Any ideas? Have a gelding for six years that urinates excessively. Have blood pulled a few times and kidney values are good. Have doled out water. Pulled salt block. He gets checked for beans. He stops to pee 5 to 8 times during trail rides. Are there any other causes besides psychological . Thank you.
Does he only pee under saddle or does he pee excessively all day and night in his stall?
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Cushing’s? How old is he?
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I agree that it might be worth testing him for Cushings since that’s a pretty classic symptom.
But also, I have a gelding who is a little funny in his SI region. I know he needs to get chiro/bodywork when he starts peeing smaller amounts frequently. When I first noticed it we had the vet out to do a full exam and everything came back normal. I mentioned it to my bodyworker when she was out next and she did a bunch of work on his SI region that put an end to the frequent peeing. Now when I notice it (usually toward the end of the show season each year), I have her come out to work on him and it goes away again for another year or so.
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He was checked for Cushing three times and doesn’t test positive for it. He is 12 and I have had him about six years . Was doing this when I got him but it seems to be getting worse …
Feel dumb asking but where is s1 region?
SI - sacroiliac. It’s where the spine meets the pelvis (https://www.equisearch.com/riding-and-training/the-anatomy-of-dressage-horse-hindquarters)
^That site has a good diagram of it.
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I boarded a little mare here for a while…she urinated far too much, too. Vet said it could be almost nothing, or serious.
The owner went for testing (forget details) but she ended up passing away - not a good thing to post, but if nothing else works, perhaps a second opinion?
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Our excessive urinating mare was an excessive drinker. It was ulcers. Treatment stopped the never ending cycle within two days. Try three days of omeprazole and see if that makes a difference, then you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you need to do.
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Too much protein in diet?
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I had a vet mention that frequent peeing of small amounts can indicate back pain. Might be worth looking into if he’s not an excessive drinker
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Diabetes iInsipidus?
If the vet can’t find any physiological causes, I think that raises the potential that it’s Psychogenic Polydipsia.
I once had a large pony come in on trial to board at a barn I was managing. I noticed excessive drinking and mentioned it to the vet during the PE. All the tests came back fine and the vet and new owner agreed it was nothing to worry about. After the pony settled in her drinking went back to normal.
I think in that case the pony was reacting to the stress of the move to a new barn.
For those who may have never heard of the term Psychogenic Polydipsia. It usually happens in stalled horses who are bored or stressed. They drink excessively as a way of relieving stress or boredom. It’s sort of in the same category as stall walking, weaving, and chewing on things.
I don’t know if Diabetes Insipidus can occur in horses but I would ask your vet about that. My dog was diagnosed with it and the only sign he had was excessive urination. Urinalysis showed his urine was significantly diluted. It is easy to treat in dogs- a few eye drops a day to stimulate the hormone that processes water in the kidneys. His kidney values showed up fine in bloodwork.
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Than you all. I had his back xrayed a couple years ago for something else , but didn’t go as far as the s1, so I will definitely get that checked. Also will look into the diabetes angle. Did run him through the ulcer meds last year as a couple of vets kind of ran out of ideas. But I feel bad for him even though he doesn’t seem in pain when he urinates. Thank you for the new ideas.
Leased a gelding years ago for a while that turned out to be excessive drinker and therefore excessive peeing. Vet checked kidney #'s, all fine, nothing else seemed to bother him. Awesome jump and hack winner at our hunter shows.
One theory that vet put forth was that some stalled horses drink out of boredom and it becomes a habit. This particular barn did very little turnout. The gelding was sold and I heard later that at his new, smaller barn they basically rationed his water.
other causes could be: Alfalfa hay can cause some horses to urinate more and more often, urinary tract infection,
bladder stones, clean -for bean even if he was checked.
I was going to ask if he was getting Alfalfa, but Marla 100 beat me to it! The old saying “Pees like a racehorse” , meaning often and with volume, came about because feeding good alfalfa hay caused that issue at the track.
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“Psychogenic Polydipsia” for those who might be interested (had a pony with that once).
my horse did the same thing and an ulcer treatment cleared it up. I would consider doing a scope, and if nothing is found an abdominal ultrasound which they could check for any stones.
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