I have one horse that will never manure under saddle or while I’m around. She waits until I walk away. I’ve never noticed another horse to be like this (when I first got her I thought she was colicking but it was apparently because I didn’t leave her alone - when I walked around the corner she went). Just curious if this is a common thing? 
I have one! In 4 years he has never pooped while being ridden or groomed. Maybe not quite as shy, as he will go in his stall or paddock while I am around. And, happily, he has figured out that if he pees before I take him out he is much more comfortable in work! 
3 Likes
I have a horse who has literally pooped once under saddle in the five years that I’ve owned her, and she’s never pooped in the cross-ties.
I think mares in particular are pretty careful about what they do where (and who’s watching)!
1 Like
I have a gelding (gelded at age 9) who almost never poops under saddle. He may have done it once or twice in the 7+ years I have owned him, and then only on a very long ride. He has never peed under saddle.
He is also very particular about where he poops. He also poops on top of previous poops, making nice neat piles.
3 Likes
On the other hand, I have a mare who seems to produce manure most times she is in the cross ties.
3 Likes
Yes! My mare hasn’t pooped once under saddle. She waits until she gets back to her stall or the cross ties.
3 Likes
I rode a gelding who would not pee indoors or in the ring. If he’d been in for a while when I got to the barn, I would have to take him for a handwalk in the grass so he would go instead of being uncomfortable.
2 Likes
My mare likes to lighten her load several times a ride. Sometimes before I’ve even got on. I think she enjoys watching me run around after scooping poop. Her current record is 5 poops in 20 minutes.
My Mustang gelding on the other hand, rarely poops under saddle. I think he might deem it impolite. He’s a sensitive little thing.
Some people will say I’m anthropomorphizing, but anyone who has a gelding who fills his feed pan with pee when you are late with breakfast or poops in his hay when he doesn’t like it might think otherwise….
6 Likes
There are two kinds of mares. Ones that poop in a nice pile in one corner of their stall and never make a mess, ever.
And mares that are complete and total mayhem, poop and pee on everything then spin around to ‘tornado’ it up a bit.
There is no in between.
9 Likes
What is the persuasion of the pig-pen mares? Drives me insane! Mare has a huge paddock attached to her stall but insists on peeing ONLY on the rubber mats of her stall. Makes me gag.
3 Likes
I think they just enjoy the chaos.
At a boarding barn I worked at, there was a mare who peed in her water buckets. That was always a fun stall to clean……
3 Likes
I used to work at a barn and there was a warmblood mare that always had the most disgusting stall. I guess she walked around in her stall a lot because the manure was never in piles. It was always spread around and mixed into the shavings and hay. The other horses usually peed in the same spots but with this mare you never knew where the pee spots would be and you had to look and dig until you found them. She would also have poo smears on the walls (sometimes up high). I don’t know how she did that.
2 Likes
Current mare is pretty chill about her bodily functions, but many years ago I trained a gelding that needed drapes on his stall when travelling. I felt really terrible when I finally figured it out. I’d had a couple of tight/tense rides in the first 36 hours at a show. For whatever reason, someone threw a cooler over his stall front and then witnessed him having the most relieving pee ever. Cooler or curtains worked every time for him. At home, he was fine. And didn’t not have trouble with pooping.
He was fastidious in his stall though, to the extent of having learnt to lightly cover his excretions. We figure he picked that up from the cat that shared his stall.
3 Likes
My darling Razzberry… I’d go out to his paddock to get him, to bring him in to tack up, put the halter on and go to walk into the barn. He wouldn’t come… just stand there rooted to the ground. “Hold it” he’d say. “Just wait, I have to poop”. OK. So we’d stand there for a while, and soon, the deed would be done and a pile of manure produced. And we would start to walk towards the gate. Then he’d stop again. “Hold it, I have to pee now”. OK. So we’d stand there for a while, and he’d get himself arranged, and pee. Sometimes not very much, he had conjured it up. After that, we would proceed to the grooming stall, all ready to go to work. Every day, same performance. Very funny guy. Horse is smarter than many people I meet.
6 Likes
My mare seldom poops under saddle. If something gets her anxious and she tenses, she will but that is rare. She likes to wait until we are done. At my old barn, the manure bucket in the grooming area was right behind said area. If the bucket wasn’t very full, I would just grab it and lift it under her raised tail. Horse puts up with it 
Susan
2 Likes
There is a horse at the barn who I swear has learned to poop during lessons. Trainer/owner is picky about her footing so we have to halt when the horse needs to go. This particular horse can muster 5 “breaks” in an hour lesson. Smart boy.
1 Like
Mme mare 2001 model that I have owned 10 years has never pooped under saddle no matter how long the ride. When she was younger and still has good sight, we would hack out for a couple of hours at a time, all the other horses went at some point. She did not.
As for poopimg in the aisle she has done this maybe 3 times and I am with this mare at least 5 times a week. She will poop in the shower if she really has to go and I can normaly tell in advance as she will make a fuss to walk in the shower stall. Luckily we do not show, if we had she would have given herself colics.
1 Like
the most odd poop behaviors i’ve had are these mustangs. They all use one pile…poop mountains in the pasture … in just about every section of the lowland pasture there is a mound. The mounds are two or in one case threeish feet tall. But, oddly enough, on the upper portions there are none…they seem to poop around randomly as a ‘normal’ bunch of horses would.
1 Like
Why poop on your food? I’m surprised you find this odd.
O it’s sensible alright, but i’ve not seen it. Not in 30 years of horses until i brought in these 9 mustangs. My domestics are not so enlightened…
