Feeding their own poop can be an alarming sight and indicate a range of issues including poor nutrition, boredom and stress.
Foals typically ingest their mother’s feces to provide their stomachs with essential bacteria needed for digestion and strengthening weak immune systems. This behavior usually ceases once they reach adulthood.
Lack of Roughage
Horses are natural scavengers and their diet should consist of approximately 80% roughage (hay, grasses, chaff and pasture). When their nutritional needs exceed this amount they may resort to eating their own manure as a source of nourishment – an act known as coprophagia that should never be ignored.
Wild horses spend 18-20 hours every day foraging for food, such as roughage. Domesticated horses may not receive sufficient roughage in their diet due to domestication and other factors, making a high-fiber, low-starch diet essential. Consumption of too many starchy grains like oats, barley or corn (maize) increases risk for nutritional imbalance in their gut microbiome resulting in eating one’s own waste as compensation.
Young foals frequently eat their own poop to provide their gut with beneficial bacteria that aid digestion. While this behavior may be considered normal in foals, adult horses should avoid engaging in such actions as this can lead to ulcers and colic issues.
If your adult horse appears to be eating their own poop, it’s essential that they speak with their veterinarian in order to assess and address this situation. Some causes for eating their own waste may include:
At times, horse owners can help their horses avoid eating their own poop by increasing the variety of their diet. This could involve increasing hay availability or trying different varieties; turningout more frequently will reduce boredom and stress; offering toys or activities which engage their brain can be helpful as well; finally making sure your horse always has access to clean drinking water will protect against dehydration which could otherwise cause behavioral issues.
Starvation
Eating their waste is never ideal for horses, but there may be several reasons they begin doing it. From nutritional deficiencies to boredom, Coprophagy should be addressed immediately in order to keep your horse happy and healthy for as long as possible. By learning what can cause Coprophagy and taking steps to address it quickly, you can keep them happy and healthy indefinitely.
Horses are herbivores, meaning they consume only plants. Due to the bulkiness of plant material compared to meat, when their diet doesn’t contain enough roughage they may become hungry and begin eating their own or others’ poop as an attempt at getting more nutrition – this condition known as Coprophagy may result in hunger being solved through increasing roughage intake in their diets. If this happens it should be addressed quickly by adding additional roughage into their daily intake plan.
As with humans, horses are inquisitive creatures who love exploring their surroundings by mouthing or muzzling objects with their lips or muzzle. This behavior, known as pica in horse terms, may indicate boredom or lack of food in their diet; eating non-food items like dirt, sand, bark and twigs in small doses should not harm horses but if continued it should be addressed by consulting your veterinarian.
Poop eating in horses is usually caused by nutritional deficiency. When left stalled without access to roughage, they may become bored and seek relief in eating their own or someone else’s poop as an easy source of nourishment. Additionally, if they don’t receive enough nutrients in their feed or supplements they may seek alternative sources like wood as sources of these essential elements; though wood should be avoided as a source of fiber as much as possible.
If the problem with your horse persists after changing its food and supplements, consulting an equine dietician might be beneficial. Equine dieticians specialize in helping horse owners balance their horses’ diet to ensure they receive all the essential vitamins and minerals for long-term health, as well as suggest exercises designed to stimulate and keep horses engaged so they avoid boredom which often leads to undesirable behavior.
Boredom
Horses are herd animals and, left alone for prolonged periods, will become bored quickly if left alone in their stall. When left bored for too long, it is not uncommon for horses to begin eating their own poop out of boredom and/or lack of exercise, leading them to begin biting at it themselves out of boredom and/or lack of stimulation. If this behavior continues, be sure to provide additional attention or increase time spent outdoors to break this pattern and find alternative means of entertainment for them. If this becomes an issue, simply give more attention or increase time spent outside and this should help break this pattern and help your horse move away from its self-poop eating habit by engaging them more frequently as this should help break this behavior and lead them towards finding alternative means of entertainment outside their stall instead!
Coprophagy in horses may also be caused by insufficient dietary variety. Horses require a balanced diet in order to remain healthy, so feeding only one type of feed every day may lead to nutritional deficits. An equine nutritionist can perform a dietary evaluation on your horse in order to identify which essential elements may be missing and suggest changes that will correct this issue.
Coprophagy may also occur if your horse does not have access to enough fiber-rich forage such as hay or chaff; these horses often develop fiber deficiencies when living stallowed and only having access to lower fiber sources such as coprophagy is one solution.
Once eaten, fiber from feces travels through the stomach and small intestine where simple sugars, fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) and water are absorbed. From there it passes to the blind sac called cecum and loops of large colon, where fermentation produces volatile fatty acids that provide energy for the body – taking between 36-72 hours from bite of feed to manure production.
If your horse seems to be eating more manure than usual, it’s essential that you inspect its condition in their paddock or stall. An ideal manure pile should look clean with an aromatic aroma; any signs of rancidity or an abundance of dirt or mud could indicate poor feed quality and be harmful for their wellbeing.
Nutrient Deficits
Coprophagy (feces eating) is an instinctual behavior in young horses and foals alike, serving to provide essential bacteria needed for digestion. Foals typically consume their mother’s poop as part of this practice but could consume that of another herd member as well.
As horses age, this behavior typically disappears; if an adult horse continues to consume its waste however, further investigation should be performed in order to understand why.
Researchers have noted that horses who consume large quantities of starchy grains like oats, barley, and corn (maize) tend to ingest their own feces more frequently due to the insufficient soluble fiber from such foods, leading to hunger pangs and subsequent consumption. Horses without sufficient access to hay or grass also tend to ingest their own excrements more readily.
Many nutrients found in a horse’s diet must be consumed at precise ratios in order for it to be properly absorbed and used by its body, otherwise symptoms such as coprophagy may arise from deficiency of these essential vitamins and minerals. If one or more nutrients is lacking from its diet, twitching and coprophagy could occur as symptoms.
Once diagnosed with nutrient deficiency in horses, treatment can often be easily resolved. Feeding them a balanced formula high in soluble fiber such as Integrity Lite will be enough to address this problem and increasing grazing time outdoors will only exacerbate it further.
Keep in mind that horses confined to stalls for an extended period will be more prone to behaviors like eating their own poop and weaving with each other or chewing wood, so it is vitally important that they get out into the sunshine for at least some grazing, play with toys, or receive physical exercise in order to prevent such undesirable actions from taking place.