I have ridden and owned many horses throughout the years, none have ever been “poop shy” before, however my newest guy will NOT go to the bathroom anywhere but his stall. Once he went when cross-tied, but he will even try to hold it when on the aisle.
I feel bad because I know it can’t be comfortable, but I don’t always have the luxury of bringing him back to his stall and untacking him so he can go #2.
Horse shows are a big issue since 99% of the time the rings are far away from the stabling/trailer parking. For example, HITS. It takes a good 10 minutes to walk back to the stabling from the rings, another 10 minutes to tack/untack and then another 10 minutes to ride back down. We ran into this issue a couple of times when he last went.
I always wait for the last possible minute to tack up before lessons, shows, etc., but our schedules don’t always jive.
Has anyone else ever experienced this before, and if so, what, if anything could/did you do?
Mine are not poop-shy. However- how to you know he is holding it? Grunting, colicy, pissy, bloated (I just described my own personal PMS 
) Clenching?
I don’t think just lack of pooping means he is holding it in- or does it? Do horses have that kind of sphincter control?
my older horse never poops in the barn getting groomed or tacked up. but if he knows the farier is coming, he will poop like 6 times. And it’s not like the farrier is something scary or new.
I had one that would pee and poop on his way to the ring. He did it every time.
Personally, most horses will go if they really have to. It’s not like they need to poop and pee every five minutes, but when they need to go, they will.
[QUOTE=Pennywell Bay;8855085]
Mine are not poop-shy. However- how to you know he is holding it? Grunting, colicy, pissy, bloated (I just described my own personal PMS ) Clenching?
I don’t think just lack of pooping means he is holding it in- or does it? Do horses have that kind of sphincter control?[/QUOTE]
LOL!!! He does the tail raise and will pass a little gas and you can just tell he’s contemplating, but then doesn’t want to. As soon as you put him back in his stall he poops. He’s a huge creature of habit. Poops in one spot, pees in another. I would normally be concerned about a bigger health related issue, but he’ll do the “poop signs” when riding and then when he’s comfortable in his stall, it just comes out LOL. What a lovely morning, after breakfast thread this is!
I have a horse like this too - well, not as extreme as yours but he has never once pooped while being ridden. I think it’s so strange! But I do love that I never have to clean the arena after I ride him
No advice, but kind of funny he’s sort of potty trained!
[QUOTE=Nezzy;8855091]
my older horse never poops in the barn getting groomed or tacked up. but if he knows the farier is coming, he will poop like 6 times. And it’s not like the farrier is something scary or new.[/QUOTE]
He’s emptying his tank before he has to stand there forever, smart guy! LOL
[QUOTE=SugarCubes;8855124]
I have a horse like this too - well, not as extreme as yours but he has never once pooped while being ridden. I think it’s so strange! But I do love that I never have to clean the arena after I ride him
No advice, but kind of funny he’s sort of potty trained![/QUOTE]
Glad I’m not the only one who has a horse with this “quirk”. He’ll sometimes even do the human equivalent of the potty dance, but still will only go once he has the comfort of home.
One thing my trainer suggested forever ago was that we make sure my horse learns to pee outside of his stall. She had many issues with horses that wouldn’t pee except in their stall. Not just a stall, their stall. It took a long time to train the horse to pee in the trailer and then pee elsewhere. That’s why she decided every horse needs to figure it out. We wouldn’t finish walking in the arena till my horse decided to pee after a ride. We got so good at it that he would try and call it quits early by peeing. :lol:
I don’t think the popping problem is as bad as not peeing since he will do that. If it bothers you a lot, you could try training him to go outside but that takes a ton of time.
You could try training him similar to how they do it at the race track. I know this can work, especially if you have a smart horse, cause I’ve done it with one of mine.
Start by being available in his stall when you expect him to go pee or poop.
When he goes either, you whistle and praise when he’s done. After a few times take him to his stall and whistle before he goes. eventually he WILL
go on the whistle signal. Then gradually do this right outside the stall. If he doesn’t go take him back to the stall and start over again, by whistling.
He should eventually get it. How long it takes will depend on how astute he is
about learning new things and how ingrained this habit is. I only worked on the peeing part cause mine would poop wnenever he needed to but he would hold the pee til he was uncomfortable if he were under saddle.
I didn’t believe it till I tried it and my ASB picked it up pretty fast. But then ASB’s are unusually smart and easy to train.
Let us know if you try it. Good Luck!
[QUOTE=thehorsedream;8855165]
One thing my trainer suggested forever ago was that we make sure my horse learns to pee outside of his stall. She had many issues with horses that wouldn’t pee except in their stall. Not just a stall, their stall. It took a long time to train the horse to pee in the trailer and then pee elsewhere. That’s why she decided every horse needs to figure it out. We wouldn’t finish walking in the arena till my horse decided to pee after a ride. We got so good at it that he would try and call it quits early by peeing. :lol:
I don’t think the popping problem is as bad as not peeing since he will do that. If it bothers you a lot, you could try training him to go outside but that takes a ton of time.[/QUOTE]
Don’t know if they still do it, but my old OTTB would pee when you whistled a certain way (if he had to go). It was a certain couple of notes put together (not just random whistling). Gosh I can’t remember but I think I was told they trained some to do that so they go before a race (or trainer was pulling my leg, I was a young-un when I had the horse). Maybe a race person will chime in.
Just throwing this out there because I have another fussy horse.
My horse prefers to not pee in his stall. He would rather go outside. He will go in the stall if he absolutely has to but he doesn’t like it.
He also poops AND pees once loaded into the trailer and the last door is closed. I’ve gotten into the habit of waiting until he’s done before driving. He’ll do it both leaving home and coming back.
The pee-whistle on demand is good for racehorses called to the urine barn for a sample.
[QUOTE=Marla 100;8855201]
You could try training him similar to how they do it at the race track. I know this can work, especially if you have a smart horse, cause I’ve done it with one of mine.
Start by being available in his stall when you expect him to go pee or poop.
When he goes either, you whistle and praise when he’s done. After a few times take him to his stall and whistle before he goes. eventually he WILL
go on the whistle signal. Then gradually do this right outside the stall. If he doesn’t go take him back to the stall and start over again, by whistling.
He should eventually get it. How long it takes will depend on how astute he is
about learning new things and how ingrained this habit is. I only worked on the peeing part cause mine would poop wnenever he needed to but he would hold the pee til he was uncomfortable if he were under saddle.
I didn’t believe it till I tried it and my ASB picked it up pretty fast. But then ASB’s are unusually smart and easy to train.
Let us know if you try it. Good Luck![/QUOTE]
That’s so interesting! I had no idea this could be done. I might need to try this, in all seriousness
Come to think of it, mine does not poop during lessons, but as soon as she’s put in the trailer she does a huge one - I always think how uncomfortable sitting trot must be with all that a poundage thumping around during the lesson.
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;8855422]
Come to think of it, mine does not poop during lessons, but as soon as she’s put in the trailer she does a huge one - I always think how uncomfortable sitting trot must be with all that a poundage thumping around during the lesson.[/QUOTE]
That was my thought too…and he def. gets ancy, which is always another indicator that he’s “gotta go” but refuses to do so out of his house, smh.
I’ve had a “shy” horse that would only go in front of me, if at all possible, and he preferred that even I not be looking directly at him. When we would be somewhere public, I’d have to take him away from others to behind a trailer or trees/shubbery. But, if I was about to get him to be worked, he would go off to do his business, then allow himself to be haltered.
He was meticulous in his stall habits (the barn help loved him) and preferred to hold it until he went outside, where he would go in the same spot each time, if possible. Just his nature - he was very healthy and lived to be a very old horse.
My current horse will see me coming to get him, walk off a brief way to do his business (walk out of his stall into the adjoining paddock or a bit away if he’s already in the paddock), then wait to be haltered, at which time he gets a treat. After grooming and tacking up, he will usually stop about halfway to the arena to urinate, after which I give him a little treat. I like these habits, as I very rarely need to pick manure up in the arena, or work around wet spots.
I believe that these horses learned that it’s more comfortable to be “empty” when working.
None of my horses have ever gone, in any form, in a barn aisle - that’s a number of horses over decades. Every one would poop in a trailer, often very shortly after being loaded. Generally, they have had to be on long hauls to be willing to urinate in a trailer (even with bedding).
My last horse wouldn’t poop outside her paddock, and in it she had “poop spots”. I think she pooped once while someone was riding her, in the entire 4 years I owned her. She never seemed uncomfortable though.
The gelding I owned before her wasn’t poop, or pee, shy. Infact I could pretty much get him to pee on the spot. I was selected for a random urinalysis at a show once. The vet assistant said they had a stall set aside for tests if I wanted to put him in there to wait. I laughed, hopped off, and headed for the nearest grassy patch (he didn’t like splashing) Loosened his girth a smidge. Instant peeing.
My gelding is another one. He has potty spots in his pasture. He has only pooped once when I was riding him, and it was in a designated spot. His pastures stay very tidy!
[QUOTE=horseygurl182;8855142]
He’s emptying his tank before he has to stand there forever, smart guy! LOL[/QUOTE]
naa, it happens throughout the farrier visit. if i am paying attention, i can catch it with the shovel.
one time he pooped in the farriers rolling tack box. Then he did not poop again the entire visit. i think he was happy he scored a win.
