REALLY bad smelling horse manure?

[meeshodge]

I have put off asking this question as it sounds somewhat ridiculous and doesn't all poop stink?!?!?!? BUT.....I noticed last week one of the mares at work has extremely foul smelling manure. It smells like dog ****. I had not really though no more of it until at work yesterday when I had her in the wash bay grooming her and she pooped and the odor was so overpowering! The consistency is normal (round, solid and brown). All 10 horses are fed Purina Senior, no supplements. They get 2 alfalfa cubes 2x daily, 24/7 pasture turnout, free choice coastal bermuda hay. No meds. She is a VERY nervous horse and we have just starting pulling her out and riding her the last 2 weeks. She is 17 years old. Up to date on al worming, vaccinations, etc.
Anyone else ever noticed this in a horse? Any ideas? Thanksin advance!

[Trace]

Ulcers maybe?

[meeshodge]

Trace, that was my first thought, escpecially since she is such a nervous horse and we have just begun riding her again. I see my description was edited...I did not type the "s" word, but the "c" word. LOL
Any other ideas or info is still appreciated. We have the vet coming out tommorrow anyway for a recheck on a mare with moon blindness, so we can get her to investigate as well.

[JBandRio]

Yep, IME, that type of stink is nearly always related to ulcers.

Purina Sr is high in sugars, so that's the first thing I'd take her off of. I'd put her on the Enrich 32 (since you have access to Purina) and alfalfa cubes for starters. I'd give that a week or two to see if it makes any differences. If not then I'd start looking at actively treating ulcers.

[meeshodge]

JB...thanks. I'll let my boss know about this. She has been feeding Purina Senior for many years and she is pretty stuck on it. I've tried telling her about carbs, starches, sugarss, etc. But she likes something on paper. I had every intention of finding something to print out for her to read, but time has not allowed. If you have a link to a good article on the subject, it would be appreciated. The Enrich 32.....do you just feed like a regular feed? SO if horse ison pasture and hay, just feed Enrich like a feed?
I am not fond of the vet she uses either. The problem we have around here is wedon't have but 4vets in an hour radius that treats large animals and none of those are equine specialists. The closest equine vets we have are 3 hours away, Dr. Thoney in TX and Dr. Vicein MS, bit are excellent vets, but even they are not "experts" in nutrition. Most vets have a general understanding of nutrition, worming, breeding, etc. But very few really take the time to learn what they can and pass it on to their clients. :O( It is basically left up to us horse owners to do our own research and make an educated guess as to what is best for our horses. :O(

[meeshodge]

My typing looks terrible.....my keyboard is having issues! Sorry for about that!

[JBandRio]

JB...thanks. I'll let my boss know about this. She has been feeding Purina Senior for many years and she is pretty stuck on it. I've tried telling her about carbs, starches, sugarss, etc. But she likes something on paper. I had every intention of finding something to print out for her to read, but time has not allowed. If you have a link to a good article on the subject, it would be appreciated.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/livestk/01818.html will get you started You can also go to www.thehorse.com and search for starch - probably quite a few

The Enrich 32.....do you just feed like a regular feed? SO if horse ison pasture and hay, just feed Enrich like a feed?

Ration balancers are fed at, mostly, just 1lb a day. If you need more calories, you can either add some pounds of alfalfa pellets or beet pulp, or you could switch to a low sugar fortified feed such as, in the Purina line, the Wellsolve products. Even the Ultium Growth isn't too high in sugars

It is basically left up to us horse owners to do our own research and make an educated guess as to what is best for our horses. :O(

It's that way for most of us, unfortunately

[John]

You have good advice. Stop all treats(sugar)!!

[Dawn]

I was going to suggest ulcers as well. That's sometimes one of the first (sometimes only) thing people notice is the off smelling manure, oftentimes describing it as smelling like dog poop.

[tbtrainer]

A probiotic can help in the short term with stinky manure, long term her diet needs to be adjusted.