Horse Eating Manure

Well..my friend's horse apparently did so this past weekend and it really freaked him out. He's never done it before, and he can't see the reason that he would.
He has the same feed/hay/minerals that he had before he moved them back to his house. Bale of Timothy/Mix second-cut hay per day, a 10oz scoop of (I believe) 12% sweet feed and a mineral block.

The only reason that I know of is lack of necessary minerals or malnutrition. Pistol hasn't lost any weight, still acts the same, etc. There's no reason he should be eating his own manure, from what both of us understand.
Before the vet is brought out for something that's happened only a few times, he wanted to get other opinions.

Pistol is:
Registered Paint Gelding
16hh
4 years old
-has been at home for the past 3-4 months

Any help is greatly appreciated.(:

It's a way to introduce bateria into the digestive system. If the horse is doing it frequently, then a vet should run a chem panel to see if the horse is deficient.

It can also be stimulated by boredom or lack of roughage.

The hay and minerals are nice, maybe add more roughage to his diet...but he's being fed junk food basically..Sweet Feed is candy for horses, he's not getting any good nutrients out of it, if anything he can be getting bad things out of it...I would talk to his vet and feed store about the different types of NICE feeds there are..Keep the hay and have a good mineral block in his stall and his turnout so it's available at all times, also change those frequently (not just a new one when the other is gone) sometimes horses simply loose interest in the block, it can be rained on and such and not taste nice anymore..

I agree with this ^^^

But I would also give him his good worms back to him.... has he been wormed recently - worming them kill everything good and bad.... so you have to give them their good worms/bacteria back to them... Probiotics... blue/white tub for equines - make sure it says equine on it don't get the tube for cattle... or stuff that's called Ben-Bac - I always give probiotics to my horses after worming or after a round of antibodicts...

I like the idea of the probiotics after worming. Thanks--I'll try that.

You're welcome

Bleh, I've been so stressed I completely forgot about this thread. D:

I linked him this thread, and he's more than willing to take advice. He's switched the feed on both Toby and Pistol (hopefully to an advantage..I'm not sure which feed it is), he's looking into the probiotics, and he's buying salt/mineral licks more often now.(:

Both horses are also in a run-in setup, so they have free-run of the pasture/barn. The salt/mineral blocks are in the barn, so they never get rained on, but like I said above, he's buying new ones to set out before they completely finish the current one's.
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Just want to throw this out there-

Whatever feed he switches to, make sure Pistol is getting at least the minimum amount the bag states for his weight. If he's an easy keeper and you can't give him the minimum without him gaining weight, you might consider switching to a ration balancer.

Horses don't have very rough tongues, so they often don't lick a block enough to get the minerals they need from it. But, if you're feeding the minimum amount of a ration balancer or complete feed, you don't need to worry about it. Just make sure a (plain) salt block or loose salt is available to meet salt needs. I like loose salt more, because it allows the horse easier access to as much salt as he needs, but some horses prefer the block.

He's attracted to the traces of sweet feed in the manure.

That makes sense..We both should've realize that since if all the birds/occasional mouse/ go to it for that it makes perfect sense.

Thank you to everyone for the insight and comments, I'm sure Drew is thankful as well.
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