Mystery: strange animal droppings on mare's back--under her blanket!

[Vesper_Sparrow]

My mare wears her blanket all the time, in the stall or in turnout, unless of course she’s being ridden. The last three times I have taken it off to groom her and tack her up, I’ve found a bit of fresh animal droppings on her rump, right next to the top of her tail. The droppings definitely aren’t horse manure, bird droppings, etc. I don’t think they’re cat poop (plenty of barn cats around). They remind me of weasel, ermine or mink droppings–they are thin in circumference, very oily and have a fishy odour.

She wears a Rambo Wug, which is loosish, with a big tail flap and tail cord.

So is the creature crawling up her tail and sleeping underneath her blanket or what is going on? She is a kind mare, so I can imagine her putting up with this type of thing.

Have you seen mink, ermine or weasel in your barn?

[Chall]

That doesn’t make sense.
Are there kittens in the barn? I could see a horse allowing a kitten to climb up its tail and snuggle under. Do the barn cats get canned fishy food, LOL?
Ermine/weasel are aggressive carnivores, which would upset the barn cats so Im thinking not conducive to a calm atmosphere allowing an animal to snuggle under a rug.
If this is a boarding barn, maybe your blanket was being removed at times, allowing animals to defecate on it, then that was transferred to your horse when he was re blanketed.
Blankets left on the ground were invariably fouled by foxes at my barn, but you couldn’t miss that smell.

[cutter99]

We have weasels here in PA and I have seen them here in barns but usually for the purpose of killing a chicken for a meal. Like Chall said- I can’t imagine a horse is going to allow one of those animals to crawl up underneath a blanket while being worn.

[Vesper_Sparrow]

Barn is low key and doesn’t take off blankets–it is a turnout sheet, actually, not a blanket. This has happened three times in a row (with fresh poop each time) when I removed the blanket.
I suppose it could be kitten poop but it doesn’t look or smell like it and barn cats get el cheapo dried food. Why would cats be pooping on my mare? They like to go in the arena and use that as a litterbox.
It reminds me exactly of those thin, stringy, dark, fishy smelling droppings that you often find on the top of rocks in the woods, belonging to various weasel species.

[Laurierace]

At Pimlico sometimes we would see places where the rats chewed on their coronet bands. I can’t imagine they would let any animal climb under their blanket without going nuts but I wouldn’t have thought they would let rats chew on their coronet bands either.

[Chall]

I had a kitten that loved to creep up under my shirt and sleep against my skin, or crawl under my blankets. And then splat. She was a kitten, and off the street, so wasnt used to regular food and didnt have bowel control yet.

[Vesper_Sparrow]

OK, kitten it is, I guess. Plenty of those around.

[trubandloki]

Kitten does not make sense either. Cats do not leave waste where they sleep.

Could it be something other than fresh stool? It being fresh every time is also a red flag that it is probably not stool.

Is her blanket in need of a bath (heck it is spring) and she rubs on something that causes grunge from the thing she rubs on to roll into the proper shape and end up just under her blanket?

[The_Crone_of_Cottonmouth_Count]

Oh man, if there was ever a time for a stall cam.

[Foxtrot_s]

Whatever it is probably does it when she is lying down for her naps. Weird. If it is a weasel you can consider yourself lucky.

Rats gnawing on racehorses coronet bands is just unacceptable - never heard of that!

When you have it figured you have to let us know.

[fairtheewell]

Is it in the shape of an X? Any white in it at all

Could be a harmless snake. They like to crawl in sleeping bags, etc. Google their poop.

[buck22]

Wow what a strange mystery!

Just in the last few days I’ve been adopted by a grey squirrel with a front end lameness that appears rather quiet and peacefully hangs out picking up crumbs run-in shed with my horses.

I usually pack all treats away, but have always left baggies of baby carrots out as no critter has ever been interested in them. Until recently. The contents of an entire bag of baby carrots suddenly went missing, bag neatly left seemingly undisturbed. I went to move a blanket I had left out, folded, and it rained chewed carrots.

I figured mice or 'munks, but a few hours later I caught site of dear little Lefty searching for her cache. I checked all the blankets I had left out hanging and it appears she likes squirreling away in these cozy places.

I fluff, refold and move around my blankets around almost daily to keep mice discouraged, but I was shocked how industrious this one squirrel was literally over night.

Squirrel droppings aren’t as you describe however.

Please keep us updated if you ever learn of the culprit whos’ apparently going out of their way to poop on your mare!

[maunder]

I suspect a rat. Try Googling “rat poop” and then hit images and see if you see a likeness. There are photos of some ratty poopers being about the length of a penny and longer.

[MistyBlue]

Doesn’t make sense that any animal would be choosing the same odd place to poop 3x.
Not to mention a kitten can’t get into poop position under a blanket and wouldn’t seem big/strong enough to get into an upright pooping position lifting a horse blanket.

Only things I can guess would be:

*kittens or something pooping in stall bedding, mare lays or rolls and upon rising the blanket scoops up some bedding along with the poop. Bedding is light enough to fall back out, poop held in place by the weight of the blanket maybe?

*someone at the barn is screwing with you.

[Vesper_Sparrow]

No poop this morning, of course! If I see it again, I will take a photo. I suppose it could have been rat poop, although I hate to think about that. It was quite fresh and soft and didn’t smell or look like anything that came from under her tail, it was a little fishy smelling. It reminded me of the tiny weasel poops you see on the tops of rocks by its look and smell.

Snakes aren’t out of hibernation up here yet–we still have a foot of snow on the ground.

The position is very odd–on the top of her rump by her tail. The same every time. So I don’t think she could have rolled in it and it made its way under her blanket; I think it would have been all smeared over her but it was quite intact.

Will let you know if there are any further developments.

[maunder]

This is when I wish horses could speak “human.”

Say, are there any little holes in the blanket. You mentioned it’s a turnout? Is it lined and are there layers? Could the droppings be some kind of insect pupae (did I spell that right?)?

[Foxtrot_s]

Maunder - that’s a possibility!!

[Vesper_Sparrow]

[QUOTE=maunder;7500892]
This is when I wish horses could speak “human.”

Say, are there any little holes in the blanket. You mentioned it’s a turnout? Is it lined and are there layers? Could the droppings be some kind of insect pupae (did I spell that right?)?[/QUOTE]

Yes, I think you spelled pupae correctly!

Here’s where the barn cam would come in handy.

It’s a new turnout, unlined and no holes. Not pupae but definitely poop-a of some kind.

[maunder]

:lol:

[Foxtrot_s]

A smart person would have saved some and taken photos