Although horses are wonderful animals, and it is impressive to see them gallop, there are certain behaviors that are not very pleasant to watch, such as the act of eating their faeces, something that some specimens do. This behavior can also favor diseases caused by intestinal parasites.
On the other hand, this behavior may be a consequence of poor nutrition or housing, so it can be useful to detect these deficiencies and correct them, ending the problem and improving the he alth and well-being of the animal. So, if you've ever wondered why your horse eats its feces, here on our site we've got some answers.
Inadequate accommodation
Coprophagia is called the act of eating one's own or someone else's feces. The lack of exercise,of environmental enrichmentor the little space in the stallmay be responsible for a horse eating its feces. In these cases, coprophagia can be accompanied by other behaviors, sometimes called "stable vices", such as swinging, constantly scratching the ground or swallowing air, for example.
These behaviors are characterized by being performed repetitively and having no apparent function and, technically, are known as stereotypies.
Nutritional deficiencies
An insufficient supply of fibrous feedscan cause a horse to eat its faeces in order to meet its fiber needs. In addition, an adequate supply of fiber is also necessary to achieve an optimal level of acidity in the animal's stomach. On the other hand, if the supply of energy, vitamins or minerals is insufficient it can lead the horse to try to make up for these deficiencies by ingesting its droppings.
In another order of things, it is quite common that, after weaning, foals eat the excrement of their mothers. The hypothesis has been considered that indicates that they do so to incorporate into their intestine bacteria that help digestion and that are found in their mother's feces. In any case, this behavior is not without risks, such as infestation by intestinal parasites and, if this behavior continues beyond the six months of the animal's life, it becomes worrying.
Solutions to prevent the horse from eating its feces
Under normal circumstances, it is advisable to regularly deworm horses with a product active against intestinal worms. Also, since feces can be a source of parasites, deworming is more important in those horses that eat their droppings. If you want to know the correct frequency of deworming these animals, we advise you to read this article: "How often to deworm a horse?".
On the other hand, this behavior can serve to unmask other problems such as nutritional deficiencies or poor accommodation.
If the cause is a nutritional deficiency…
It needs to be corrected. To do this, it should be noted that, for the horse's digestive system to function properly, it is necessary to provide fibrous foods, such as straw or hay, therefore that it is not advisable to keep a horse solely on feed. But, since hay or straw provide less energy than most horses need, it is necessary to complete the ration with concentrated feed (feed). In addition, the formulation of horse feed is designed to cover the animal's vitamin and mineral needs, so the horse's diet must include forage but also feed.
Likewise, the contribution of mineral blocks can be useful to correct possible deficiencies of these elements. These supplements do not usually have undesirable effects, because normally horses only take what they need, so an overdose is unlikely.
If you want to know more about the correct way to feed a horse, we recommend you review our article on "Horse feeding".
Solutions for inadequate accommodation
As we said before, coprophagia can also be caused by a problem in the animal's accommodation. Horses are very active, and require a very large living space and also need regular exercise.
On many occasions, the block in which the animal is housed is not as large as we would like, in these cases it is necessary not to neglect the exercise of the animal, allowing it to go out frequently. In addition, it may be indicated to provide toys, available in certain specialized stores, and it is also necessary to choose to use the most varied materials as elements of distraction, such as a basketball.
In our article on "Basic horse care" good advice is given on how to keep a horse in perfect condition and thus avoid problems such as consuming its own feces.
