Very very wet pony

[TheChestnutThing]

One of my liveries has a little 14hh cob gelding who is the wettest horse I have ever met.

She has spent a fair amount of money on tests to rule out issues.

He is stabled in the evenings (live out in winter not an option). We have rubber mats with shavings.
Little dude drinks 2 40litre buckets of water at night almost every night and his stable the next morning is always soaking wet and disgusting and the smell of his wee is beginning to permeate the yard.
He is also going through a lot more shavings than any of the other horses including the biggest horse on the yard (17.2hh).

Any advise on how to keep his stable cleaner for me? The smell is dreadful. It has come to the point where he is almost on a bale a day just to soak up his wee at night and he is fully mucked every day and the stable left to air but despite this the mats never dry enough thanks to the dreadful weather.

 

[AmyMay]

Take the mats up for starters and then could you think about bedding hom on a base of shavings with a top of straw?

 

[Annagain]

I'd try wood pellets. My old man is very wet and a mixture of unsoaked pellets underneath and soaked on top works very well for him. The soaked on top holds it in place long enough for the unsoaked to do its work, without the soaked, the wee just runs away and under the rubber matting. You'd be amazed how much it will soak up and it seems to eliminate the smell too. I dig out the wet every day and replace with unsoaked pellets. I only get through a bag and a half a week / two if it's particularly bad so that's about £8-9 a week. The only horses I've found they don't work well for are those who are both wet and stable walk as it just turns to mush so as long as he's relatively calm in there, pellets should work.

 

[EventingMum]

I would suggest a vet checks him out, it could be polydipsia.

 

[Chinchilla]

I would suggest a vet checks him out, it could be polydipsia.

It IS polydipsia.

 

[Laurac13]

How old is the pony? I’m not sure but think it could be a sign of Cushings? Definitely a vet check. I hope you find the cause x

 

[Murphy88]

Agree re vet examination for PUPD (polydipsia / polyuria) . Horses can get psychogenic polydipsia which is effectively boredom drinking, which after cushings is the most common cause of PUPD - but need to rule out cushings, kidney disease, and diabetes insipidus to reach a diagnosis of psychogenic PUPD. Once you get that diagnosis, can begin to modify water intake and also management changes etc to break the cycle. I generally hospitalize these cases and work through step by step, often have an answer within a few days.