it kept her ears warm in the winter...