[Irish4397]

Hi ya,

This may seem like a odd Question but here it is. I'll Begin at the beginning. I bought a 3 year old paint about 3 months ago. He has had loose stool since I got him. He was kept out on pasture 24/7 before I got him. So I figured with the change of being in at night/ out during the day and a change of a small amount of grain and hay added to his diet the stool would firm up. But That hasn't been the result. It is still very loose, which after he is done going it acually shots out liquid to finish the job. This is very odd to me. I've also noticed that when I am working/Riding him that he will stop for no apparent reason and act like he has got to poop. Most of the time he doesn't need to. But its like he has gas pains or something that makes him stop and not want to move on when asked. I really need to push him to move on. Almost like its a pain issue.

Okay, So far, ABout 2 weeks after I got him, I saw the loose stool wasn't getting any better. So I put him on a probiatic (Fastrack). Thinking that would help. Nope. Same. So I had a fecal sample tested at the vets office. Came back clean. So went a little further and send another fecal sample to a larger lab. They did tons of checks. With everything coming back clean or in good range for his gut. So nothing there. So About a week ago I decided to change his 10/10 protein/fat feed to Oats. so now I have him on oats with his probiatic. So I want to give that a month to see if it helps at all. But within the week since changing that I havent seen any change.

I still think the stopping while working / rideing is a sign he is giving me about some pain somewhere. But I don't know what else to think it is.

If anyone has any Ideas of what it is or what to try please let me know.

Thank you so much for reading this. Sorry it was so long.

 

[Ryle]

With the chronic diarrhea, the stopping very likely is a sign of pain in the GI tract. Since you've had fecals done (and a fecal culture, I'm assuming) then it may be time for a full exam and some work to see if something else could be causing your horse's issue. Gastric ulcers could be part of the problem or it could be something else, but you need to find an answer. Chronic diarrhea and pain aren't good for your horse.

I would recommend that you remove all grains from your horse's diet as they can lead to further irritation of the GI tract if there is current irritation and inflammation. A free-choice forage diet with a forage based ration balancer (like Purina's Enrich 32) would be a good choice at this point.

 

[mls]

I would suggest talking to your vet again before making any changes.

There are several more items that could be the issue. But your best bet is the vet who has seen him, not an internet chat board.

 

[Alwaysbehind]

I would suggest talking to your vet again before making any changes.

There are several more items that could be the issue. But your best bet is the vet who has seen him, not an internet chat board.

I have to totally agree.

 

[Irish4397]

believe me, I have been staying on top of this. I was only asking on here to see if anyone had any ideas. I had a appt. 2 hrs. ago. And It is what I thought it might be. He has ulcers. So hopefully he will be on the road to feeling better soon.

 

[farmpony84]

It sounds to me like he's got some type of infection of some sort. If the probiotics isn't working I would probably have the vet draw some blood. I had huge issues with one of mine and we tried every trick in the book. I even switched him to a senior feed which believe it or not, helped tremendously. The other thing we ended up doing, although blood and fecal tests all came back negative for any issues, we put him on an antibiotic (I think I was driving my vet crazy at that point). The antibiotic and the senior feed cleared it up.

 

[farmpony84]

whoops, just read your post (above mine). Good luck! Glad you are on the road to recovery!