Free Fecal Water Syndrome in Horses

DAN: "Could you talk a bit about diarrhea in horses and your experience about correlation with ad libitum hay or too much roughage in general? Especially horses that have normally shaped droppings but excess water apart from the droppings. I get the feeling that a lot of horse owners have this problem. Also, 15 years ago, this wasn't so much a problem as it seems to be nowadays. I've also heard of studies that showed dappled horses in a herd are more susceptible to this, which I find very interesting."

And, as do I, Elizabeth. So I know these are two of your favorite topics-- one, dappled horses, and two, poop. [LAUGHS]

DR LYDIA GRAY: The runnier the better, right?

DAN: Yeah. [LAUGHS]

DR LYDIA GRAY: And we talked about dapples last time.

DAN: Yes, in our last month's video. We did talk about dapples. So definitely check that one out, for sure.

DR LYDIA GRAY: We've come full circle. So her key phrase that I picked up in her question was "normally shaped droppings, excess water." That's important.

DAN: Right.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Remember that.

DAN: Yeah.

DR LYDIA GRAY: OK.

DAN: Got it. [LAUGHS]

DR LYDIA GRAY: So what she's perfectly described is a newly recognized syndrome in horses called-- well, it's so new that there is a host of names. When PSSM was new it was called a bunch different things. And we finally settled on one. But it's Free Fecal Water Syndrome is one, just plain old Fecal Water Syndrome is one, free fecal liquid-- does a bunch of different names based on what country, actually, you're from.

DAN: OK.

DR LYDIA GRAY: So pretty soon, the researchers will decide on a single name for this. But it is a phenomenon. It is newly recognized. Well, I'll phrase it this way. We're not sure if it's more common or not because it's so new that we haven't got the numbers yet. Once we begin to say-- to diagnose horses with it and develop some statistics, we'll be able to track, in 2015 there were this many, in 2020 there were this many, in 2025 there were-- and then we'll know, is it an increasing thing or is it just now we're paying attention to it?

DAN: Aware of it.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, exactly.

DAN: We're calling it-- giving you a name. Yup.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yup. So I did just recently write an article about this, and it's in the Horse Health Library. And this was my definition, which I actually think she did pretty well. It's considered to be a separate condition from diarrhea or loose stool. It's when a horse passes fecal liquid separately from normal solid manure. And this can occur actually before, during, after or completely independently of passing the feces.

DAN: Oh, independently of it?

DR LYDIA GRAY: Mm-hmm. They can just have fecal water running out and no feces. Yup. Yup.

DAN: Interesting. [LAUGHS]

DR LYDIA GRAY: Right away, I know you're thinking, as someone who grooms and shows, oh, please don't be a gray horse. Because one of the biggest problems is cosmetics, aesthetics. How do you keep a horse clean-- their back end clean when they have this problem? And, for the most, part it is a cosmetic problem. But if it's accompanied by also diarrhea or if there's so much of it that you're actually burning the skin of the horse, I mean, he's always wet, then there can be some more serious consequences of it. Regardless, we want it to go away. Right?

DAN: Exactly.

DR LYDIA GRAY: So there are more and more studies appearing. One just came out in January. There was one by Kienzle out of Germany in 2016. And this is maybe where she got her dapple idea, which is close but not quite on the money. So this paper-- and I think we'll put the citations of both up so people can read them if they want to on their own.

This researcher found that horses of low rank or pecking order in the social hierarchy of the herd had more-- showed more of it. So it's a subordinate-- it's a social stress issue.

DAN: Oh, I was going to say, is it caught-- that would make me think it's some sort of stress related condition.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah. And it seems to be not trailer stress or show stress, but the stress of being the low man on the totem pole.

DAN: Interesting. OK.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah. When you're at the bottom of the herd-- so in winter, especially, the horses that have it because of this reason, they showed more of it because the resources are limited, like shelter and food. In the summer you might have the entire pasture to roam in and get away from the bullies. But, in the winter, you might be in a smaller area and you have less of a chance to get away and protect yourself. So they're more stressed in closer quarters.

DAN: Yeah. If you're the low man on the totem pole, you can't get away from the bully horses. And then, also, there's limited resources. So now you're concerned about food and eating and things like that.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Right.

DAN: So it is an added stress to them.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah. The other two things this person found, this researcher found, was it's more common in geldings than mares, which makes sense. Because who runs the herd? Right?

DAN: Yeah.

DR LYDIA GRAY: And then Paint Horses were over-represented.

DAN: Really?

DR LYDIA GRAY: Don't know about that. But maybe breed or color has something-- all breeds and colors exhibit it, but there was an over-representation in her study, in Paint Horses.

DAN: Interesting.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.

DAN: So--

DR LYDIA GRAY: Go ahead.

DAN: I was going to say, more to come. I guess more into the research there, I guess, dive into that to see if there is...

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah. Because these are just two early papers. And so based on this research, other people will be doing research to sort of look more into the questions. Sometimes research, more questions are raised than answers. Right?

DAN: [LAUGHS]

DR LYDIA GRAY: But that's how research is sort of guided along. You study the things that were highlighted in the last paper that didn't really make sense. In the Lindroth paper-- that was the January 2020 one-- it speaks exactly to her question about the forage source. She says that-- her conclusion was horses that show the free fecal water did so with all types of feeding strategies. When they changed from a wrapped forage-- which, I think they mean-- this was in Sweden and Norway, and I think that's their term for a haylage or a silage.

DAN: OK.

DR LYDIA GRAY: OK. When they change from that to hay, to regular long-stem baled hay, to pasture, or even another batch of the wrapped forage, there were often diminished science of the free fecal liquid. And this indicated that feeding--

DAN: Diminished signs of it?

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah. Feeding strategy may be important, but it's not the only factor that explains why horses do this. Because just changing sources-- same category but just one batch to another, one lot, one cut to another and you see a difference. And, one more thing, this paper noted that horses with this condition have a higher incidence of colic.

DAN: I was going to say, you were thinking--

DR LYDIA GRAY: Don't ask me why. They don't know why, yet. They just know that-- so that's what I mean. The next study includes that as a major portion of their study, to try and figure out if that was incidental or it's a real thing.

DAN: So this seems like it-- so, as to your point, it's something that we're looking into now is a new kind of area to study. Is it something that's been going on for a while and now we're just kind of drawing attention to it or is it something that-- because she was asking didn't seem like this was issue 15 years ago? But maybe it's something that has been going on. Now we're just actually starting to look into it. And it seems like now the research-- we've gotten some more questions that have come out of this to kind of dive into a little bit deeper.

DR LYDIA GRAY: The research is beginning to catch up with the problem, which is what-- that's how it works in the real world.

DAN: So is there anything she can do right now? It seems like maybe potentially some of the feeding strategy can-- and working with her vet might be her best option as of right now.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Right. Well, I try to bring this up on every question, but keep a journal.

DAN: Yeah. [LAUGHS]

DR LYDIA GRAY: This really helps with this problem. Write down what your horse eats, and not just what. Be really specific, like, how much, and time of day, and when you notice the fecal water, and is it first cutting, second cutting, third cutting where you got it? Be as specific as possible. And then, if you want, begin to make changes. Document those changes and see if there was a-- it got worse, it got better, stayed the same.

DAN: Was he turned out with this horse or with that horse? Was he turned out by himself?

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah. The weather-- I mean, you got to get everything and document it. And so try to find out in your horse what makes it occur or occur more frequently. You may not be able to completely prevent it. But you may be able to reduce it. That may be the best you can hope for.

DAN: Well, Elizabeth is going to do her own little research study, then, apparently [LAUGHS] as far as--

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yup. Yup.

DAN: --what works for her and her horse. And, Elizabeth, if you find out what works for your horse, please share it with us.

[LAUGHTER]

And we can add it to future research studies.

DR LYDIA GRAY: With pictures.

DAN: With pictures, of course. Well, maybe just send those pictures to Dr. Gray.

[LAUGHTER]