Foals and some adult horses will occasionally consume manure – this behavior is known as coprophagia.

Although this may sound unpleasant, it actually benefits horses by helping balance their gut flora – good bacteria which help digest food.

Boredom may be contributing to this habit; to combat it, increase turnout time and consider installing a slow feed hay net as this could help your horse avoid eating its waste.

1. Change their diet

An animal that is eating manure could be suffering from boredom or lacking nutrients, and consulting a nutritionist is key to diagnosing and solving its underlying issue. Chaff can be added to their grain ration, encouraging chewing and salivation to absorb more of their feed; you could also include probiotics to their diet in order to build up their population of gut microbes for digestion; you could even try dousing them in liquid solution of manure from healthy animals in order to restore the balance in their hindgut microbial balance and restore their hindgut microbial balance!

Slowly transition your horse’s diet can help to ensure they don’t become bored with their meals and give their hindgut bacteria time to adapt to a change. A sudden transition may upset this balance and result in digestive problems, including colic.

Foals provide a prime example; foals will often eat their mother and other foal’s feces in order to create an environment suitable for digesting their food, and this behavior usually ceases once they reach several months old.

As part of their diet, horses need access to high quality hay and nutritional supplements such as vitamins and minerals for proper digestion and gas management. Hay will provide bulk fiber essential to promote motility while helping avoid hindgut gas build-up; vitamins and minerals will aid your horse’s metabolism of the feed while making sure they get all its essential nutrients.

If your horse is lacking adequate nutrition, they may become discontent and exhibit unwanted behavior such as biting or eating their waste. A vet or equine nutritionist can perform a blood test to assess what they might be missing in their diet – this will allow your horse to get everything they need and hopefully end their poop eating habit!

2. Change their environment

Coprophagy, or eating poop, may seem gross to us but is actually quite common among horses. Typically this behavior stems from mineral or roughage deficiency, stress or boredom as well as nutritional imbalances; foals will sometimes start this habit when young to develop good bacteria in their gut and usually stops once weaned.

If your horse is eating its own poop from time to time, this should likely not be cause for alarm; however if it becomes chronic (or acute), however, action must be taken. You will need to identify why they’re doing it and implement changes into both their environment and diet to return them back to normal.

Antibiotic treatment can kill off healthy gut bacteria in horses’ digestive systems, so after receiving antibiotic treatments it’s advisable to give a probiotic supplement in order to repopulate it with healthy bacteria and ensure its continued existence.

By providing more roughage and less grain and concentrate, horses can maintain healthy gut flora balance which in turn aids digestion and keeps them from feeling constantly hungry.

Another way to help is to avoid feeding directly from the trough, instead scattering food out in small piles with slow-feed hay nets so your horses have to find their own hay instead of fighting over limited supplies of feed. This approach reduces aggression during feeding time which could otherwise lead to vices such as stall vices.

Stall vices, or repetitive behaviors exhibited by horses due to boredom, hunger, isolation or lack of exercise, can have serious repercussions for both the facility and individual horses if left unaddressed. They can cause significant damage to facilities as well as injuries. They could be the result of poor nutrition, limited pasture access or inadequate enrichment – an effective solution would be making sure there’s enough roughage available, regular exercise and never being bored!

3. Change their routine

Snacking on foods they shouldn’t is an unhealthy behavior that can cause colic and long-term health complications for cats, so changing their routine is one way to help curb this behavior and stop eating odd substances like manure or other objects they find. Altering their daily schedule could mean diversifying their diet with different kinds of food or even just adding some exercise – keeping their days as varied and interesting will keep their minds occupied, helping prevent colic or health complications in future.

Horses confined in small spaces all day can quickly become bored and may start eating anything within reach, from fences and barn doors to walls of their stall. Coprophagia occurs when horses ingest their own manure for nutritional supplementation purposes – horses evolved to spend 18-20 hours daily foraging for roughage like grasses; without enough fiber in their diets their digestive systems may malfunction and they will seek other means of getting nutrition such as manure or even eating objects in order to get what is missing from their daily foraging expeditions or feeding on manure in order to supplement deficiencies nutrient deficits – coprophagia is known.

Coprophagia in foals is normal and part of their development, while for adult horses it may indicate something is amiss with their diet or health. To properly diagnose what nutrients your horse is lacking and find solutions to treat the situation it is recommended that consultation be sought from either a veterinarian or equine nutritionist who can conduct an evaluation to identify where and how the issue lies.

Adjusting the feed of your horse gradually is key when making any necessary changes, as sudden increases or decreases may cause colic, founder, and other serious conditions. Try making changes gradually over several weeks.

4. Change their personality

Horses do not behave a certain way to get the upper hand on humans or to assert leadership (this is an outdated notion). Any time their behavior changes, it is telling you something. Recognizing its cause – often fear or discomfort – is key.

Horses who consume their own poop often do so because they’re bored, as their mind is being stimulated in other ways such as riding or ground work. To prevent this behavior from continuing, spend more time doing activities that engage your horse such as grooming, hand walking, playing in the field and gentle rides to add stimulation and change their mindset.

One reason a horse might eat their own feces may be due to not receiving enough fiber in their diet, leading to acidity and ulcers in their digestive system. Supplementing their daily regimen with hay or other forms of fiber-rich feed could help with this issue.

Other causes for horses eating their own feces could include lack of exercise, hormonal changes and pain – all which may influence vigilance levels; for example a mare who was treated poorly throughout her breeding process or during gestation and foaling may react more firmly than usual to any changes in her environment.

Hormonal fluctuations or pain related to injury or illness could also influence their vigilance levels, so a good trainer should be able to rule these possibilities out and determine the source of their behavior change.

Horses are highly adaptable animals that will often do what’s necessary for survival. Furthermore, horses are extremely intelligent creatures who have been bred for hundreds of generations to be tractable; some horses may appear distant while others will eagerly please when given proper care and attention. Even aggressive or disobedient horses can be turned around if given proper attention and care.