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Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

Diarrhoea - we’re a bit baffled

8 replies

alloalloallo · 05/04/2022 10:53

I have a 25 year old oldie - she has arthritis, has been fully retired few years now and has been on a daily (sometimes twice daily if she’s been twatting about) dose of Danillon for about 2.5 years

Back in November time she developed diarrhoea. Had a vet out, checked her over, blood tests, etc, etc - all fine, couldn’t really find a reason for it, no signs of damage from the Danillon, no cushings, no laminitis, no colic, no outward signs of ulcers (although she wasn’t scoped)

She was fine in herself, eating normally, drinking fine, didn’t lose any weight, no change in her behaviour

Cut hard feed back to just chaff, then tried her on pink mash, a gut balancer, had a good worm count but vet advised to worm her anyway, and the vet suggested a gut sponge. She has a joint supplement and an OAP vit/min supplement that she’s been on for years. We tried wet hay, dry hay, hayledge. All sorts.

It continued all through winter, sometimes poo was a little more formed, sometimes like cowpats. Vet still couldn’t find any particular reason for it or any underlying conditions and the fact that she continued bouncing around like a horse half her age, we just managed it as best we could.

3 weeks ago, it stopped. Almost as suddenly as it started.

Nothing in her management has changed, grass has started to come through but in the past that has usually been the cause of softer poo rather than the cure

Same thing happened last winter, November time she developed diarrhoea but it cleared up after a couple of weeks. This time it’s lasted months.

Vet seems to think it’s just an age or ‘her’ thing however I am keen to look at her management and see if we can make changes before next winter

OP posts:
Mollyplop999 · 05/04/2022 13:38

I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions. My gelding was exactly the same. We tried most of the things that you've done with no response. Finally we took him off fast fibre and changed his hay. The hay is softer than the previous one that I used.

blobby10 · 05/04/2022 13:43

Similar thing happened to an elderly pony that my parents have. They too tried everything but could never pin down the exact cause. Can't believe he's still going as he must be heading for 40 now.

alloalloallo · 05/04/2022 14:26

Thanks!

Health wise, it didn’t seem to affect her at all. She was her usual self the whole time. Awful to muck out though, and we’d have to take most of her bedding out every day. Constant cleaning her bottom and tail.

I’ve spoken to our hay man - we’ve used him for years, same field, same fertiliser, same everything.

I’ve checked all her feed to see if any ingredients had changed - all the same - she only had chaff and a veteran mix and only a small bowlful to have her supplements and pain relief in.

I’ve no idea 🤷‍♀️

OP posts:
HighlandCowbag · 05/04/2022 14:30

Is she stabled more during the winter? Could be a bit stressy maybe? Or drinking more because eating more hay and therefore softer droppings? My old pony used to run up really light over winter despite eating really well, vet said probably just stressed at being in more.

alloalloallo · 05/04/2022 15:12

She is stabled more over winter, but she is very chill.

Loves her stable, loves her routine. Loves coming in, putting her jammies on and settling down for the night.

Hasn’t lost any weight

OP posts:
alloalloallo · 05/04/2022 15:15

Sorry, posted too soon.

She does have more hay over winter as she’s in more, but we rotate fields and their winter fields had plenty of grass, so we don’t hay their fields or anything like that, so it’s not substantially more if you see what I mean.

Thanks!

OP posts:
Mollyplop999 · 06/04/2022 11:50

Also meant to say , have you tried Ron Fields Remount? My farrier recommended it when the same gelding had laminitis. It gives the liver a flush and he's been so much better.

Biddie191 · 06/04/2022 14:03

Winter grass can have a higher water content, especially if long, leggy grass rather than short cropped grass. Different hedgerow plants that they can access from these fields, or wouldn't usually bother eating when in a field with more grass? Other than that, maybe the grass being muddier (from rain etc) and eating more mud? What is the water source for the summer vs winter fields?
If you find out, let me know - I'm always interested x

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