Heat stress alone could cause this, for sure. He’s a heavily built guy, pretty much done growing, and that’s when “things” seem to start popping up. The growth of youth has a lot going for it LOL
@JB very good to know, I’m going to run under the assumption this is definitely a big factor. He started this when I got him in July 2020 and thought it was just the change from moving from his old home to ours.
Poor guy. He is more and more like me. Thankfully THAT isn’t one of my issues, it i don’t tolerate the heat and sun well. Thankfully at our new barn, he is back to going out overnight, is in a cooler barn that is more protected from the sun, and has a heavy duty fan. Even in the 90’s he wasnt sweating in his stall so that was great to see.
Would adding some kind of electrolyte possibly help?
Very interesting topic! My boy has been suffering with this since last fall. I started him on a probiotic near the end of winter and thought that it was working as he isn’t passing much liquid any more. However, after reading this thread I wonder if it’s the hay over the winter (he’s on pasture now) that is the culprit.
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This is interesting. Friend of mine just had her horse tested. A few things sort of high-ish but not alarming. Flax numbers off the charts in comparison.
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While I don’t have a horse that gets that particular issue, I wouldn’t be surprised if high heat is the culprit. Especially when it stays over 70 at night, it’s just hard on the animals.
My old TB came to me with soft poop issues. I think probios made the most difference. Some would work well for a bit and then he’d be back to soft poop. I have had the best result switching him to TCS Gold that has a good gut support package. He will still occasionally get mildly soft poop when getting a new hay. I have him on electrolytes this summer. It hasn’t upset his stomach at all. And I do think it helps him feel less heat stressed. Might be worth a try for your boy.
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Is there a particular brand/type of electrolytes you recommend?
I’m using some pink stuff that comes in a purple tub they carry at my feed store lol. I think you can find sugar free brands if that’s important for you.
My 21 year old horse gets FWS when he is fed any type of course hay. It can be alfalfa which is rough and course or any type of first cut hay that has been let to grow to the point that the stems are thick and course. It irritates his hindgut. A change to orchard grass or other softer hay fixes it within a week.
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My horse suffered from FWS for a couple of years before I finally figured out something that works for her - pure psyllium powder. I buy it from Uckele. She’s a super easy keeper so all she gets for “grain” is a cup of timothy pellets, a scoop of CA Trace Plus pellets, and magnesium. I add just enough boiling water to that mix to cover it and let it soak up the water (takes less than a minute). Then I mix in a scoop (less than 1/4 cup) of the psyllium powder and mix so the whole thing is dryish. She doesn’t love it but she eats it begrudgingly. If I add the psyllium before I add the water the whole thing gets gummy and she refuses to it eat it.
But the point is that it works. I had tried less expensive psyllium pellets before and that didn’t make a difference, but the pure powder does - for her anyway.
Im pretty confident it’s from heat stress in our case. Another night in the 50’s and he was completely dry this morning. No other changes.
I am going to order some electrolytes and pysillium powder, @Pico_Banana thanks for clarifying the difference between the powder and pellets! The pellets came up first when I was looking.
Yes, that’s it. It’s much more cost effective if you buy the 25 lb bag. I bought the 5 lb bag first to see if it worked and then have been buying the larger one since.
I should have clarified in my post that she gets this both AM and PM. There’s an article on the Uckele website by Dr. Kellon that discusses doses. IIRC, she says they can get up to two cups per day. That would be crazy expensive, but I suspect that once you get it under control, you could probably taper down. Luckily for me, two of the included scoops per day works for us.
Awesome thanks for the info!
Right now he gets a soup of beet pulp, flax, and caltrace plus. It doesn’t usually sick for long. Would it be ok to mix in with the soup or better to top dress right before they put the soup in his stall?
I think it’s more of a question of how much water is in his soup than timing.
If he truly gets a soup, you could probably just mix it in with everything else all at once. What I’ve found is that if you put it in with a lot of water, it doesn’t turn the whole mix gummy. For my older horse, I use it as a monthly sand purge for her and she gets two gallons of water with her 3 lbs of TC Senior and the addition of the psyllium doesn’t really make much of a difference to the consistency. The psyllium does kinda turn into little gummy blobs, but there are so few relative to the rest of her food she doesn’t seem to care.
If his meal is a more typical “soaked but not soupy” meal, I think that’s where you might run into the gumminess issue if you add it all at once and then add water. So if his meal is merely wet but not soupy, then I would wait until that has soaked up the water before adding the psyllium. But it can still be done in advance, just needs to be in two steps.
Luckily I have my horses at home as I can imagine trying to work this out with staff might be difficult.
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Perfect thanks again. His really is soupy. When we got to the new barn, the staff wasn’t putting as much water in as I like and letting it sit for hours. The flax turned everything to gum, so they are good on the soup memo now. I like to get as much water in him as I can and I make him hay soup (hay cubes) before/after rides too lol. I’m glad he doesn’t mind it.
I try and keep things as simple as possible for barn staff so I’ll start with that and see how it goes.
@FjordBCRF my Endurance rider friends suggested Apple A Day e-lyte, as a reasonably palatable, low sugar, good quality one to try.
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Most of the buffet arrived today:
Still waiting on smartpaks tract guard:
He is also on CalTrace Plus with does have yeast cultures so I think I’m going to start with the psyllium and the electrolytes and see if that combo gets us anywhere before trying either one the other two. Fingers crossed 
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Good luck! Leif colicked a couple of weeks ago and when the vet came out he had us increase the psyllium to 8 ounces a day.
Yucky gummy stuff but it has worked somewhat.
If it works, Valley Vet is cheapest I’ve found. I buy the big buckets of Anipsyl. 20 lbs for 92 bucks.
