Runny poo

[Guest]

G's poo has been runny for a few days, any idea what could be causing this?
He is on haylage at night and has a bit of hay during the day, he has two small feeds of hi-fi lite and fibre cubes twice a day.
He's been on the haylage for about a month now and I've been introducing the hi-fi over about the last two weeks gradually.

[¿M€®¥ñ™]

Only 2 things I can think of is from fright, but that doesnt couse days of runny poo, and mainly, change of diet. By gradually do you mean more and more? Maybe the amount you have been giving him in the last few days have been too much to handle? Or maybe hes eating something new out in the field..if thats where he is. Is his water clean?

[Guest]

He normally gets runny poo when he gets excited out on hacks, I've been gradually introducing more hi-fi and faising out the alpha a and fibre cubes for about 2 or 3 weeks. Someone said it could be spring grass but surely it's to early for that. Water in his field is mainly rainwater and isn't to clean but the water in his stable is clean.

[¿M€®¥ñ™]

Yea the excited runny poo hting is quite common. I dont think its your water then, I dont know about your changing diet, it might well be it but there isnt anythign too drasticly different. I think the spring grass is a likely suspect, when does your spring start and what does your grass look like rite now?

[Guest]

Erm I think spring starts around March time but these days with the cliamte being so unpredictable it's hard to tell. I can't say I've looked at the grass to be honest, should it look different then?

[No_Angel]

my horse always get loose on haylage, i think its just too much for her.
shes ok for a few days or so, but then gets loose.

[DavidH]

Dont discount the fact that the grass has started to grow again. This first flush is very rich and often causes this problem for a few days.

[nutkin]

Echo DavidH plus also our horses are the same at the moment. They are also on haylage which at the moment seems to be richer also.

[Guest]

Mmmmmm thanks, I wasn't to worried as all the signs show that he has quite a good digestive system I just wondered what might be causing it.

[Mareish]

Yes our grass is rearing it's ugly protein head again ....BOING !!

Get a few large pots of live natural yogurt and add half to each feed, you'll be surprised how much they like it after the initial shock, this dries up the runs and helps the healthy gut bacteria too :)

[Guest]

Mmmmm this is gonna lead me to another thread on general I think.
Really yogurt?

[Jessey]

My old boy hated the yogurt, but having reacently put him on a probiotic the difference is amazing. He was constantly pooping down his legs and eventually he would get sore from it, the probiotic totally cleared it up in just a matter of days.

J x

[andreaB]

i wouldn't worry too much about his diet at this stage pretty much as everyone else has said

but do watch out for dehydration , horses become dehydrated fairly easily , a few days of loose droppings could be enough

[Guest]

He drunk all of his water in his stable last night which he hasn't been doing lately so hopefully he's ok.

[clipclop]

Runny droppings are usually associated with a lack of fibre. If you have been slowly decreasing the high fibre cubes he could be missing this as fibre source in his diet. Haylage compared to hay weight for weight has less fibre content than hay. I would cut down on the haylage and increase the hay or give him the high fibre cubes again.

Spring or lush grass is also low in fibre this is why a lot of horses get loose or runny droppings on this type of grass, but as its only January here in the UK I doubt whether it is the grass that is causing it. Any growth that takes place in the fields at the moment will only be of a poor quality and shouldn't have any ill effects on your horse.

[Guest]

Seriously going mad now, reduced the haylage last night and put half hay in the net, this morning the hay cough is back, argh, back to soaking I guess.

[nutkin]

If he coughs on hay then I would stick to the haylage. As someone else suggested try giving him some high fibre cubes. The grass is growing through here. Grass grows depending on the temperature. I can't recall the actual temperature it needs to grow but I think it was somewhere around 3 degrees celsius. If he is healthy then I wouldn't change his diet as this could make matters worse. It is common for horses to be loose at this time of year so try not to worry too much it should be much better in a few weeks or so.

[andreaB]

do bear in mind that dehydration is not just about water intake , there is the loss of body salts to consider , he may not retain the water

are you familiar with the pinch test?

[Guest]

No whats a pinch test then?

[Jessey]

When you pinch/pull up the skin on the neck/shoulder it should ping back into place, it checks hydration levels.

I would stick with the haylage if he coughs on hay, perhaps you could give him a probiotic for a short while to try to settle his stomach, it could be this weather we are having one day it warm so the grass probably starts growing, the next day is freezing, it must mess about with their intake a bit.

Otherwise I would try to find some other high fibre feed he could have aswell, maybe parsnips or some redigrass or something or go back to the high fibre cubes.