Horse thinks he's stuck?

[Critter]

So, my 3 yo has been pooping in his water buckets the past week…but I think he thinks he’s stuck, if that makes any sense?

A few weeks ago he did catch his tail in the bucket…and he’s pretty chill, so he stayed there until I freed him. I immediately taped up the bucket handles…so no chance of getting the tail stuck again. Few weeks go by and the water bucket pooping starts. So I realize, when I go out for late night, he is standing with his butt at the water bucket and won’t come for his treat. I check and his tail is not caught…I push his rump over, and he’s like, “oh, I can move” and comes right over and gets his cookies. This has happened a few times at late night and in the morning. Tonight I go out, and he must have thought he was stuck since he got dinner…he had two piles of poo right adjacent to the buckets and a pile of poo in each of the buckets and had been pawing. He was not colicky…as soon as he realized he was not stuck (I pushed his rump over) he went to pee right away, so I think the pawing spot was he wanted to move and had to pee, but thought he couldn’t? He went right to eating hay and treats and was otherwise fine.

Sooooo…how do I stop this weird behavior? I am going to try and raise the buckets as high as I can (but can only go so high because of the water pipe and the grills of the stall front. Open to any suggestions!

[Melissa.Van_Doren]

I’d put a medium size tub on the floor instead, well-separated from his feed and hay. I would hope that would encourage him to move around and not feel “stuck”. Horses are so weird, aren’t they?

[4horses]

Maybe try moving the water bucket? One of my mares was pooping in her bucket. She picked that spot in the front of the stall as the manure spot. Moved the water bucket to the back wall and problem solved!

I then switched her stall and she picked the back wall as the manure spot, that stall has stall mats in front, dirt the last 3 feet in the back and I think that encourages them to go in the back of the stall. But I’m happy she is using one pile in the back!

[SusanO]

Mine was doing it because she was itching her butt on the buckets. I guess that made her have to poop? She would catch her tail on the handles of the buckets and rip whole sections of her tail out. Then I put in a fly system. She got sprayed so much during the day that the gnats and mosquitoes quit eating the base of her tail and she quit that nasty habit.

[S1969]

Maybe consider that he’s happily scratching his butt on the bucket - not believing he is stuck. Your finding him and pushing him over might be an interruption - not a “rescue.”

I’d move the bucket - higher or lower, but might also consider the deworming schedule and/or cleaning his sheath, as those often go together.

I find it hard to believe a horse thinks they are stuck when they are not.

[Critter]

He is not itchy - if you find him in that spot (or check on camera) he’s not rubbing his rump/tail - just standing perfectly still. Also, no rubbed hairs on his bum or tail. He is due for deworming (and a sheath cleaning for that matter)…so those could certainly be a factor.

Normally he poops all in the back corner (he’s super neat, which is awesome considering he lived outside 24/7 until he was 2). And you can find him standing there butt to the buckets…go in, feed the horses on the other side of the barn and then come around to feed him and he is still there…dump his grain in and he just stands there, head turned to look at you. Put my arm through the grills and push his rump over, and boom he is right in the feed tub chowing down on breakfast. That’s part of why I got the feeling he thinks he is stuck!

After the poo mess at late night check last night, I only put one water bucket back in and used some bailing twine to tie it up as high as I could…which was about 3 inches higher. Went in this morning…no stuck horse, no poo in the bucket and no additional poo in the front of the stall.

Going to try that for a bit and see if we can disrupt the habit! If that doesn’t work I will try the water tub on the ground…what a goofball!

[joiedevie99]

Move the buckets for a week so he stops associating them with his incident.

[candyappy]

Maybe he has changed his corner of choice for pooping. Can you move his water alongside his hay feeder and leave the other walls free ?

[LilRanger]

I have zero suggestions, but he sounds like a really smart horse! Smart enough to wait for help, and that’s a good skill in a horse.

[S1969]

@LilRanger

I have zero suggestions, but he sounds like a really smart horse! Smart enough to wait for help, and that’s a good skill in a horse.

LOL. I’m not sure I’d call him a smart horse - if he thinks he is stuck to a bucket but actually is not.

[LilRanger]

well, that’s a good point, maybe I should reframe that as “he sure does learn a lesson fast!”

[Critter]

LOL…he is very trainable. And he is very chill/patient for a 3yo…very level-headed about stuff. I call him my “old lady” horse because he just has the personality that he doesn’t over react to much. He is super smart actually…I can’t put a blanket with the regular 2 buckle front on him - he unbuckles the clips and slides right out of the blanket!!! This is what I walked into one day

[2tempe]

Used to be a horse where I board: He would poop out his window. Thru his head opening on stall door into the aisle. Thru the bars into my horse’s stall. AND always into his waterer. The waterer was eventually covered completely with duck tape and water buckets hung higher. That did solve the water problem, but not the rest of his problem, lol. In your case yes move the buckets a bit away from his current spot as well as higher. and see how it goes.