Sigh, I love my 27 year old ottb…
She has lost or had pulled, many of her teeth. She stopped eating hay. I had been giving her soaked hay cubes to supplement. Vet floated her teeth, pulling another one in the fall and said treat hay cubes as her hay now, she doesn’t have to be given any hay, main food hay cubes. (She wasn’t eating it, also hates chaff!)
I have been feeding soaked Timothy/alfalfa cubes since fall.
One super nice warm day, I put her outside thinking there wasn’t much grass, she can’t get in trouble. She met me at the gate choking.
She got through that, but I soaked her cubes adding even more water making sure she didn’t choke on those.
Diarrhea started. 
I think I caused it by overwatering, but she still has diarrhea. I soak the cubes, not as much again as I did right after she choked, but it’s not clearing up totally.
I heard hay stretcher handfuls can help with diarrhea- it hasn’t.
I have heard of bio-sponge.
Is it the alfalfa in the alfalfa/timothy cubes?
I read beet pulp could help.
So many choices but I want to try something new gradually, and I can try them all, but in the meantime- where would you start?
Currently eating timothy/alfalfa cubes 3 times a day, Purina equine senior 3 lbs 3 times a day, 2 handfuls hay stretcher 2xs a day (that was an experiment that didn’t work that I am using up).
Thanks!
I had an old horse that recovered from an impaction colic and still ended up with severe diabetes. Thousands of dollars later, I took her home from the horse hospital. The owner of the facility helped me load her as she was pretty weak. He told me about using Florastor Saccharomyces Boulardii and Metamucil Psyllium. My mare wouldn’t touch the Metamucil but would eat Sandclear Psyllium. She weighed 1,000 lbs and the dose was a pill per 200lb man twice a day. Worked like a charm. I’ve used it since for a dog that became ill while kenneled. Good luck.
I’d start with biosponge and then transition to mad barn probiotic
Biosponge works quickly on my mini that get watery manure once in awhile.
I’ve seen Sand Clear (or Sand Aid, or whatever brand) clear up diarrhea if it’s caused by sand in the gut. Long-stemmed hay is great at moving sand out, and if she’s not getting that anymore, it could be that she needs more help to rid her gut of the sand.
On the flip side, I’ve known at least two horses that developed FWS due to no longer being able to digest long-stemmed hay. But that shouldn’t be your mare’s issue.
Unfortunately, this is one of those things that could have so many possible causes. What does the vet think?
The vet thinks the same I do- I gave her too much water with her hay cubes.
Now it’s just righting my mistake.
Huh. I’ve never heard of giving too much water to a horse and that causing diarrhea. Grass is 75-85% water, and that’s what horses are more-or-less designed to eat. It’s the reason soaking hay cubes and pellets in liberal amounts of water is suggested. It’s the reason we encourage more water intake during the months when grass isn’t available and more dry hay is being consumed. If anything, most of the time we’re trying to get more water into our horses.
But I suppose it’s possible. Out of curiosity, how much water did you give her?
When I fed cubes, I always made sure they were completely covered by an inch or more of water, and then I’d let them soak for 30 minutes to an hour. Once fully soaked, they were falling apart and had almost doubled in volume. Sometimes I’d even add a little more water if there were some stubborn ones that weren’t soft enough for my liking. It never occurred to me to worry about too much water.
Agreed. Water is good. Usually it’s too little water that’s a problem. I’d look to sand issues maybe parasites etc. something irritating the gut. Not water.
One random zebra thought. And this is just regarding Hay cubes Years ago, I bought a bag of hay cubes and I swear it’s like they chopped up a bale of two or three string, Hay and cubed it including the strings I actually called. I think it was triple crown I can’t remember anyway they wanted to refund my money. I told him that that’s fine. I don’t need a refund. I just need you to maybe monitor your manufacturing process better. I mean, every single cube had pieces of nylon or synthetic or whatever that plasticy String embedded in it. My bet would not be on water. It would be on some kind of irritant.
I’ve had many horses get loose manure from introducing alfalfa. I’d try a hay cube without alfalfa.
Yeah, I was wondering if the water triggered a reaction to the alfalfa. Thanks!
I tried beet pulp with her today, and she’s like “maybe…but I don’t have to like this!”
