Monday, May 31, 2010

Straight scoop on poop.

We all know that 'everybody poops". Some one even wrote a book about it for kids. Its pretty cute and caused quite a stir when it was released several years ago.

Poop is on my mind frequently.

Yes, I said it! I think about poop!

Don't you?

If not, you should- poop is very important, and especially for horses.

Do you know how many times a day your horse poops?

Do you ever look at the poop to see if he's eating well?

Do you know how much a pile of poop (average) weighs?

Do you know how much a pile of your very own horses poop weighs?

These are extremely important things to know!
If for some reason your pony gets sick, the vet is going to want to have answers to these questions and he's going to expect you to know your horses normal ranges.

Have you ever 'saved' poop for a day or two or three to see what it looks like after a day or two or three? ( Indian trackers did!)

Is you horse a loose pooper or a hard pooper?

I have decided that there are two different kinds of pooper in horses-
the Wandering Pooper and the Neat-nic Pooper.

Sometimes the Wandering Pooper looks itinerate, but is actually a Neat-nic,pooping in a pattern ( if you bother to observe).

But most Neat-nic's don't wander around randomly pooping unless they must- such as horse shows and trail rides.

Stallions like to poop in one spot over and over, to mark their territory, even if they are domesticated. These are called 'Stud Piles" Wild stallions will poop on another horses pile as a challenge or to show he was there.

Desi is a Neat-nic.
Bob was a Wandering Pooper, but I tried an experiment. I left a tiny bit of fresh poop in one corner of his new pen. Now he tries to poop as close to that little pile as possible! Not exactly a Neat-nic, but getting better- and he doesn't poop in his stall at all!

Not all horses can be trained to be Neat-nic's, unfortunatly. Some never get a chance to do what comes naturally either, being locked in a 12x12 all day. Makes it tough for them to wander. Turns them into Scramblers- the worse nightmare of the stall cleaner crew.

What kind of pooper is your horse?