Scour-y horse

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SOS

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Just wondering if anyone had experienced this before or any logical steps forward.

The past month or so I have noticed my horse has signs of scours on his back end. I have been gently washing this when possible, as it gets a bit caked up and grooming would be sore, and then adding Vaseline or oil to stop it sticking. But I would like to get to the bottom (pardon the pun!) of the cause.

So far:
-We have tried removing parts of his feed over different weeks to see if it is this but no luck (he is on chaf, stay power cubes and linseed. He has been on chaf and linseed all summer).
- Considered change in routine he moved to in at night at the end of September so doesn’t quite correlate and he is on haylage from the same supplier but has been also since September.
- He looks well in himself and his droppings in his stable are formed normally, which leads me to believe this is happening in the field. He is in a small, stable herd in a large field which he has been in for a year. His stable rug tail straps are also much less dirty than his field ones - which I have also been having to clean.
-He has not yet been wormed this winter.

Any thoughts? I will get a vet if it doesn’t resolve soon as we have tried process of elimination. He seems unbothered by it but I don’t like the thought of it happening or how sore his back end could get if not kept on top of.
 
An old horse on our yard has this…owners think it’s age. Our 26 yr old has more loose poo just this week but I think it’s the warm weather encouraging grass growth, she’s on a gut balancer and at this stage I’m not worried about her.
 
Someone on the same yard as me has been struggling with his 5 year old mare who he has had for about 9 months.

She was fine out on grass all summer but started scouring when coming in overnight.

Hay was changed as the stuff he was using was very stalky, that didn't make a difference so he tested for worms, wormed, had a full blood panel with nothing abnormal showing, had meds from the vet to dry her up, and he is now thinking of going down the route of exploring if it could be ulcers as the mare is hit and miss to groom, girth up etc - these signs were not present when this first started.

It's very odd as the longer she's on grass, the less she scours.

They do like to make us scratch our heads!
 
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Yep! Sounds like faecal water. Normal poo, plus around a pint of liquid. Make yourself a cup of something and settle down for a good read of the winter FWS thread. After reading, decide whether you want to continue paying your vet to carry out test after test 😁 The triggers for FWS vary according to each horse, and what works for one horse has no effect on another. If you manage to clear it up, please post as it may help someone else!
 
My little native is suffering so I will be reading the FWS post. Thanks for the discussion. You are always me go to. Hope you get it sorted @SOS
 
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