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horse having watery poop

3K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  Yogiwick 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm a little worried about my 15yr old quarter horse gelding. When I got home from school today, I noticed some watery poop. I know this isn't normal because my neighbors horse would do this when he was ridden or taken anywhere because he got extremely nervous and he ended up having kidney disease and being put down. :cry: I was wondering what you guys thought about this. I'm going to stall him up for a day to see if it clears up and if not we'll have the vet out. I did give him a little bute the other day because his back ankle is all fluidy and he was worked harder than usual.

So a little about his feed (haven't added anything new):
Alfalfa twice a day ( noticed the bale was pretty damp but he's been fine with it for two+ weeks now)
Burmuda grass all day
4 cups of grass/alfafa pellets at night

I will not give him any hay tomorrow morning to see if that settles his tummy a little bit.
Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom with me. :)
 
#2 ·
is it cow plop consistancy? or more water ? Hay should not be damp. This can and will cause mold, which can kill a horse. Get rid of the damp hay. get some Dry feed.
He could have a parasite load, eaten moldy hay, have an ulcer, The only way to correctly fix this, is to have the Vet out.
 
#3 ·
It's probably from the bute.

Agree damp hay is a big no. See if you can exchange it.

I wouldn't bother to stall him, leave him be, just watch his manure.

Keep an eye out for other symptoms but I'd expect it to pass pretty quickly.

If not get the vet out but I wouldn't worry atm.

It's completely normal when stressed and it's necessarily related to kidney disease or anything.

Don't not hay him, that will just stress his stomach more. Hay is the best buffer.

That said why is he getting 3 different types?
 
#4 ·
3 Different types? Do you mean grass, pellets, and hay? He gets the pellets because my mare gets that with her polyglycan, and she won't eat it unless Maxx has pellets too. And grass so he can snack all day, and form a natural grazing habit. I have some dry hay that I will go give him, thank you.
 
#7 ·
Did you happen to change alfalfa batches around the same time as the runny poop started? If the alfalfa bale you are feeding is richer (a different, leafier batch than before) it will also sometimes give them runny poop.

I have a mare that will get really, really soft poop if the alfalfa is too rich. But that doesn't seem to be a problem with her if I am also feeding bermuda hay because it dilutes the alfalfa out.
 
#10 ·
Is your horse on bute? Someone mentioned bute.

Do you havea lot of sand in your soild? Does your horse eat off the ground at all?

This to me sounds like it could be a few things. You are right to question kidney function but more than likely it is a virus or an agitated intestine.

I would take some of that yuck poop and put it in a bucket. Fill it with water, stir it up, and then let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then slowly dump it out and see if there is any sand at the bottom of the bucket. If there is, you'll want to sandclear.

Definitely take the horses temperature to make sure he's not running a fever and then another thought is ulcers...
 
#12 ·
I will go do the water bucket thing right now, it cleared up this morning and I took him for a little walk. He had some but the other day because he's getting over an old injury and he was ridden kind of hard. He does get his alfalfa on the ground or else he throws the grass everywhere. But the ground has rubber mats and there is never any dirt on them where I feed him.
 
#14 ·
I'm always iffy with stuff like that.

Regarding old injury. If you are concerned about him being sore from a partially healed injury I would be even more concerned about the strain on the injury itself. Just something to keep in mind. I don't know what the injury was but I would be hesitant to bute for something like that.
 
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