my horse refuses to budge when doing a poo!

[Firehorse]

he's an odd bod! when he poos, even if not ridden he kinda stops, shuffles his hind legs under himself slightly, then does it. when ridden, he will stop dead, no matter where he is or what we're doing, with the exception of going fast, and do his little performance. no amount of encouragement from voice or leg will make him move until he's finished. jst wondered if anyone else's horse does this.

 

[Bowen4Horses]

yup, raff always stands still to poo. someone told me the other day that i shouldn't let him, but really, there's no choice. he plants, poos, and makes a satisfied grunt... and off he goes again.

 

[Firehorse]

phew! its not jst me that suffers the embarassment then!

 

[JoBo]

You aren’t alone! Bodey does this too, I just figure it takes to much brain power to poo and move at the same time, so I have given up asking. Luckily he has always gone before or after a dressage test.

 

[Fransurrey]

The way I see it, it's more comfortable to poo at stand-still. Sure, they can do it on the move, but this is a survival thing. Henry refuses to budge, too, and gives a satisfied grunt both during and after. I find him peeing with me on board is much more embarassing, what with the grunts, farts and little tootsies pointing forwards!

 

[MrsMozartletoe]

When y'gotta go, y'just gotta go! And it's obviously far more comfortable to not go when going

 

[spider]

My instructor encourages this. She doesn't like poo scattered all around her arena!

 

[Shysmum]

well I wouldn't ask him to do anything I wouldn't do........

 

[CastleMouse]

My horse is the same

Thankfully, if we're doing dressage, he always poos just before we begin our test.

 

[HollyB66]

I've had my horse 5 months now, and she's never pooed with me on board. Have been out on a 2 hour hack, I guess she just holds on. No doubt one day I will find out.

 

[Shysmum]

Shy sees it as a good three-minute pit stop

 

[MagicMelon]

Why's it odd for a horse to stop? I don't think I've ever had a horse who did keep moving! Doesn't bother me, I think its up to the horse to decide what toilet habits he prefers!

 

[Yeehaa!]

If may not seem to matter if you are perhaps just a happy hacker but what if your horse wanted a poo and stopped in a really dangerous place... like in the middle of crossing a busy road or on a blind bend along fast narrow road? I think you should train your horse to keep moving regardless of his wish to poo. Horses soon learn to accept this if asked. If he refuses to respond you need to ramp up the energy used to make the request. If he refuses, he has trained you well!

 

[MochaDun]

Mine has to stop to poo too, I have no problem with it as straining is something tricky to do when you're running which if it was us humans would be what you would be being asked to do! And having had other horses splash me when they're trotting doing cow pats I rest my case... My pony is quite private about it all, and it has to be in a corner or edge away from things...last summer having a lesson in our jumping paddock he was obviously desperate to go and suddenly between jumps shot out of the cut grass area to the deeper grass, did what he had to do, and then trotted back into the jumping area - my RI was not impressed with either of us...

 

[Yeehaa!]

it has to be in a corner or edge

Horses mark their territory and, if given the choice, will habitually poo in specific areas often along the margins of their field. This may be an instinctive action throwing back to times in their ancestory when they roamed in free. They needed to communicate to other horses in their area about whose patch they were on. This is demonstrated by horses sniffing poos that they pass when out and about. Tells them lots.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

My boy's learnt to keep going while doing a poo as he's on working livery, so has to coz everyone else does, but heh, would any of us like to do a poo and have to move forward at the same time - probably not!!