possibly, as some horses are triggered by coarse hay, so steaming will soften it and do a bit of breakdown of the coarseness.
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I recently did a series of fecal transplants/trans faunations (sp?) for my guy with FWS. It has overall improved but not cleared it. But he is so much less messy. He’s still on a million things for it but I am going to try to back them down and see what I get.
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I’ve posted above about my mare, who gets FWS in the winter when the grass is gone. I had been keeping things under control with psyllium powder, but that wasn’t cutting it this year. I decided to try Mad Barn’s Visceral - resignedly thinking it wouldn’t work but they have a money back guarantee - and it actually has worked great! And I’ve tried other probiotic options in the past, although I don’t think ever together with the psyllium - I still give her a 1/4 cup of that AM and PM.
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It was with my guy. I tried Remund clay, probiotics and salt. He had mud butt and I thought he was part cow. What cleared it up was doxycycline due to a cut but when he finished his meds the mud butt came back. I talked to my vet about it but she never got back to me. Funny that she didn’t think it was FWS.
What stopped it was changing the hay. The last supplier had dusty hay and stemmy. This new hay is more grass based, but nutritious (Timothy/Fescue/Orchard) and grown here. No more mud butt! I kept him on the Smart digested, added a multivitamin and kept his salt lick. He can also eat alfalfa but he’s an air fern.
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Did your vet recommend this or did you suggest it? I’m curious because when I broached the subject of trying a fecal transplant on my horse, my vet almost laughed in my face…
I am so desperate for a solution. My horse’s blankets are a poopy mess and my poor BO has to take them off and on wearing disposable gloves. And I’ve been at the laundromat sometimes 2x per week.
Vet has us using a product called Succeed, which, if anything, has even made him a little worse IMO.
I have 1 month supply of it left, and then I am up for trying something different.
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My vet has suggested it to me. It’s not a kooky thing.
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This is my guy too. He loves his pink salt like you have on the stall. A change in hay to locally grown (timothy/fescue/orchard) stopped the mud butt.
You guy is gorgeous!
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It’s not a solution, but I’ve been using blanket liners or fleece coolers under turnouts. Those typically get soiled first, but they’re easier to wash and cheaper to replace if I wear them out from frequent washing. I’ve been doing mine at home in my washer.
I only have one turnout heavy enough that it requires the laundromat. I’ve been spot cleaning the tail flap area as needed and will do a full wash hopefully just at the end of the winter.
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My vet suggested it.
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Bumping this thread instead of starting a new one.
My newish pony seems to have FWS or something similar. Pony came to me November 9th 2023. No choice but to start immediately with the diet I keep on hand without a transition period. Pony had some, expected, loose manure. The loose manure comes and goes though trending towards more normal recently. I’ve suspected fecal water, but only recently observed what I will describe as a fart accompanied by a stream of fecal water.
Pony came a bit chunky but has slimmed down nicely. He measures 13.2 hands and 1000 lbs using a tape. Measurements double checked by vet. Vet feels his weight is healthy, but if he looses a few more lbs that’s good too. He’s built like a basset hound, wears a 69” blanket.
He had his teeth floated under sedation in December. No missing or cracked teeth. He was dewormed with Equimaxx in November. His age is estimated 18-22. He has a heart murmur. Vet brought him up to date on vaxx less strangles if I recall correctly.
Diet info
Forage:
Grazing on annual rye grass with a GG muzzle during daylight
Teff hay overnight in nibble nets in dry lot with a buddy~ I keep hay in front of the horses, but if he eats a full half of what I put out overnight he’s eating 15 lbs of hay overnight MAX.
“Grain” split into two feedings:
Three quarts Timothy Balance Cubes
Tbsp loose white salt
Half a scoop of Apple A Day elytes
(1 cup TC Golden Flax - no longer fed)
*Nov through Feb 10th - 1 lb TC Balancer Gold
**Current: replaced TCBG with Purina Omega Match, per label his ration is 2 lbs
***Added 2000 IU natural Vit E
****phasing out the cubes as I use what I have up
Presumably if the gut support in the TCBG was going to fix him up, it would have done so in the 3 months he was on it. I’m inclined to try psyllium as a next step. I’m not opposed to adding a digestive supplement if there’s a recommendation for one that is substantially different than what was in the TCBG and fairly economical.
As experiments so far I’ve tried: OG hay instead of Teff (if anything that made it worse), eliminating the elytes (no change), keeping him in the dry lot with 0 grass (no change, though I only did this for a week), Tifton hay instead of Teff (he won’t eat it), Bermuda hay instead of Teff (no change), eliminating the flax (no change).
I’ll note pony does experience more loose poop / FW during hay changes / transitions than I would expect from a slow transition. He did not have any loose poop during the transition of ration balancers though the FW continues. The FW is not always happening when he manures and also happening separately from manuring.
Pony seems otherwise healthy and happy, so I’m not inclined to spend thousands chasing this problem down. I’ve tried enough hay varieties to feel comfortable continuing with the Teff.
Any reasonable things I can try other than psyllium?
Treat him for leaky gut. Butyric acid either as a supplement or it come from the break down of psyllium. Can feed a max of 2 cups per day. Start at 1/2 cup and slowly increase the amount to where you see an improvement in the FFWS. L-Glutamine either as a supplement or use dehydrated cabbage. I use G’s-formula at the dosage of 1 scoop am and pm. You can buy GI Calm to get both butyric acid and L=Glutamine. Slippery elm bark powder at the dosage of 2 teaspoons am and pm. EquiShure at 1 scoop am and pm. Prebiotics and probiotics from Mad barn. This is all added to soaked timothy pellets where the dry weight used was slowly increased to 3 lbs am and pm. Was told no beet pulp, no alfalfa, no flax until the GI tract healed which can take 3 to 6 months to heal. Teff hay being fed as it’s a very soft hay. It’s softer then 2nd cut timothy. Coarse hay is a no go as it is too abrasive on the damaged GI Tract. Success so far in having the weanling at the 3 month mark being free of FFWS. Will continue the above until the 6 month mark and then will slowly decrease everything to see where we are at. Fingers crossed his GI tract is healing. Good luck.
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He was on the butyric acid along with hefty doses of pro and pre biotics via the TC balancer gold. I’ll look into the l glutamine and slippery elm bark. I fed the latter to a different horse previously.
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Assureguard gold is pricey but has probiotics, prebiotics, psyllium. It help d my FWS guy who was already on all of those supplements individually. Very expensive but perhaps worth an attempt for a few months.
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I ordered Honcho pony some psyllium. I’ll give that a whirl for a couple of weeks and then reassess.
One cheap alternative: add a cup or two of hay stretcher to the meals. I don’t know why it works, but have known several horses who did well with that one change.
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By hay stretcher, do you mean hay pellets or a specific product?
Hay stretchers typically don’t have a lot of hay in them, and are used when hay is hard to get. Blue Seal makes one; here are the ingredients:
Wheat Middlings, Soybean Hulls, Oat Hulls, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Red Dog Flour, Cane Molasses, Calcium Carbonate.
TSC Producer’s Pride has these:
Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Ground Peanut Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Ground Soybean Hulls, Cane Molasses, Animal Fat Preserved with Ethoxyquin, Lignin Sulfonate.
I think the idea is to give the horse a different source of fiber than they would usually have.
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Fascinating! These aren’t readily available in my market though I’m sure they could be ordered.
I wonder if perennial peanut would be different enough to have the same effect!?!?
I realize cow patty manure isn’t the same as FWS, BUT:
I have a 34yo who, last Spring or so, started with cow patty manure. He can’t eat hay anymore, but can eat grass reasonably well. He’s turned into a picky eater so we rotate around quality feeds every 2-5 bags depending on when he stops eating one of the feeds well enough. So, feed didn’t make any difference. One day I went back to feeding a bit of beet pulp which I haven’t fed in several years, and no lying, within 3 feedings he had well-formed balls again. And yes, those feeds I’d been feeding do have beet pulp in them.
It’s known that beet pulp’s pectin is a highly fermentable fiber that helps create a healthy hind gut.
It’s known (fairly recent research I think) that psyllium is a “learned” digestible feedstuff that after 2-3 weeks, does also help create a healthier hind gut.
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Actually most feed companies have a hay stretcher. I know for sure that Purina, Nutrena, and Poulin do. Plus TSC’s Dumor line, made by Purina, has one.
