I always have the weirdest questions/threads: this one is about gas and poop

[RhythmNCruise]

Okay. So my last thread was about weenie beans, and this one is about farting and pooping (the horse, not me).

I’ve kind of noticed the past week or two that Mr. Horse has been “windy” let’s say. Lots of passing gas and whew! Stinky. I figured the hand grazing on some lush grass around the farm and the tiny nibbles he’s getting in his field are just changing things in there so-to-speak. He’s otherwise fine.

Both from the ground and when in the saddle, I’ve noticed him flagging his tail more (even when not passing gas) and almost acting like he would like to poop but then nah. He does poop at least once per ride though.

I also noticed he was kind of sluggish (which improved with the bean removal as per the last thread). If I got aggressive with leg, the tail went up, and he’d move out a little, but not much.

I got the feeling he’s bloated/gassy (he’s not exactly a “slim” horse no matter what, so it’s not something that would be noticeable) and while still a good sport about things, probably a touch uncomfortable. But I didn’t really do much about it…blamed it on spring grass and whatever.

Today I was riding him and he took his obligatory poop fairly early in the ride. Later on we were in the woods and I got after him because he was being such a poke-a-long pony. I pony-kicked him about three good wallops and he let out the biggest, semi-wet fart and then immediately pooped again (maybe 10 minutes after his first poop).

I swear he was happier then. Tail stayed relaxed the rest of the ride at all gaits, he was much more forward.

Finished riding and went to the wash rack for a bath and he pooped twice more (small amounts, mainly fueled by excitement when his buddies went riding by).

Could I have unstuck something? Has anyone ever kicked the gas/poop out of their horse before.

This has been a weird spring so far.

[quietann]

I can’t answer your question, but today I took old Feronia for a hand walk, and she seemed a bit more gimpy than usual. At some point during her walk, she stopped to pee, which she rarely does while we are out… and no more gimping! So, the mare equivalent of having to walk with your legs crossed because you need to pee so bad?

[cnd8]

My guy does this sometimes. Poop on the way inside, poop at start of ride, poop in washrack after ride. He gets sluggish under saddle too when he is about to go. All in all, he’s always been fine. Since exercise stimulates the digestive system, I don’t worry about it.

[TWH_Girl]

@RhythmNCruise

Okay. So my last thread was about weenie beans, and this one is about farting and pooping (the horse, not me).

Well that just made me lol

[JBCool]

Oh, gosh! My mom’s old horse was super shy about peeing in public and would shorten up under himself when he had to go. He was a small, short-coupled QH to begin with and when he had to pee, you might as well have been trying to canter a yoga ball.

I mean, I don’t want to do anything athletic when I have to go, let alone with someone on my back, so…?

[candyappy]

I am not one to push supplements but when we experienced drought and the pastures changed my gelding was suddenly gassy and bloated and was kind of not wanting to go forward until he pooped ( a few minutes into our ride) then he was fine.

I tried him on a digestrive supplement and that made a difference pretty quickly. Once we got rain and it greened back up he was fine and no longer seemed to have an issue? I used optizyme by Manna Pro.

ETA: His poo was just a tad more juicy at that time too. Nothing I would notice if I wasn’t watching so closely.

[RhythmNCruise]

Yeah. My guy eats TC Gold Balancer, which has a good gut package in it already, and I feed him about 6-8 Outlast cookies a day too. One thing though…he’s been on one type of oil or another for roughly the past year (mostly canola since I couldn’t stomach the cost of “horse” oils). I ran out and he went almost a week without any oil. I wondered if that might have changed his ability to keep things moving through? Maybe not. His “feed” (beet pulp pellets, alfalfa pellets, TC Gold Balancer) is soaked into a mash and he get plenty of long-stemmed, good-quality tim/orchard hay.

But who knows?

He had to feel better after that explosive gas and second poop. Had to. His ears were up the rest of the ride, hahaha.

[walktrot]

My late Paint gelding developed a whopper of a case of free fecal water when he was 26. It was in 2020. There wasn’t much info about what causes fecal water problems, and nothing about how to manage it. I contacted Rod at HorseTech.com and we tried SandTrap which is psyllium. It really made a big difference. Rod was getting more inquiries about fecal water. He developed WaterWerks which has specific ingredients that strengthen the lining of the intestines and cleared up the problem. I continued to use a small serving daily. He was fine until I had to put him down in 2022 for a lameness problem.