There’s a mare at the barn where I board who is in her late 20s. She goes through spells of diarrhea also but seems to hold her weight fairly well. She gets hay but I’ve noticed that she quids her hay - so the earlier suggestion about there not being enough fiber may have something to do with the diarrhea in her case. Anyway - what seems to work for her is flax seed. The BO (her owner) gives all the horses 1/2 cup of flax anyways but when the mare has her spells of diarrhea, BO doubles her flax for a while. So far this has worked for her although I’m not sure exactly why it helps her :yes:
I really don’t think it’s a chewing/teeth issue. Candi has all her teeth. She’s recieved regular dental care since I’ve had her, and both the dentist and my regular vet have checked her teeth and bite recently. The grass & hay is well chewed - it just looks like it’s not totally digested and there is more liquid than ‘normal’ in her poop.
I’ll check into MSM.
For those of you who might be interested, here’s the info on TC Senior: http://www.triplecrownfeed.com/senior.php
Thanks, and keep the thoughts coming!
BS, I’m so sorry bout your old girl!
Sounds like her gut is just not operating at an optimum level.
My inclination would be to cut back on the forage and/or anything that is difficult to digest and supplement with the TC Senior. I know people always shout More Fiber when there are stomach issues in most species but honestly if her gut is not working 100% the fiber is just gonna make things worse. Maybe try something like EquiPride, BioSponge or Succeed?
Maybe run a blood panel?
Hoping she picks up for ya…
My older gelding had diarrhea forever - vet said “well, just an old horse thing, etc.” Stomach Soother helped a bit, probiotics not at all. Put him on a course of antibiotics (Tucoprim) for rainrot last spring - voila, the diarrhea is GONE and has stayed gone. I still walk into his stall every morning and tell him how good his poop looks…
I have a younger TB, only 8 now, who has had sloppy poop for almost the entire time I’ve had him, but his weight, coat, and health were excellent, so I put it down to him just being that way. But a few months ago he started to look like he was losing a little weight and topline. A double dosed of Oxibendazole did wonders for him.
I know you said you’ve wormed her, but have you Powerpacked her? Small encysted strongyles don’t show up on a fecal. If she’s not really digesting her hay all that well, I’d start giving her a mash of hay stretcher / beep along with her TC Senior. I’d also add some MSM and aloe juice to her daily ration. If her food is going through her so fast that its not looking digested, both will help sooth her a little bit.
Good luck. I think you’re awesome to take such wonderful care of your old girl.
I’ve just gotten some Stomach Soother to try and will probably hunt down some MSM.
I have upped her Sr this week, but I really can’t cut out roughage all together. I don’t have a dry lot and Candi isn’t comfortable in a stall. She pretty much has to live in the paddock & pasture with grass. She doesn’t have to get hay, I suppose, but the runs started before I began feeding hay. I don’t think hay is helping, but it’s not the cause of the problem.
Candi’s PowerPaked twice a year as part of her regular worming.
My vet wants to hold off on antibiotics since he hasn’t found the problem and doesn’t want to risk harming the ‘good guys’ that (hopefully) are in her gut. I’ve already added probiotics and her feed has Lactobacillus Acidophilus Bacteria and Saccharomyces Cerevisiae added.
The vet has done a blood panel and has checked for a few specific things. He’s done three fecals now. The closest thing to ‘off’ that’s showed up so far is the fact that her thyroid is on the low side of normal.
Just a question because I’m curious; How come so many folks are suggesting a mash or wet food? Her teeth are fine (as I’ve stated several times), there is no evidence that there’s any problem with her ability to chew, TC Sr is extremely palatable, and she’s drinking plenty of water. In my experience, wetting feed is good for oldies with missing teeth or horses prone to impaction. I don’t want to seem combative, but I’m not seeing any great benefit to Candi and just another chore for me. Am I wrong?
I’m not buying that “she’s just old” thing either! Something has changed. I do have a mare who had colic surgery as a weanling and had a big resection. I’ve had her since she was a yearling and she has always had cow patties. She’s ten now. I tried all sorts of things with her before I resigned myself to the fact that cow patties are her normal. My vet says she has a hyperactive gut and the folks where she had her surgery were surprised to hear she’s still alive when I had occassion to talk to them last year.
I’m supposed to talk to my vet about Candi today. I’ll mention what has been brought up here. THANKS!!
Beastie have you tried some metamucil? The only reason I ask is because you have had so much rain down there and the horses are bound to have some grit in their guts. The only time any of mine get the runs…that is the culprit. We keep them on daily Horseshine now and have had no problems.
I know my guys love the fiber cookies 
No, I haven’t tried Metamucil. We have had some nice rain lately, but I don’t have much mud and Candi’s areas aren’t sandy. Also, her troubles started a couple months ago. I’ll ask the vet if he noticed any sand when he was doing her fecals - I know he wasn’t looking for it though.
[QUOTE=BeastieSlave;4537175]
No, I haven’t tried Metamucil. We have had some nice rain lately, but I don’t have much mud and Candi’s areas aren’t sandy. Also, her troubles started a couple months ago. I’ll ask the vet if he noticed any sand when he was doing her fecals - I know he wasn’t looking for it though.[/QUOTE]
We are about as far from sand as it comes :lol: but the dirt gets in there and does the same thing.
You can do a quick check with a bucket and a fresh pile, but I don’t think it would hurt to try a little cookie :winkgrin:
I went through this a few years back with a gelding I had had since he was 4. As he aged, he began having more problems with diarrhea, especially as he would transition from summer pasture to winter hay (Same farmer, same fields, same hay for the last 25+ years – it was the horse’s ability to digest the hay that was changing, not the hay itself.) The other horses never had problems – just this fellow.
I went through psyllium products, probiotics, various worming protocols, fecals, blood work, rectal exams, etc., with no improvement whatsoever. What worked for this horse was to start providing him with a more easily digested form of fiber.
Initially beet pulp was effective in firming up his stools, then I switched him to Purina Equine Senior. When he got to be 30, he was no longer able to eat the first cutting hay he had been getting for the last 26 years without getting diarrhea. Once I starting giving him second cutting hay that was much finer (less “stems”) than the first cutting, everything firmed back up.
Good luck in your search to find something to help your horse.
I wet my old boys food just because it seems like if it’s already all mushed up he would have an easier time digesting it.
Keep us updated if the MSM works.
I’m going to be adding some plain unflavored drinkable aloe from the health food store and see if that makes a difference for my old man. Aloe has over 200 kinds of enzymes in it to help with digestion.
I’ve tried almost everything else even the yogurt idea, it all works for a while then it comes back.
My boy sounds the exact same as your girl too- not digested properly and way too much liquid.
Let me know if you find something that works, will ya?
Well, the vet says he’s pretty much done all he can. He said his best guess is that she has some malabsorption problem or tumors. Neither of which will necessarily show up on the tests he can do. He basically said I have two options; continue treating the symptoms or take her to one of the vet schools for ultrasounds, etc.
The closest vet school is over two hours away. Candi loads and travels well, but I’m not sure how comfortable she would be spending an unknown amount of time in a strange place. I just don’t think it would be in her best interest (remember she’s 100% blind).
The good news is she’s had pretty good poop for a couple days now. I’m not sure if it’s because of the double dose of Ivermectin she got earlier in the week or the Stomach Soother, or something else, but it’s a relief!
I have a very similar issue with my 13 year old. Nothing has changed. BO and I attributed the squirts to the wonky NE weather…but no one else has the runs.
He drinks his water great, shows no signs of dehydration. Eats 6 flakes a day of timothy mix and gets 1/2 a quart daily of trotter with Cosequin.
This horse is NOT in work and was on stall rest since July. He was allowed back in turn out a month ago (and did not have the runs then).
BO suspects ulcers from the meds he was on (gentacin 5 rounds of week long injections, with at least 2 weeks in between). I know the genacin can damage the kidneys…can kidneys attribute to the runs?
I was told Probios may help…BO recommended either Probios or U Guard.
I have not had the vet out YET. He is being called Monday.
[QUOTE=BeastieSlave;4540949]
Well, the vet says he’s pretty much done all he can. He said his best guess is that she has some malabsorption problem or tumors. Neither of which will necessarily show up on the tests he can do. He basically said I have two options; continue treating the symptoms or take her to one of the vet schools for ultrasounds, etc.
The closest vet school is over two hours away. Candi loads and travels well, but I’m not sure how comfortable she would be spending an unknown amount of time in a strange place. I just don’t think it would be in her best interest (remember she’s 100% blind).
The good news is she’s had pretty good poop for a couple days now. I’m not sure if it’s because of the double dose of Ivermectin she got earlier in the week or the Stomach Soother, or something else, but it’s a relief![/QUOTE]
I’d put my guess on the Stomach Soother. Keep us updated if it keeps working!
OP said:Just a question because I’m curious; How come so many folks are suggesting a mash or wet food? Her teeth are fine (as I’ve stated several times), there is no evidence that there’s any problem with her ability to chew
At her age, even with all her teeth and great dental care, there just comes a point where the teeth stop erupting and don’t contact each other as well, and they can’t masticate like they used to and grind that food up. Or their gut just doesn’t work as well as it used to and they can’t absorb the nutrients from the longer-stemmed feed (chewed hay).
She may be able to get more out of feed that has been “pre chewed” (pellet mash) for her.
It’s like the difference between cooked oatmeal and granola.
Give it a shot — I take care of a lot of retired horses and once they start having loose stool or lose condition or just seem to need that extra help, I transition them over to more mash, and it always helps.
I totally understand as the old guy I have had diarrhea last year and if you think it’s getting to cold in GA for cleaning up your girls butt, try NY in Feb when the temps are in the single digits and teens. :eek: Believe me NO FUN! 
Anyway, the old guy I have here (27 yr old QH) has always had soft feces and an occasional squirt but nothing to be to concerned about - at least neither the vet or I were too worried about it. But I wanted to see if I could get his manure to firm up a bit more so I tried Stomach Soother and it helped him some but after about 6 months it wasn’t doing it anymore.
Horse has RAO (heaves) so ALL hay is soaked. Horse was also getting several qt of soaked beet pulp with Nutrena Kwik (a complete feed) and Ration Plus (prebiotic).
Last yr Dia-Gel was recommended by someone on COTH whose opinion I have a lot of faith in. I tried it and plain yogurt (about 6 heaping tablespoons/meal) and I got him cleared up reasonably well last winter. I gradually decreased his yogurt until he was down to about 2 heaping tablespoons/meal.
Fast forward to present and the diarrhea is back full force. I tried the Dia-Gel and increasing his yogurt but no luck. Someone on COTH suggested trying Pro-Bios as it would be less expensive than the yogurt as I was spending about $88/month just on yogurt. :sigh: No luck with Pro-bios and I was also still using the Ration Plus so horse was getting a prebiotic and a probiotic. I dropped the Pro-Bios and went back to yogurt within a weeks time.
I’ve ordered Bio-Sponge and am waiting till it comes and in the meantime went back to some Stomach Soother and yogurt combo.
I’ve also got a thread here about Metronidazole for Diarrhea so you can check out those responses as well. So far vet doesn’t want to try the Metronidazole but if the Bio-sponge doesn’t work, I’m going to get down on my knees and beg because otherwise it’s going to be the end of the road for my fellow. 
Please, please try the MSM. I was right here with my guy when he was in his early thirties. But it did finally clear up with the MSM and he did quite well until he dropped dead in his stall one night when he was 36. There was nothing but 3 perfect, undisturbed piles of poop. :sadsmile:
He hated the butt washing too. Almost as much as I did. But the stuff is corrosive!
SCFarm
[QUOTE=LLDM;4545094]
Please, please try the MSM. I was right here with my guy when he was in his early thirties. But it did finally clear up with the MSM and he did quite well until he dropped dead in his stall one night when he was 36. There was nothing but 3 perfect, undisturbed piles of poop. :sadsmile:
He hated the butt washing too. Almost as much as I did. But the stuff is corrosive!
SCFarm[/QUOTE]
LLDM, I will try anything I can to keep this guy going. Actually right now the Stomach Soother and yogurt seems to be helping. Butt was not bad at all. He’s been off the SS for probably over a yr so I’m guessing the re-introduction to it might be helping. I’ve had this boy for the last 2 yrs and the vet that knows him from when he first came into this area is amazed at how good he looks. Believe me, he might not be mine and only a companion for my OTTB, but he gets more attention than my boy by far. I tell my boy that the old geezer needs the attention and my guy seems not to mind at all.
I’m still cautiously optimistic… We’ve had seriously good poop for several days now. I haven’t had to do butt duty in a while 
MSM has been ordered. I have to admit that Candi may be the only horse in the world who does not like Stomach Soother! After the first couple of days, she started dumping her feed and refusing to eat it. I gave in and I’m giving her a break. I’ll try it again later.
Watermark, you’re right. When I say her teeth are ‘fine’, I mean they’re fine for a horse her age. They are starting to wear down, but all agree that they’re as good as we can hope for.
IME the most overlooked thing for helping older horse to digest food and thus not get diarrhea, yet one of the easiest and most successful, is to supplement enzymes.
People tend to focus on probiotics but they only work on fiber in the hindgut. There is still the grain and the small intestine and the digestive action there is enzymatic. Some older horses have difficulty producing enough enzymes to process food correctly and absorb it.
I have found the simple addition of enzymes to be very successful. Accel is one supplement that has them but you could get them anywhere. Probably would need to feed more than what is in Accel anyway if that’s the problem. Look for amylase, protease, cellulase. Also papaya enzymes and bromelain I believe.
So - what is Stomach Soother?
