Let’s discuss horse poop. Not a popular topic, right? But, there’s more to horse poop than you probably know. Beyond serving as manure, horse poop can also help you tell the state of your horse’s health.
Putting significant energy into learning about healthy and unhealthy horse poop can help you provide better care for your horses, even saving their lives in some instances!
Healthy Horse Poop
Before you can recognize unhealthy horse poop, you’ll need to know what healthy horse poop looks like, so you don’t lose sleep when there’s actually nothing to worry about!
To start, healthy horse stools are usually moist-brownish-greenish-yellowish fecal balls that easily break apart but otherwise hold their shape. It’s almost the same as what you’ll likely see in the poop of healthy people.
However, there can also be moments when you’ll see the fecal matter with a different appearance from what we described above. It could be a different color, amount, or texture. Yes, there’s so much to learn about horse poop, and this article will provide you with enough information to know about it!
Different Horse Poops and Their Meaning
Now that we’ve talked about healthy horse poop and what it looks like, what are unhealthy horse poops? You’ve probably seen your horse poop take different shapes and textures from the healthy poop that we mentioned above.
Horse poops can also be soft, watery, hard, formed, or unformed. Whatever it is, you’ll need to know what it all means in order to handle it efficiently. Here’s a guide to the different horse poop textures and what they mean.
Watery Diarrhea
This type of poop signifies that something is terribly wrong with your horse’s guts. Report all cases of watery diarrhea to a veterinarian for immediate action.
Cause
There are many reasons why your horse’s poop might be this texture. It could result from a simple digestive upset due to a change in diet.
Watery diarrhea can also result from the disorganization of the intestinal parasites in horses. Whatever the case, we recommend talking to your veterinarian about it to know exactly what the problem is.
Treatment
Your veterinarian will recommend treatment procedures to you. Follow these procedures carefully in order to get your horse back to its perfect health.
Diarrhea
Like watery diarrhea, this is an abnormal condition in horses and shows that a horse needs immediate medical attention. There are many causes of diarrhea in horses, but the most common one is an accumulation of sand and dirt in the guts of horses.
Cause
There are other causes of diarrhea beyond the common gut issue. We recommend working closely with your veterinarian to find out exactly what the cause of your horse’s condition is.
Treatment
As per usual, we recommend following your veterinarian’s directions as carefully as possible to treat diarrhea in horses.
Soft and Unformed Poop
This is another abnormality in the poop of your horse. It indicates malfunctioning of your horse’s gut, particularly the hindgut. It’s typically characterized by a very high ratio of water to fiber in the manure.
Cause
There are several possible reasons why a horse poop can become soft and unformed. Some of the most common causes include:
Hindgut Acidosis: This is typically caused by the large consumption of unprocessed grains like corn, wheat, or barley. These foods can cause significant amounts of starch to be fermented in the hindgut.
It could also result from large amounts of fructan from cereal forages or ryegrass entering a horse’s hindgut. The fermenting of fructan or starch usually upsets the microbial balance in the gut.
The whole process can cause significant damage to a horse’s gut wall, killing good fiber-fermenting bacteria and compromising the overall health of a horse.
Sand Accumulation: Another main reason your horse poop may appear soft and unformed is due to sand and dirt accumulation in the gut. Both elements can upset the gut of any horse.
Low Fiber or High Moisture Pasture: Most young, lush pastures are low in fiber and high in water. Therefore, it’s not surprising that some horses try to chew on barks or fence posts to increase fiber intake. In turn, these items can trigger the horse’s gut. What Can Horses Eat should help shed more light on what proper horse pastures are.
Treatment
To get the right solution for this problem, you must first find the cause.
If unhealthy stooling is a result of hindgut acidosis, you should limit grains to cooked grains. You should also feed grains to your horse only when necessary and in small quantities.
If it results from sand or dirt accumulation, you can use psyllium husk to remove the sand overload from the hindgut.
Hard and Dry
Like soft and unformed poops, hard and dry poops show that your horse isn’t healthy. It typically signifies that the horse is dehydrated or that their water intake is low. It can also be a sign that indigestible fiber intake is excessively high.
Cause
Hard, dry poop is usually caused by reduced water intake. There are several reasons why your horse might be reducing its usual water intake. Some of them include:
- Unfamiliar water
- Very cold water
- Unclean, unpalatable water
- Electrolyte deficiency
- Hostile environment
- Stress and anxiety
Treatment
You can usually fix this problem by increasing water intake and reducing the intake of indigestible fiber. If it continues or gets too severe, you can contact a veterinarian for further diagnosis and treatments.
Some of the ways to improve your horse’s water intake include:
- Giving them warm water
- Maintaining excellent water hygiene
- Take familiar water with you when riding for a long distance
- Place drinking water in safe locations
- Mix your horse with other horses that drink well
How to Inspect for Unhealthy Horse Poop
We’ve talked about different textures of horse poop and what each of them may represent. But, beyond texture, there are other aspects of your horse poop that you can look at to determine whether it’s healthy or not.
When assessing your horse poop, be sure to look for the following.
Quantity
Like humans, a horse’s poop is directly influenced by its diet. The quantity of food a horse eats and how digestible the food is can determine the overall quantity of your horse’s poop. Other factors like dental conditions can also play an important role.
The average horse poops between 4 to 12 times daily. Several factors such as breed, feeding pattern, and age can also affect their frequency of pooping.
It’s essential to know the frequency of your horse’s defecation. A significant decrease in a horse’s manure can be a sign of severe complications, in which case you should call your veterinarian for advice.
Color
Diet can also affect the color of your horse poop. Therefore, you can expect the color of your horse’s manure to be anywhere between brown, black, or green. Horses will excrete browner manure if they eat drier grass.
However, if they eat more alfalfa, you can expect their poop to be a greenish tint. During your routine inspection, you should look for abnormalities like mucous coating or blood-red hue on the poop.
It’s important to take note of the normal color of your horse’s poop so that you can detect changes and take the necessary actions in time.
Odor
Horses rely on the actions of bacteria in their gastrointestinal tract to digest much of the fiber they eat. Therefore, if anything happens to these bacteria or if horses develop intestinal conditions, you can expect a change in the smell of its poop.
A rotten meat smell usually means that their diet might have too much protein. On the other hand, a rancid smell means that they are ingesting too many carbohydrates.
These smells might also be accompanied by a change in color and consistency, which are obvious signs that something is wrong with your horse.
Worms
Another important aspect of your horse’s poop to inspect is the presence of worms. The presence of worms typically means that your horse needs deworming.
It’s also possible to notice parasites in your horse’s poop one or two days after deworming them.
However, noticing worms when you’ve not recently dewormed your horse means that something is wrong. In this case, you should contact your veterinarian immediately for diagnosis and treatment.
Conclusion
Like healthy horse poop, unhealthy horse poop exists and should be taken seriously. It’s a reliable way to know the start of a horse’s health.
So, the next time you go to pick up your horse manure, don’t do it in a hurry. Take the time to observe the texture, quantity, color, and odor of your horse’s poop.
All these could be pointing you to an actual or potential health condition. It might even buy you the time you need to save your horse’s life. Don’t forget to contact your veterinarian for a proper diagnosis if you notice anything unusual.