Poop problems on spring grass

[tashcat]

This past week my 25 year old gelding has spent some time munching fresh spring grass. He is not laminitis prone and generally does well on rich grass, so I thought with careful monitoring, it would be nice for him to have a munch.

He is stabled at night, and I would say out of the 7 days this week, he's spent 4 in the rich grass paddock. The first day he started off with only half a day munching the rich grass. His feed (calm and condition) and haylage were reduced accordingly on days he spent in the rich field.

However since he first went in there he has been pooing significantly less - perhaps between 2 to 4 poos in his stable at night. Its harder to monitor his day time pooing but I picked up half a wheelbarrow of poo in 2 and 1/2 days which doesn't seem like much to me. On days when he has been back in his usual paddock he's still pooing less!

In terms of behaviour, he is happy and perky as usual. He is eating and drinking. His stomach sounds normal (hes always had a rumbly tummy), and his poos are relatively normal too. He poos when worked (which is normal for him, as it helps pass things through ). If anything a few of the poos could be on the hard side, but the majority are definitely normal and that definitely isn't a huge worry at the mo.

So should I be concerned? Is there anything I should be doing? Any advice or explanations greatly received!

 

[Red-1]

Mine are on arena turnout over winter, so need very careful introduction to the summer field. In fact we start with half an hour grazing the lawn daily, before an hour or two in the field.

The grass at this time of year has a high water content, so that may be why there is less dry matter poo. Although it sounds like the horse is still extracting water from the poo, with less roughage per lb of what he is eating, this could be why they seem dry too.

If it were me, and I was worried about how much poo there was I would scale back time in the field, and reduce hard feed but not hay. The hay will redress the fibre loss.

 

[tashcat]

Mine are on arena turnout over winter, so need very careful introduction to the summer field. In fact we start with half an hour grazing the lawn daily, before an hour or two in the field.

The grass at this time of year has a high water content, so that may be why there is less dry matter poo. Although it sounds like the horse is still extracting water from the poo, with less roughage per lb of what he is eating, this could be why they seem dry too.

If it were me, and I was worried about how much poo there was I would scale back time in the field, and reduce hard feed but not hay. The hay will redress the fibre loss.

Thank you, I have taken him off the field for a the next few days, and thought it might be a good idea to only give him a couple of a hours a day after that.

Thankfully he has year round turnout and I think he built up a bit to the rich grass, but still has been a bit too exciting for him I think!

Thank you also for explaining about the water content and fibre, that makes more sense!

 

[Dry Rot]

My Highlands have all lost weight in the last few weeks and I suspect they are too busy off looking for the (scarce) grass to bother with hay. The grass at this time of year will certainly be more nutritious (higher protein) but there is less of it, so maybe that also contributes to less poo? I certainly agree that it will be less fibrous.