Runny Poos any ideas?

[miamibear]

Friends horse has always been a runny pooer when on a hack or in a nervous situation, in fact it goes to a slop like a cow pat.

Recently the horse has been pooing more like this in the stable.

He is a very nervy type and doesnt seem to like this weather but also she has recently changed his feed to topspec balancer and was wondering if it was this that could be upsetting him, he eats it fine.

Is there anything she can try feed wise to harden to poo up?

Or any ideas experiences that may be of help to her?

Thanks

 

[AmyMay]

Does sound like it could be the feed. How gradually did she introduce it?

 

[baybeejay01]

Personally, would try taking him off the Topspec first just to see if it makes a difference and if it does there's your answer. Would also be a good idea to go through his recent worming programme and see if anything has been missed as runny poo can be a sign of redworm infestation and can be easily cleared with a 5 day dosing programme. Loads of fibre in the diet is better than loads of concentrate - is there a way to cut down the hard feed and give him ad lib, top quality hay and maintain his condition and fitness as this could correct the plop situation!

 

[miamibear]

Very gradually, shes a bit fanatical about feed changes because of this. He was on leisure mix and quiet pencils mixed in together, she started adding in little bits of the balancer and keeping on with the mix over say 2 to 3 weeks it was phased in.

I think its nervousness and the weather, he soesnt like rain at all!!

Do you know of any feeds that night help?

 

[AmyMay]

I agree with LL above. Eliminate the newest change in diet - which is the Topspec (even though she was careful about introducing it). Give it a week to see how the horse gets on.

You don't say what else it is getting - but plenty of fibre in the form of hay when the horse is stabled should also help.

Had any rain lately?? That can also upset their tummy's a bit after a long dry spell. It may also be worth thinking about a pro-biotic such as Pink Powder to see it that helps at all.

But if the horse is as sensative as you say, I would go cautiously. How does the horse look and feel in itself??

 

[miamibear]

Horse looks great, holds its weight. Is always nervy but recently has got stressed out in stable, we put it down to having rain storms and the horses wanting to be out because they prefer to be out in storms so they can run if needed etc.

However my horse doesnt seem to be suffering as much. He has off days if it goes from really hot sun to rain, i think thats pretty normal.

He gets his balancer and a handfull of chaff. He has grass and a bale of hay in the field to munch on so has access to pleanty of forage.

I think there may be something in the colligone - will put all these replies to her.

If stressfull situations increase acid in tummy that will help.

Thanks

 

[baybeejay01]

If you have had a good amount of rain recently, it could just be that the grass has come back to life and although you can't actually see the difference yet the effects can be seen in the droppings. We haven't had very much rain here but the poos have started to change colour indicating that the grass isn't quite as dead as it looks! No matter how slowly we introduce new feeds to our horses diets, we can't do anything about the speed of the grass and it therefore constitutes a sudden change in the diet and all the problems that go with it!!

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
Horse looks great, holds its weight

[/ QUOTE ]
In that case - just observe for a while. It's more than likely due to a change in the weather - rain especially.

 

[selina25]

there are many supplements that help with digestive systems in horses the best one I can recommend and one I used after colic was some stuff I bought in a cylider shaped tub green and yellow, added it to feed (granuals) about £40 I'm sorry forgot the name but ask at tack shop.


They do recommend that if your horse has runny poo to stop hard feed and provide only hay and water (rich grass can contribute to this as well) also check gums make sure he is keeping minerals etc and losing them all if pale made need a red cell count supplement ( can get from tack shop

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[piebaldsparkle]

Could he be intollerant to sugar/cereal/grass or haylage - mines intollerant to them all!!!!!!! If she is fed any she gets very runny/liquid poo, can just get away with very restricted grazing.