Horse Passing Brown Liquid w/ Gas - Re mediated and now back....

[pryme_thyme]

Looking for ideas again (pretty please), in hopes to solve this once and for all for both myself and now a friend’s young gelding, who same the exact same thing going on, yet both horses live very far from each other. (many hours).

Back story for my guy.
Bought this guy last December (then 2y/o), issue ‘began’, from what I am told of previous l history when I purchased him. I had him gelded by a great vet, he had some swelling issues so vet gave him a prescription of ulcer meds just in case, and three weeks worth of long lasting penicillin shots.
Long story short, it turns out gelding was allergic to pen. Major diarrhea, same vet suggested to continue pen for a week, I allowed one more shot before I refused the remainder.

This issue coupled with hay change kept the battle going for two months, gelding got better to the point where butt was just dirty no major mess within 3 months.
Fecal’s came back okay but vet wormed him just in case twice over the following two months, suspecting a type of worm that doesn’t show well in fecals (forgive my ignorance to the names…). Once with moxidecin/praziquantel, this gave us minor squirts a week later for a couple weeks, then finally with ivermectin which his system was fine with.

The issue with dirty bottem cleared up mostly by April, then spring pasture came in, mild episode for about a month. Vet out again, suggested he gain 50lbs and to just leave him on pasture (quote "he has to get used to it). This gelding has never been on grass before. Was on a dry lot/stalled for shows.

Gelding DID get better. Completely! Gelding gained 100lbs, cleared up from June - November 1st then we got our first major freeze and pasture died off. Now poor guy is back to mild runny bum. Poops normal just brown liquid that coats bum and tail, has been dewormed in normal rotation and fecal is good.

Previously he was scoped for ulcers, treated for them just in case, tried aloe juice, tried Equisure, tried multiple prebiotics (mostly alpha omega brand), tried hemp, tried Smart Gut supplement, tried Comfort Gut. List goes on.

Only thing that seemed to coincide with the spring remediation was taking away everything Except his regular grain Purina Ultra F and equalizer AND brewers yeast and tsp of activated charcoal.

NOW

A friend purchased an unrelated AQHA gelding, he was a bit unthrifty, very much like my guy, underweight like my guy was, her gelding was vetted completely, wormed, etc etc. Fecals show a very low count after worming regime. Wormed again, now fecal is good. But he also has the mild brown water and normal formed fecal balls.

We are at a loss… what is this? Any experiences?

Thank you SO much in advance!

[luvmyhackney]

Most likely hind gut issues and needs to be changed over hay/grass slower than many horses to avoid stomach upset.

[WildandWickedWarmblo]

check for sand colic, sand in intestinal tract.

[SugarCubes]

I have a gelding who has the same issue, normal to slightly loose poop but it’s accompanied by runny liquid. We don’t have sandy soil, but another COTHer suggested doing a week of Sand Clear which interestingly enough cleared it up. He was good for a few months, but just this week it has started again, so I’m going to give the Sand Clear another try. My vet suggested that it was a combination of switching from grass to more hay in the winter months and also said it’s common in older horses but she didn’t seem at all concerned. I’ll be following this thread though to see what you come up with!

[pryme_thyme]

Thank you for the replies!!!
Where can you buy the sand clear?

Same me with my vet… says he’s healthy and moves on. Leaves me slightly insecure but slightly rest assured!?

Sugar… I’m sad-glad to know these two horses are not alone. I will keep reporting! It’s so frustrating.
Poopsickle anyone? Lol

[pryme_thyme]

@SugarCubes

I have a gelding who has the same issue, normal to slightly loose poop but it’s accompanied by runny liquid. We don’t have sandy soil, but another COTHer suggested doing a week of Sand Clear which interestingly enough cleared it up. He was good for a few months, but just this week it has started again, so I’m going to give the Sand Clear another try. My vet suggested that it was a combination of switching from grass to more hay in the winter months and also said it’s common in older horses but she didn’t seem at all concerned. I’ll be following this thread though to see what you come up with!

Out of curiosity for weather… what zone are you? Ontario?

[fanfayre]

Sand Clear is fancy flavoured psyllium. I buy plain, no-nonsense, psyllium husks from Bulk Barn. Feed at least 1 cup/day for 7 days/month. 1 bag of psyllium = ~$20.00

[myrna]

Have you had the hay tested.often a low sugar hay will clear up the runs.

[pryme_thyme]

Haven’t tested hay… barn or I probably should except there really isn’t an option for different hay in our area.
However… he has been getting alfalfa hay cubes since spring. He seems to do very well on this. Could be an option to remove hay for a time and supplement extra cubes.

Thank you for the tip on bulk barn! I am going there this afternoon!

[pryme_thyme]

Hey everyone, | just wanted to share.

We tried the psyllium husks, purchased from bulk barn, on the one gelding. Symptoms have cleared up. So we will continue a week every month.

The other gelding… oddly cleared up roughly 2 1/2 weeks after change to the round bale hay. Likely a digestion shock issue I am thinking.

I will update if any other changes, thank you all for the advice!!!

[Flytrn117]

Hey everyone!
Last winter my Percheron had the same issue with passing liquid gas and having a very messy back side. to the point that we hauled him to the car wash in town one day to clean him up. much consideration for whether it was an illness, related to needing to receive sand clear, getting wormed, or needing treatment for some type of infection, or even an ulcer. I read a lot of posts on the same issue as many people have noticed the same thing with different horses especially in winter with feeding hay primarily and no pasture. after much consideration of what to do and after trying numerous supplements and giving them time to work, there was a post I read that the horse owner was having the same issue and noted her horse to one day have broken out in hives. her vet prescribed trihist and the liquid gas, runny poop issue went away! By now it was almost springtime when I read this, and I thought what the heck let’s give it a try. I spoke to my vet she ordered the trihist and two doses later my Percheron had a dry bum! Now this winter one of my geldings started with the same thing I thought it was due to his grain as there was a change in the senior grain that I had been using but despite taking him off of it he had liquid gas and now poopsicles on his hind end. I got another order of trihist and one dose cleared him up! I will continue to use it and gradually taper him off and see what happens. just wanted to share my experience and to strongly recommend that anybody else with this issue to talk to their vet and try the tri hist!

[China_Doll]

didn’t see where probiotics were given. That would be the first thing on my list.

[pryme_thyme]

Back again… issue cleared up for awhile again. Then picked up new bags of grain, same grain, Purina equalizer and ultra F. Apparently purina changed the ultra f slightly and dirty butt came back.

Pulled him off grain, added more alfalfa hay cubes to diet. Dirty butt cleared.

Now back again. Only change has been major temperature fluctuations. Ie. -20 to 10*c within three days.
Coat still very shiny, starting to shed well, temperament still great and he has more weight over his ribs than ever.

This is getting frustrating, nutritionist and vet recommended no processed grains or chemical
worming for 6mos.

Note : I have tried multiple pre and pro biotics, differing brands, feed additive version and oral paste.
zero change with this.

I also tried psyllium for a few days but he was not having any dirty bum trouble at the time. This discontinued.

I am beginning to think healing hind gut ulcers that are irritated on occasion with stemmy hay, grain etc.
Symptoms make sense seeing how they are mostly opposite to stomach.
Vet is pretty well stuck on “remove all but natural feed and let it run its course seeing as otherwise healthy”

thank you all in advance.

[Gainer]

A lot of people around here are having similar problems. Here it seems to have something to do with the extreme weather changes and probably what the grass is doing in response, as the “ploopy plops” also come and go. Three out of four of mine have/had it. Put them on Bio Sponge for about 10 days and it cleared up.

[Stacie]

If your grain is not fixed formula, different batches of it are not necessarily going to be the same. The nutrition is equivalent, but the actual ingredients can change. Very few concentrates are fixed formula. If you suspect the grain, use a fixed formula vitamin and mineral like uckele sport horse pellet and make up the calories with alfalfa pellets or cubes

[cloudyandcallie]

You have to give the psyllium 7 days a month for every month to move sand out of the intestines.

[pryme_thyme]

Very interesting! Thank you for replies! Great information!!!

[akdraft77]

@China Doll

didn’t see where probiotics were given. That would be the first thing on my list.

^^THIS^^

Sounds like a lot of diet changes. Horses generally do better when they are fed consistently the same thing. Make any changes slow. A lot of horses are also sensitive to the chemicals in wormers. Make sure you are not overmedicating here.

Any time you switch for hay to grass or back, or change grains, or hay sources, your horse may be sensitive to that. Make changes slowly and consider probiotics.

[ParadiseHorses]

I dealt with this for over 3 months recently. The horse is old, thin and has Cushings/Ir. I tried everything with no improvement, took him to the vet who suggested Platinum Performance GI. I was sceptical but in a week’s time, the runny poops had stopped. I continued to give it for 2 more weeks and then decreased it over 3 days until I stopped it. The manure has stayed normal looking. PP GI contains Bio-Sponge.

[RedHorses]

When my horse did this normal poop with excess liquid, and liquid with gas business I ran through much of the same things you did. Once I really started paying attention I discovered he was on an 11-12 days dirty, 10-11 days clean. Fecals had been fine. The cyclical nature made it difficult to determine what was actually working. EquiShure seemed to help and I did keep him on it for a year or so while the problem resolved.

In my case the problem was encysted small strongyles. The act of burrowing in or out irritated his hind gut which caused the excess liquid to be drawn in. We actually ended up doing a biopsy of his hindgut wall to find this out. I had had the bad timing to grab fecal samples when the worms were not in an egg laying phase. I can tell if encysted strongyles are becoming a problem again because [b]he will get the dirty bum/excess liquid within a week of a moxidectin deworming, that lasts up to a week depending on infestation.[\b] Sound familiar? I do regular fecal checks and deworm with moxidectin at least once a year.

The other cause of the excess liquid with normal poop balls for my guy is sensitivity the common horse feed ingredients. Flax and soy being the two I know about. When I remove the offending feed he is fine, but it does mean I have to make sure he can’t get to my other horse’s feed dish as that horse gets a feed that contains a good bit of flax.

The third time I might see the dirty bum is in the hot summer when he starts to cook the bacteria in his hind gut. That one becomes obvious quickly as his poop softens into cow patties within a day or two of the first dirty bum. He has temperature regulation issues and I have strategies to help him, though he has gotten better at it in recent years.