My horses poop!

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chestnuttyy

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So... For the last few weeks my horses droppings have become increasingly 'crumbly' in the stable and seem quite hard. His diet is very high fibre (all he has is hay, Mollichaff Calmer, fast fibre and micronised linseed as an oil source).

He is definitely going frequently (poops for England) but he does seem to be doing smaller more frequent poos
 
Hard droppings are not great as they may indicate a risk of impaction. Is he drinking enough? As the weather gets colder some horses don't like cold water.

Fast Fibre has to be fed soaked if I recall correctly - might adding a bit of warm water help? Would he take the feed a bit sloppier than normal?

The other option to think about might be providing a salt lick. More salt in the diet encourages the retention of water in the gut (increasing thirst so make sure there is water).
 
I make his fast fibre really wet so his feed is quite damp. He drinks the best part of two normal sized buckets with handles a day... Is this enough?
 
The poster above has nailed in imo. Lack of water intake sounds like the issue. I don't think you have heated troughs over there yet but do you have heated buckets in the UK? If so I'd get a couple and make sure the water is at a more comfortable temperature during the cold weather and a mineral block is a must in cold weather, or add salt (and water) to the horses feed.
 
Ahh. Could depend on defanitions here...

A stabled horse with no access to other water only drinking 2 buckets a day is rather on the low side to my mind and I'd be thinking about adding salt. But if he is out during the day with free access to water and drinks that much at night I would be wondering about other things.

Also if he is 18hh+ that amount of water is less worrying than if he is 10hh!

So - could he be too warm under rugs and sweating slightly? Is he of an age where cushings or EMS might be a possibility?
 
He's a 15.3 7yo TB, generally out for 8 hours a day stabled at night. I know he doesn't drink much in his field though... He has a salt lick in his stable, should I add salt to his feed? If so, how much?
 
I too think it sounds as though your horse is not getting enough fluid, maybe you could add a wet feed, perhaps changing part of her diet for speedibeet or something.
 
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