Question

My stabled mare is receiving a balanced diet of hay and grain, and she has a mineral block in her feeder. She is in training, so I know she is getting adequate exercise. However, on several occasions I have seen her eating dry manure. I haven’t noticed any of the other horses in the same barn doing this. Is she lacking a particular substance in her diet or is she just bored?

Answer

Young horses often eat fresh manure from other horses, a practice known as coprophagy. It is thought the practice is a means for establishing a normal bacterial population in the digestive system. Therefore, a foal eating some manure is not a big problem although it will make you think twice about letting the foal nuzzle your face. It is not common for mature horses to eat their manure. Several factors could precipitate this behavior.

Horses that are eating a low fiber, high grain diet or a protein deficient diet may consume fecal material. An easy dietary adjustment is to increase the amount of forage fed and ensure the diet is providing adequate protein. Another factor that may cause horses to eat manure is boredom. Horses that do not get enough exercise or horses that have recently had their exercise decreased are prone to eating their manure.

Providing the bored horse with turnout or simply less stall time should help the situation. Finally, it is often thought that horses who are missing something in their diet will eat manure. This is true in the sense that most horses consuming manure are underfed or in poor condition, but occasionally horses on a well-balanced diet will pick up this behavior.

Since this behavior has been detected in your horse only at this stable, it probably is not a glaring nutritional imbalance. It is, however, simple to have your horse’s diet reviewed by a nutritionist. In the meantime, providing more forage and more turnout and perhaps providing the salt in loose form will help the situation.