Horses that stink

[poiuytrewq]

Why? What is it that makes one horse smell like death but others smell like horses. I notice it out and about with my job and kind of blamed different feeds or management but my own 3 are now on the exact same feed. Two stables I walk in and there is no noticeable smell. The third knocks my socks off. He stinks like a dirty cow shed. He looks and appears healthy. Lovely shiny coat. I’m not worried there’s anything wrong just a (yuck) observation.

 

[Parrotperson]

Sane as people I venture to add……..

 

[Red-1]

I thought Rigsby had a musty stink a few months back, in the damp weather. Turns out, it was his halter!

 

[poiuytrewq]

I thought Rigsby had a musty stink a few months back, in the damp weather. Turns out, it was his halter!

This is definitely not any equipment! Sadly, I could wash that!

 

[Maxidoodle]

My hubby’s late mare had a really odd odour, kind of a stale really musty smell. Never put my finger on it, even after bathing, I could still smell the underlying smell. I once mentioned it to the vet and he said she just smelt like a horse, no one else could really smell it. I’ve had horses for 45years and shes the only one that didn’t smell right to me.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Are you sure it's not the way they ate kept?

I used to look after someone's horses and they stank and they had soft rubber mats in the stable and wee used to squelch when you walked on them, and they literally had a 2ft strip of bedding at the back it was disgusting and all her horses stank, even the farrier used to say they smelt bad when he came to do them.

 

[Maxidoodle]

Are you sure it's not the way they ate kept?

I used to look after someone's horses and they stank and they had soft rubber mats in the stable and wee used to squelch when you walked on them, and they literally had a 2ft strip of bedding at the back it was disgusting and all her horses stank, even the farrier used to say they smelt bad when he came to do them.

For me - Hubby’s mare was very clean, on shavings, rubber matting on a floor that was well drained, we had her in two different stables in our yard and she just had a bad smell. Other horses who were in the same stables smelt “normal”. Maybe it is just like people, I used to date a guy, many years who had the most rotten smell to his sweat

 

[poiuytrewq]

Are you sure it's not the way they ate kept?

I used to look after someone's horses and they stank and they had soft rubber mats in the stable and wee used to squelch when you walked on them, and they literally had a 2ft strip of bedding at the back it was disgusting and all her horses stank, even the farrier used to say they smelt bad when he came to do them.

I get that! This isn’t wee though and one of my own horses. I probably spend as much time and effort mucking this one out as the other two put together. He’s my biggest user of bedding by far. It’s not a normal smell though imo. It is cow shed

 

[Fieldlife]

I get that! This isn’t wee though and one of my own horses. I probably spend as much time and effort mucking this one out as the other two put together. He’s my biggest user of bedding by far. It’s not a normal smell though imo. It is cow shed

You mean horse smells? Or his poo smells?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

For me - Hubby’s mare was very clean, on shavings, rubber matting on a floor that was well drained, we had her in two different stables in our yard and she just had a bad smell. Other horses who were in the same stables smelt “normal”. Maybe it is just like people, I used to date a guy, many years who had the most rotten smell to his sweat

I know what you mean my 2 geldings smell totally different but neither are horrible maybe I'm just lucky

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I get that! This isn’t wee though and one of my own horses. I probably spend as much time and effort mucking this one out as the other two put together. He’s my biggest user of bedding by far. It’s not a normal smell though imo. It is cow shed

Yeah maybe it's just individual smell my 2 smell different just unfortunate I guess

 

[TinseLeneHorse]

Cushing's horses can have a distinctive sweet musty smell apparently. I think it might be a similar thing that humans with Parkinson's can have.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Cushing's horses can have a distinctive sweet musty smell apparently. I think it might be a similar thing that humans with Parkinson's can have.

He has cushings, so does my other pony though so I didn’t make that link

 

[holeymoley]

Theres one at ours who’s around 26 and she smells. It’s like she’s rotting from the inside she isn’t treated for Cushings but I’d 1000% say she had it. She also eats her own poop

The same happened to a friends horse years ago and she was being treated for Cushings, she ended up having abscesses and all sorts burst out her skin. Could it be sinus issues?

 

[Maxidoodle]

Theres one at ours who’s around 26 and she smells. It’s like she’s rotting from the inside she isn’t treated for Cushings but I’d 1000% say she had it. She also eats her own poop

The same happened to a friends horse years ago and she was being treated for Cushings, she ended up having abscesses and all sorts burst out her skin. Could it be sinus issues?

That is so interesting, the smell my hubby’s mare had was rotten, not at all sweet, I can totally get when you say the one at yours smells like she is rotting from the inside. She had absolutely no symptoms of cushings but perhaps she did have it.

I now feel I may sniff every horse I meet, just out of pure interest

 

[holeymoley]

That is so interesting, the smell my hubby’s mare had was rotten, not at all sweet, I can totally get when you say the one at yours smells like she is rotting from the inside. She had absolutely no symptoms of cushings but perhaps she did have it.

I now feel I may sniff every horse I meet, just out of pure interest

Even just walking passed the stable you can smell this one.

 

[Barton Bounty]

BB smells amazing, like that sweet horse smell you remember as a child. His bed however needs gutted every single night how he doesn’t stink of wee I will never know

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Jacob's poos smelt like fresh slurry, I never did get to the bottom of why, it didn't change with feed, he had no stomach issues. I think it's just like poeple, some stink!

 

[Barton Bounty]

Jacob's poos smelt like fresh slurry, I never did get to the bottom of why, it didn't change with feed, he had no stomach issues. I think it's just like poeple, some stink!

Best comment of the day

 

[poiuytrewq]

You mean horse smells? Or his poo smells?

It’s not him no, his stable. I guess it’s his poo yes.

 

[JCW]

I’ve noticed that if ever my two have had antibiotics, their poo smells real bad. I assume it kills the good bacteria. You could try so probiotics and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Tiddlypom]

It’s not him no, his stable. I guess it’s his poo yes.

Is it like the smell of badly made too rich cattle silage? That can be from poorly digested over rich grass. My homebred's droppings stank of it for 36 hours when she came back off loan, it absolutely reeked. She's never had it before or since then with me.

 

[Maxidoodle]

I’ve noticed that if ever my two have had antibiotics, their poo smells real bad. I assume it kills the good bacteria. You could try so probiotics and see if that makes a difference.

Yes, it can kill off the good gut flora apparently, we nearly lost our eldest during him having antibiotics, vet recommended probiotics if we ever used them again. It’s interesting here, when you go to get human antibiotics, the chemist asks which brand of probiotics you also want.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Is it like the smell of badly made too rich cattle silage? That can be from poorly digested over rich grass. My homebred's droppings stank of it for 36 hours when she came back off loan, it absolutely reeked. She's never had it before or since then with me.

We have zero grass. He’s got cushings and my ridden horse is fatter than I’d like so they are in a really pretty bare field. They do have lovely but coarse hay which effects my other ponies fecal water syndrome (I know that’s not how fecal
Is spelt but can’t work out where I’ve gone wrong )
I expect it’s something along those lines.
There’s a few I work with the same though which is what made me think

 

[poiuytrewq]

He’s such a fussy little sod that I’m always very hesitant to feed any gut supplements because I need him to eat his handful of feed to get his Prescand. If I rock the dinner boat even slightly he just won’t eat.

 

[SEL]

M used to honk but he had such a thick coat I just put it down to needing a good bath! Which was never going to happen because he thought the hose was the work of the devil.

I knew a horse with severe gut issues from redworm and in the run up to him being put down he had this horrible odd smell. We thought it was the steroids but it stayed when the vets took him off them so perhaps it was just sick horse smell

 

[poiuytrewq]

I remember once we had a very sick horse who needed intensive care at home because he was very suddenly too ill to travel.
He was put on a drip and the vet warned me about the smell. She wasn’t wrong!
So so bizarre, he utterly stank and it must have been coming from his pores or something because he wasn’t pooing or weeing unaided. It was foul

 

[Snowfilly]

I had a mare who smelt like rotten meat for maybe the last three months of her life. Something was obviously going wrong inside but she was eating, charging round the field like an idiot and held her weight fine until I got down there one morning and found her distressed. She smelt absolutely vile, nothing like a horse at all.

 

[ponynutz]

Must be similar to some people and down to personal preference I guess (although people suggest why other people do or don't smell nice is down to pheremones).

Have heard people suddenly go off the smell of their pets when they were expecting though...

 

[SilverLinings]

Why? What is it that makes one horse smell like death but others smell like horses. I notice it out and about with my job and kind of blamed different feeds or management but my own 3 are now on the exact same feed. Two stables I walk in and there is no noticeable smell. The third knocks my socks off. He stinks like a dirty cow shed. He looks and appears healthy. Lovely shiny coat. I’m not worried there’s anything wrong just a (yuck) observation.

Can other people smell it OP, or just you? I was seriously ill about 12 years ago and the smell of one of the two dogs I had at the time made me gag; not a rotting smell but I really weird iron smell, like blood but very strong (hard to describe!). I had never noticed much of a smell about her at all before, and certainly no different to my other dog. Neither my mum or my sister could smell it, and I stopped being able to smell it when I recovered, but it returned briefly when I had a minor relapse.

I'm not suggesting you are ill, but they say that people react differently to the smell of other humans (and that it is likely to have an impact on choosing partners), so is it a combination of his smell and your detection of it? Obviously, if everyone else can smell it to then it's definitely coming from him!

Otherwise I'd second the poster above who suggested trying probiotics. It sounds like mucking out is a particularly unpleasant chore for you at the moment so I hope it improves!