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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?
5 comments:
Ohhh, the things that are important to us horse people...LOL.
I love my Shooter...he is as neat as a horse could ever hope to be. He will literally back into position to poop in his pile. His mother was also very neat that way.
His 1/2 brother, Moon(same mother) is not so neat about his poop, but absolutely has to have a pee spot.
Beretta and Frosty are what I call...Poop and Spinners. Their pens are disasters every morning.
The other horses are all pretty 'normal'...random poop piles.
But the bay horse is the thorn in my side. He insists on pooping in his hay.
Most everyone has medium poop. Seldom loose, but not really rock hard either. I have already noticed that the pony definitely has harder little turds than any of the big horses.
Most of the horses leave me 6-8 piles in a 24 hr period. Moon only about 4-6 piles. It's hard to tell exactly with the Poop and Spinners and the poop-in-the-hay horse. The sorrel horse poops A LOT...8-10 times. He's always pooping when I get him out to work him too. Even if it's only one or two turds...Crazy horse-LOL.
Moon makes it pretty handy to figure out when he is warmed up for competition as he will stretch out and pee when he is.
Kitt is a wandering pooper. Where ever she is that's where she goes.
It IS so funny the things we horse people think about. I LOVE a horse that goes in one place. That's the nicest. However I don't have one of those, lol. Mine are all over the place, especially those ponies. Ponies are just messy short horses.
I am gratified to know I'm not the only person who pontificates about poop :)
Who knew.
LOL at BEcowgirls answer! There's a cowgirl who knows her horses! That's awesome. My last gelding was not a poop on poop pile kinda guy but he would insist on pooping in the back stall (he had two stalls that ran together). If I placed the wheelbarrow in the doorway between the two stalls and he had to go he'd weave in front of the wheelbarrow until I moved it so he could get back there and poo. He refused to poop in the front. I know it sounds gross to non-horsey people but I dont hesistate to pick up a terd and break it open to see how things are being chewed. The smell of the urine and poo is also something I keep an eye (or a nose) on. Good post!
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