Horses eating their poop- Help!

[sheltona01]

There is 4 horse at the stable who have started to eat their poop in the last couple of weeks. 3 of them are older but one is young at 6. What can be causing this? Is it a nutrition deficiencies or something else? Please let me know if you need more information and thank you for your help! I am mostly a lurker on the forum, but I love reading everyone's advice.

[SevenDogs]

Generally means something lacking in their diet and it is usually salt. Do these horses have access to a salt/mineral block? If not, I would start there.

[sheltona01]

I am not for sure about the mineral block, but they for sure have free access to salt. They do receive excellent care, and it is driving my barn managers nuts. It has just started a couple of weeks ago. They all get plenty of hay. They either get Purina Senior feed or Strategy. They all get about 12 hours of turn out in a paddock.

[trickridermiko]

Boredom maybe? Do the horses get enough turnout? I worked at a stable where one mare and one gelding would religiously "clean up" after themselves. After we exhausted all our options, that is what we came up with. Even if it's a nutrition deficiency initially, it will soon become a nasty habit that's hard to break.

[JohnDeere]

Knew a horse that got free choice minerals and it stopped PDQ. I dont know of many horses that would keep on eating it from habit,

[slc2]

Horses do that.

[goeslikestink]

There is 4 horse at the stable who have started to eat their poop in the last couple of weeks. 3 of them are older but one is young at 6. What can be causing this? Is it a nutrition deficiencies or something else? Please let me know if you need more information and thank you for your help! I am mostly a lurker on the forum, but I love reading everyone's advice.

can be a deficency in minerals but as there four of them then you have to ask yourself why

whats the grassing like , what the boaording feeding plan

how often does hay go out - is the fields pooh picked , are the paddock barren and full of weeds

feeding good quality has all the supplements a horse needs

why do i ask sometime faciltiies charge for xyz and dont do it

one horse with a deficency you could explain but 4 then theres a problem with the facility itself

horses do copy things sometimes but this to me wouldnt explain the real issue



there are questions to be asked with the yard

[sheltona01]

They are feed three times a day both hay and grain. 8 lbs morning and evening with 4 lbs of grass hay for lunch. They are either on Purina Strategy or Senior grain with 1.5 to 2 lbs morning and evening with 1 lbs for lunch.

Also, the barn is a co-operative so the boarders take turns feeding so I know everything is getting done. We have a system to keep track of everything and the number one concern of everyone is the health and well being of the horses.

Everyone is responsible to pick out the paddocks themselves and the stalls get cleaned once a day. Typically, the paddocks are cleaned out at least once a day.

The horses do get excellent care and we are just wondering if there is something else we need to be doing that we do not know about. I am trying to do some research for the Barn Manager/Instructor to help her out. One of the horses is owned by her.

Unfortunately, the paddocks are basically dry lots. They are turned out 12 hours each day. When there is grass, they are turned out individuals or in pairs into the riding field when there are no riders. There is just no more room at the facility.

The barn manager/instructor had been running this stable for 17 years and this is the first time any of the horses have started to eat their poop. Again, I have no doubt that the horse are being well taken care of and I am looking to see what else we should be doing. I am only doing this research because the barn manager does so much for the stable so I volunteered to research this issue for her.

[greysandbays]

My theory? Some food just tastes so good the first time around, there's still some taste appeal left in the manure. Especially if the horse's teeth and/or digestive system is not working as efficiently as would be ideal.

[SkipChange]

The reason my horse ate his poop was because the *badword* barn help fed him the wrong type of grain that was extremely different from what he was used to. Upset his system and he proceeded to down entire piles of poop for a day or two. He quit once he got back on his regular feed.

Usually it's a sign of a deficiency in their diet, but it could also be something upset their system. Maybe the changing weather is just throwing them off? I'm a fan of free choice hay if possibly because if they've always got something tasty to eat in front of them they'll be less likely to go for their poop. Sounds like you're guys are already getting plenty of feed though. Are you certain the 4 in question haven't been receiving strategy instead of senior or the other way around? If they're fed out in the field they might be stealing from others.

[sheltona01]

Well I went riding today and the horse I am leasing was eating his poop. I have not noticed it before and I would have. We are thinking it is some sort of deficient in their diet since in the last 2 weeks 5 horses have started. I am going to get him a mineral block to see if that helps.

In response to SkipChange, it could be the change in the weather and the fact that we wormed about a month ago. We still want to try to get to the bottom of it.

I do not think it is a change in their diet or someone feeding the wrong stuff because of the number of horses. This barn is very well established and I am the most recent new person to the feeding rotation. I was added about a month ago otherwise people have been feeding the horses for at least 6 months. In addition, everyone is really friendly and will kindly remind people if something was not done. They have everything marked on the stalls and by the grain bins. The horse are feed in their stall or out in the paddock depending on the time of the day. Some of the horses are on supplements and others are not. At most they are kept in pairs. Twice a day the horse in the barn go out to the paddocks and the horses in the paddocks are brought in. They are out for about 12 hours at a time.

I know it is not the horses being bored because if it was my horse would have done it before. He was only sporadically worked before I started riding him and now I am working him 5-6 times a week depending on my schedule.

Has anyone had this problem that changed something that made them stop? I am trying to find recommendations as to what is deficient in their diets since that seems to be the general opinion.

Do you have a specific supplement or addition to their diets that stopped this behavior?

[Chall]

They may be seeking the needed bacteria for digestion. try some probiotics on some of them to see if it stops, if it does give it to all.