While analysing your horse’s droppings might not be fun it can reveal important information. Your horse’s digestive tract is closely linked to general health, with over 70% of their total immunity coming from there. Assessing the nature of your horse’s droppings therefore gives a crucial insight not only to his or her current health status, but also the risk of developing future problems. 

• Ensure sufficient fibre is being fed. Remember fresh grass can be relatively low in fibre, particularly during rapid growth and high rainfall. Offering dry hay in the pasture may help. 
• Acid condition in the hind gut, this occurs when harmful bacteria out compete the friendly bacteria in the gut. Acidic conditions are produced, leading to a reduction in the digestion efficiency of the hindgut and the production of soft, unformed faeces. The causes of this include lush grass, excessive concentrate feeding and physical or environmental stress. The use of a supplement containing pre and probiotics, along with antacids and a binding agent, can be very useful in maintaining a normal consistency. 

FFW describes the passing of water from the rectum alongside droppings which, themselves, may be otherwise normal. Water may be passed before, during or after droppings, and while the cause is still not well understood it is rarely associated with ill health. However, it can cause skin irritation, increase grooming and attract flies. Feed a high fibre diet, and supplement with daily prebiotic, probiotics and bentonite clay, as a digestive absorbent. 

Frequency 

Horses pass approximately the same number of droppings each day. Knowing what is normal for your horse is important, as any changes – up or down – could be a sign of an internal problem. Mares and geldings typically pass around eight to twelve droppings per day, with stallions and foals passing more. Horses fed a higher proportion of dried forage will pass relatively more droppings than a horse on grass. Although horses are good at handling dried forage they cannot digest all they eat and so more droppings result. 

Too few droppings can result from simply eating less, particularly less fibre. However, if droppings stop altogether, or there are signs of colic, then there is risk of an intestinal blockage and your vet should be contacted immediately. An increasing number of droppings may be due to diarrhoea, microbiome disturbance, stress or excitement. 

Colour 

The diet has the biggest effect on the colour of your horse’s droppings, but they should be on a scale from green to brown. Horses on fresh grass will have greener colour, with the darker brown colour for those on hay based diets. Some commercial diets may cause an orange tinge to be seen.  

If a yellow colour is noticed it indicates mucous from the gut lining, and suggests the passage through the gut has slowed. Monitor the horse closely, increase water intake by soaking forage and feeding electrolytes. Discuss with your vet if it persists, or if the mucous is obvious. 

If red is seen, indicating blood in the droppings, contact your veterinarian immediately. 

Smell 

A distinctly malodorous smell to the faeces can be associated with infection (often in combination with diarrhoea). It can also be a sign of excessive carbohydrate or protein intake, often caused by over feeding of concentrates. An acidic hindgut, where the friendly bacteria have been out competed by harmful bacteria can also cause an abnormal smell. 

Conclusion