diahhrea (sp)

[Kylie Chamberlain]

What would you make of a horse on a consistant diet, constant access to water fed plenty of roughage being prone to diahhrea on and off. One day he's fine, few days later very bad, then just as quickly ok again. has always been like this entire time i've known him (6 months)
What do you think is up?

[Zingy]

Some horses just have a very sensitive gut. Any kind of diet change (including eating something different when they're turned out) or stress just shows up that way. It can indicate some kind of bacterial imbalance in the gut, in which case feeding probiotics can help, or it can just be 'one of those things' with cause unknown. Feeding dry bran helps (though you need to be careful it doesn't unbalance the diet), or you could try things like aloe vera or psyllium. Just out of interest how old is he? And what breed? Some seem to be more prone to it than others.

[nat17]

If you can get some Naf Pink powder, maybe his gut needs balancing out like Zingy said. ;)

[H & Bailey]

I have 2 horse/ponies with dodgy tummys.
!. sooty who ive had for 3 years..he is very old and when i got himhe had always had a runny tum and the owner hadnt bothered to try and sort it,plus he had been poisoned but was saved through drips and drugs.With regular worming and watching his diet very carefully...only letting him have limited grass turnout his tummy is ok....if he starts to get a bit loose i tend to give him a touch of dry bran in his feed.
2.Rose..not had her very long but know her history and when her old owner bought her as a 2/3 year old was extremely bloated and looked pregnant but in fact had a bad case of worms.This caused her to have a bad gut imbalance and has probably damaged her guts to some degree.The vet used to come out and give her a pink liquid solution to boost her hind gut action.
When i got her she had a dodgy tummy but i did get her from the same person i got sooty!!!!!
This makes me think it was more the owners feeding or grazing situation.I treat her the same as sooty.hi fibre feed with bran if needed and limited grass.
I would get the horse a good worming and try and look into its background it may have had something happen to it in the past which may explain its tummy probs.

[makebelieve]

I consider it as a spring thing, and let it pass. I find that since the grass is so wet, it passes right through them.

[galadriel]

If it's an on/off recurring thing, it could be an extremely sensitive tummy. My horses have gradually improved as I've had them; at first any time they got at all stressed their manure turned to cow patties. Over time with healthy diet etc they've improved to the point where it gets soft, but not liquid, and also they recover much more quickly.

From what I have read recently, a horse who have an overactive response to stress that way could be having a problem with the "good bacteria" in his gut. If he seems not to digest his food well, if the manure gets soft at times, or if he seems to need a lot more food than he should, then it's possible that a probiotic would help. A probiotic helps replace the "good bacteria" in the intestine. It's actual live bacteria. I believe I've also read that yoghurt can work well too :)

There are also "prebiotics," which are formulas that feed those bacteria. There isn't any actual bacteria in it, but it contains ingredients that help the "good bacteria" to keep up a healthy population. If you've got a horse on a diet that isn't changing, then he probably has the right bacteria for what he's eating; a prebiotic may help the gut flora that are already there to work better.

[H & Bailey]

The vet did say try and feed live yoghurt to promote the bacteria or those yogurt drinks that are always advertised!
He did also say try and feed other horses dung!!!!!! as this will give the poorly horse the stuff its lacking.....hmmmm wouldnt think a horse would eat other horses droppings!
Pink powder is your best bet

[Zingy]

Probiotics are a better bet than yogurt. To get enough bacteria in a horse from yogurt means it needs litres of the stuff! A little scoop of probiotics is much easier. Plus it means you don't have the dilemma of whether they'd prefer strawberry or black cherry flavour... ;)

[galadriel]

Originally posted by Zingy
A little scoop of probiotics is much easier.

In the past few days, I've read that the recommended doses of probiotics in products for horses are much too small. So yoghurt or probiotic, you probably need a lot of it to have much effect.

Manure can work (yuck), but it has to be *very* fresh and it has to come from another horse with the same kind of diet, who has been recently dewormed, and who is himself healthy. Put the (very fresh) manure in a small container with warm water, stir it, let the solid stuff sift to the bottom, and give the liquid stuff to the horse (syringing would probably be easiest).

[Kylie Chamberlain]

Hi, horse is 15 years old, regularly wormed and a thoroughbred.
I have heard of feeding yogurt before, i might give it a try. This pink powder, and probiotics, where would i find them? Feed store? Vet?

Thanks for all your advice/suggestions

[H & Bailey]

Pink powder is by NAF and we get it from the feed store.Im sure they can order it in for you its quite expensive but told it works.
I dont like the idea of syringing horse dung juice down a horses throat...yuk!Rose is bad enough to worm with a wormer never mind that!
Im used to old fashioned methods and tried a scoop of dry bran in with the feeds first which is alot cheaper and works!!!!