Living With Loose Manure?

So I’ve combed the COTH threads and I am working with a veterinarian but I thought I would come to you all to see what you’ve done since vet and I feel like we’ve tried everything.

Quick backstory: Horse is draft cross 13 years old was rescued by owner 6 years ago and I’ve had him now 6 months. (horse is a free lease) Horse came to me with semi loose manure. I thought it was the lunch alfalfa the barn I’m at was feeding him so took it away. Manure returned to semi normal just a bit loose. a month or so later horse has cow patties in his stall for about 2 days and then 1 day of normal poop. We do the Powerpac 5 day, poop returns to normal for maybe 2 days then runny again. Vet suggest loading dose of succeed then continue on it. Manure was a bit better first week on loading dose then back to normal.

We did 5 day fecal test, came back negative. Tested blood nothing. tested urine. Nothing.

Horse is eating 1/3 of a 3 quart scoop of Purina Wellsolve 2x a day has 24/7 turnout with free choice coastal hay.

This week vet and I decided to try Transfaunation which is pretty immediate results and after 3rd day of treatment horse was extremely loose the 4th day.

So COTH, What say you? Just let him live with the runny manure and keep giving a probiotic (succeed, full bucket)? Should I switch him to a ration balancer? Timothy Pellets with Renew Gold? Go completely grain free?

Horse is otherwise happy and looks healthy no weight loss that I can tell. he bops around in lessons just fine great energetic attitude. I am stumped on this one.

(Testing water is not an option and neither is changing hay right now)

Quinny has always had soft/loose/cow patty poop. She’s on Omega Biotic 8 twice a day and that does the trick!!

Not much help here, I hope you can figure it out.

My children’s hunter always had loose stools, we tried different feed, kaopectate, etc. nothing worked. After a show he started acting colicky, we took him to the veterinary college and they diagnosed him with ulcers. Treated with GG for 45 days and rescoped clean. He didn’t get any grain and wasn’t ridden during this time. First ride back he colicked badly and we made the decision to euthanize.

It was always difficult to keep weight on him, but otherwise he seemed like a happy horse for the 4 years we owned him. I still wonder what it may have been.

This was over 15 years ago so hopefully you’ll get a answer.

One of my boarder’s horses started having explosive diarrhea this winter. The horse is 29 and got bad right after they were switched into the winter dry lot with just hay. I’ve changed her diet several times trying to find a solution. Beet pulp helped as well as adding hay stretcher. She still has loose manure but isn’t spraying the stall walls currently. I’m waiting to see if it gets better or worse once they go out on grass for the summer.

Testing water is always an option since your county ag agent can take the sample you bring in and tell you what is wrong
rinse out buckets and water troughs with bleach. The army tells troops to do this in the field. You can shock your well with bleach also
Get a bottle of metronidazole from your vet and follow directions

Since horse is out 24/7 he may have too much sand in his intestine. Have you tried a round of psyllium for Sand Removal. Loose manure can be caused by ingesting sand and it irritates GI tract.

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If it is sand in the gut old way to tell is collect manure in bucket straight out of the horse with the liquid and add water. Sand will settle in bottom of bucket or container. Giving psyllium for 5-7 days each month will control it. Sand colic can kill

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My filly (coming 3) started having loose stool a couple months ago. I tried Daily Gold clay, then put her on SmartGut Ultra, and also reduced her Renew Gold, thinking maybe she had trouble with the fat content. None of those seemed to make a difference. BO started giving her Dynamite DynaPro probiotic, and she started having better-formed poop within a couple days. We’ll see if that trend holds. The barn has some coarser grass hay, and some finer, softer stuff. They were going through some of the softer stuff at the time the DynaPro was started, so I can’t say for sure if it’s the hay or the supplement.

I’ve also read about Platinum Performance Bio-Sponge giving good results, so I might give that a try next.

Update:

Horse went through 3 days of transfaunation tubing and I do not think it helped horse is as watery as ever. Vet has recommended an internal Medicine specialist $$$

Vet and I both did a sand test and found a very tiny amount of sand she had to point it out because I did not even see it.

I also thought about the water and hay but right now that’s not an option to switch or test. Vet said i could try the bio-sponge it will either work or it won’t. I suppose he could just live with it like some of you said… I just hate to miss something


5/2/19
Horse was on the 9 day bio sponge dose of 4oz 2x a day and had one day of completely apple ball manure then it quickly went back to the cow patty watery stuff I’ve been dealing with. I did talk with the internal medicine specialist as I couldn’t really justify the cost of her coming out and doing half the tests I have already had done on the horse.

I decided to start switching him to the Hallway Pure and Simple Balancer and we are keeping hay and fresh water in front of him. Should be about a week to 10 days before he is fully switched over. I am hoping this helps but I am just at a complete loss.

Still a completely happy and affectionate pony jumps around great no issues otherwise noted.

My old dude has the poops more often than not. We had half a dose of biosponge to his food with his evening meal and everything stays solid. The vet has no problem with this plan.

Scope for ulcers, both foregut and hindgut.

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Yes, definitely consider ulcer; however, a scope may or nay not see an ulcer in the foregut but cannot reach far enough to be definitive and a scope cannot determine hindgut ulceration or leaky gut… I would find a vet who is knowledgeable about digestive disorders.

You can’t scope the hindgut. You can ultrasound to get some idea, but it’s often a diagnosis of exclusion.

OP, I went through something similar with one of my horses. Tried LOADS of things–biosponge, probiotics, prebiotics, treated for gastric and hindgut ulcers, changed her food, antibiotics, etc, etc, etc–and finally gave up because it didn’t seem to bother her. Moving her across the country cleared it up overnight. Best guess is there was a low level bacterial contaminant in the well that bothered her and not the other horses on the property. If I had to do it all over again, I’d test the water.

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I know this is older - I had success using soy lecithin on my horse (barn staff nicknamed him Sloppy Joe due to his runny manure).

Loading dose 1 cup/day then gradually down to 1/2 cup. Bought it at the bulk food store.

It’s one of the ingredients in an expensive “gut health” grain and has also been mentioned to me by a vet when discussing ulcers.

UPDATE 07/15/19______________

Thank you all for your responses and Blugal for responding. I almost forgot i started this thread because things are going so well! We scoped and no ulcers. I did switch my horse to the ration balancer and he has some soft days but nothing compared to when he was on the Purina grain. Significantly lowered his hay intake and he is out 24/7 so constant movement the vet thinks is helping him. He did manage to blowout a huge abscess during the month of June taking most of his hind foot with him. Not sure if that was related at all. Otherwise he is going well he is quite chubby and is on a regimen to get some of the weight back off. We will see how he handles things when winter comes back around to our area. Might have to add some timothy pellets once the grass dies.

Currently eating 1/4 cup Hallway Pure and Simple Balancer 2x day with 1/2 cup Omega 3 supplement in am

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This may not be the issue for your horse, but I’ll throw this out there just in case and in case it may help someone who reads this thread hoping for an answer for their situation.

I have a 32 year old pony that has all of his teeth, they are just smooth as he no longer has a grinding surface. Due to the lack of a grinding surface, he has difficulty eating hay, but is still able to eat grass as long as I don’t allow the pastures to get to tall. If the pastures get to tall or he tries to eat too much hay, he will have bouts of cow patty poo and he passes liquid after he passes gas (he has farts he can’t trust/sharts). He has had this issue since his 20’s.

The best solution for him has been to add a short stem fiber to his diet in the form of hay pellets. During the grazing season he only needs about 2 lbs once a day to keep his system in good shape. Once the grass has died back, he needs 3 lbs twice a day along with beet pulp.

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Intermittent loose stool and abscess? Cushing’s.

I feel like I’m harping…

Harping? I feel like you’re jumping to conclusions. The horse had exactly ONE abscess in the middle of an extremely monsoon filled spring.

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My horse had a similar problem. His manure would look fine but liquid would flow out after and run down his butt and legs. Had to wash the area every three days, Like you I tried many things. This went on for 3 years. Moved to another barn. Feed changed to Hallway plus their Fiberenergy product. At 20 years old he is 1000 times better. It’s a rare day that i see any runny manure. LOVE HALLWAY!!!

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I owned a gelding who had brown gastric fluid passing, normal manure. Vet and I literally tried everything … everything.

It didn’t affect his mood so we accepted it but it sucked doing butt washes…

Then we changed barns. Nothing for over a year and a half. I found out later that the water at the old barn was treated through softeners and the new barn it was straight from the well.

This isn’t overly helpful but sharing…