Loose droppings - any ideas to help firm them up.

**Vanner**

**Vanner**

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Hi All,

My boy is feed haylage and happy hoof supplemented with garlic and haylage balancer. He has always been a bit loose and this has improved since trying the haylage balancer but I'd appreciate any ideas on how I can firm him up - washing hocks permenantly isn't much fun :rolleyes:
 
Some horses have this problem with haylage - the enzymes don't agree with them.
Is he still loose on hay do you know?

You could also try adding a low calorie high fibre cube to his ration, such as Spillers.
 
Tried pure hay and a mix of hay and haylage together - no difference. A friend recommended high fibre cubes but another person said they would act as a laxative. Will give them a try. Will also look at brewers yeast.
 
try increasing the dose of haylage balancer

I had a horse who was very loose on haylage (too rich for his guts) - he was fine on hay

He was on pink powders - which is the base of the haylage balancer. I upped his does to double the recommended (he was 17.2 as well, so I felt he could take it!) and he was fine - normal droppings

(and TBH colicked less often too!)
 
Go easy on the garlic. Why are you feeding it? High doses of garlic have been linked to gastric ulcers in horses. If he doesn't need it, don't feed it. He'll be getting practically everything he needs in the Happy Hoof. Some haylage is a lot wetter and more acid than others so it might be worth changing your haylage supplier or try him on Horsehage Timothy (change over gradually) which is consistently high quality.
 
Never thought to cut out the garlic - will try that. I've already added a little extra of the haylage balancer - will ring naf for advice on the maximum i can give.

Haylage comes as part of the livery it is very good quality - almost too good the horses thrive on it. Last year he was on big feeds and massive nets this year I seem to be having to cut right back just to stop him expanding any further.

Thanks for your advice everyone
 
http://www.finefettlefeed.com/MOREONHAPPYTUMMY.htm - absolutely fab stuff, hadn't heard of it until recently but has really helped my boy's laminitis and completely sorted out his loose bottom - his droppings are now beautiful and perfect (I know, I need to get out more). I bought the Happy Tummy as it was recommended to me by my trimmer but have since googled and there are other sources that may be cheaper ie http://www.stablelabel.co.uk/, I think any activated charcoal will do the job so will shop around when my current tub of HT runs out but I intend to keep him on it permanently.
 
Update - i ditched the garlic and put him on global herbs diareeze along with fast fibre from allen & page.

It worked - better than i have ever known - normal infact.

have now removed the herbs and still good (touches wood)
 
I don't know what's in the Happy Hoof chaff, but I had this problem with one of mine (who was on hay), and I was feeding him Alfa-A as a chaff.

I have just changed this to the Mollichaff by Marksway (given him the Calmer version) and it sorted the problem out immediately - within 12 hours of his first feed he was solid.
 
Activated charcoal is indeed the very thing to help here. There's a product called Gas-Ease (www.stablelabel.co.uk) and it neutralises excess acidity in the gut, as well as absorbing excessive gas. It's a fantastic product.

WARNING: If you're using activated charcoal be very careful to check that the charcoal is indeed "activated" - because if it is not - it is no good. I have heard of at least one company who sell "charcoal" but pass it off as "activated charcoal" and it is a hardwood product, You must check that the AC is vegetarian - eg coconut shell - let's face it, who wants to feed their horses a wood based product!

Just be careful what you buy and where you buy it.

Get the right stuff, and it works like magic on a multitude of problems.

Good luck!
 
Hi, I feed Carob Kibble or locust bean and that is fab at drying up loose droppings a really good gut balancer. It is sold online as a powder also - 9 day treatment for loose horses (I get it via ebay). I feed it as part of my horses feed. It is high in calcium, fibre and low in protein with NO starch or sugar. My horses love it.
 
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