I have her twin! My (almost) 21 year old gelding has never pooped under saddle in the 11 years I’ve owned him. He doesn’t go in the crossties, but will go in the wash stall during baths!
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My mare is one of the very neat ones. She has a corner in her stall for poop, and has never had a poop stain on her, ever. Pee goes in roughly the same spot but she does get a pee stain now and again. At a previous barn, the barn workers said they could tell if there had been coyotes up by the barn, because her stall would be a mess. In her paddock, she has a couple of places where she will poop. She will. not. pee out there. The Princess does not like getting splashed. She also does not do “little pees” when she is in heat. Her behavior changes very little other than getting a little bit more herdbound and vocal.
She does not poop in an arena, ever. She will always poop after a ride – in her stall, the wash stall, or paddock. I have learned to put her in her stall for a few minutes before using the wash stall, so she is “empty.” She rarely poops on the trail, usually only if it’s a really long ride.
The one time I remember her peeing in an arena, she went, and went, and went… and the trainer was getting worried about the footing because of the HUGE puddle she made. I also learned to put her in her stall to pee before trailering her, if I wanted her to load pleasantly.
Other horses’ poop where she cannot step around it offends her greatly. She will jump over it if there is no other way to get past.
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This is typical mustang behavior. It’s like “don’t shit where you eat.” They designate an area for pooping and will travel to that area to relieve themselves to keep their grazing area poop free. I have seen my domestic bred horses copy them and go from one section of pasture to the poop area, go, and then return to where they were. My mustang, when confined to a stall, would poop in a corner as far from her hay as possible and when she had an attached paddock, would only go outside, her stall was immaculate. Not sure why when out in the upper portion of your pasture they poop randomly.
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@Cat.J95 The gelding I mentioned earlier who schedules 5 poop breaks each lesson also poops in his food bucket. Why, oh why?
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There is such a cultural aspect to horses and their pooping.
case in point: I am So Very Sorry i first trailered my young Standardbred out with my buckskin. Because mister buckskin makes stress poops in the trailer galore. He also poops during his lesson.
Now that young Standardbred is riding with my curly mare, (who is pretty civilized with her trailer toiletry) he has dialed-it-back to just one or two poops during his 3hr r/t ride.
The mustangs and their poop-mountains are really something though. They have about 125 acres they’re in and in the lower meadow there are thee poop-mountains that might just be a mountain range by spring lol. I wonder if the cattle they are with disgust them…?
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