# Cleaning the leaky bum



## Abzeez (Aug 22, 2016)

Background story : 

My older pony has had a leaky bum since I bought her several years ago. She did have a cancerous growth removed shortly after I bought her, I questioned the vet at that time about her leaky butt, she didn't seem very concerned. I tried her on a SmartPak supplement for colon care, and although it worked great, it was fairly expensive, and just wasn't within my budget, so I took her off of it and it actually stayed pretty clear for about a year. Well, now it's back. 

Had the vet out (she also choked..twice) and picking her brain we decided to dose her with probiotics, try sand clear, and then also yeast. Yeast was the number one ingredient in the SmartPak supplement, so we may be on to something there. Also, fecals normal.


With all that said how does one go about cleaning some major crusty butt/legs/tail in the winter months? She is also really lazy about peeing, and has never really lifted her tail and squirts all over the place. Which makes blanket cleaning fun.

Side note: It has never gotten better or worse with feed changes. She is on pasture in the summer and 1st crop grass hay most of the winter, we also have 2nd crop grass/alfalfa we feed out. In the past years I was having some trouble getting enough quality hay so I considered that, this year I have great hay.


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## Abzeez (Aug 22, 2016)

No one has any ideas to help clean her bum during the winter months? I can't really spray it down all winter. 😞


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Take a bucket of water & sponge and clean her down to the skin. Put Vaseline all over where she leaks. Try FasTrak probiotics, they're reasonable price wise and effective. https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=2e87c3f2-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&sfb=1&itemguid=30e08a58-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&utm_content=11548&ccd=IFH003&CAWELAID=120295250000091903&CATARGETID=120295250000169700&cadevice=c&gclid=Cj0KCQiAuZXQBRDKARIsAMwpUeTFnwABqlHbniJBqk08WbO9zMaSpEoV-rHYnSn-GKyzSDkuHB5F7YoaAhnTEALw_wcB


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Ugh, I feel your pain. I have a gelding who systematically gets the runs as soon as he is taken off pasture. 

I just wait until the weather is warm enough (here, that means above freezing), and clean him up with warm water. Blankets are a pain too. But usually, the poop just freezes on after a while, and I kind of scrape it off until I can do a proper wash. Fun. 

You can read all about my struggles here: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-health/harleys-chronic-runny-stool-741273/page7/

But to make a long thread short, someone on HF recommended Assure, which is a pre- and pro-biotic. As luck would have it, it would be easier to smuggle drugs into Canada than get this stuff across the border, so I decided to print out the list of ingredients (including dosage for each) and see if I could track each of them down. I did! Most were human grade pre- and pro-biotic, but probably far better quality too. I was buying stuff that had live bacteria and was being kept in refrigerators, as opposed to dried, powdered versions. And as a bonus, it was still a lot cheaper than buying the horse product! I cured Harley of his runny stool and I still had a bunch of stuff left. Good thing, because it has come back now, but I've put him on the pre- and pro-biotic regimen again, and am already seeing a difference. 

A lot of the supplements on the market are highly processed, and you have to wonder whether the bacteria is still effective at that point. I had tried other probiotic formulas, all powdered, but this concoction made from human-grade ingredients from health food stores was the only thing that helped. And it was a lot cheaper. Just an idea


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## Abzeez (Aug 22, 2016)

She's had to have her blanket on the last couple days due to a cold snap. Oh the poopicicle she already has. Very impressive. I hope it warms up so I can give it a good scrub before it gets cold and stays cold. It gets in her, barely there, tail too. I'll try vaseline, I was using butt paste, but it didn't seems to help. This mess runs all the way down the back of her legs, and just turns into a crusty mess. 

Thanks for the help. Hopefully with the yeast, sand clear, and probios we'll get Princess Poops less poopy.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

You can also try psyllium husks. Small doses of it have helped my Harley in the past. He also gets the runs all the way down his legs, but especially on his hocks. It's -9C with the windchill here, so there's no washing him anytime soon. His stool is already starting to look a lot more solid, but I haven't been able to wash off the old poop yet because of this cold snap. 

It's fun putting the back straps of his blanket on and off...


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

If her tail being caught in the mess is a issue for her and you {yuck}...
Wrap that part of her tail so she not have it get caught in it till you have this better under control, then you can release her tail.
With a limited fly issue this time of the year it might work...
:runninghorse2:....


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

horselovinguy said:


> If her tail being caught in the mess is a issue for her and you {yuck}...
> Wrap that part of her tail so she not have it get caught in it till you have this better under control, then you can release her tail.
> With a limited fly issue this time of the year it might work...
> :runninghorse2:....


Yes, I've also resorted to tail bags in this situation. However, I have been told by several horse people that it's not safe to leave a tail bag on in turnout. I only did it for short periods, and never had an issue, but, well, you know horses... if there's a way they can get tail bag caught in something and rip their tail off, they probably will. So just use a little caution if you're going to do that. 

That said, it's pretty easy to wash a tail, even in cold weather, as long as you don't wash all the way up to the dock. I've done it often. I try to do it on a day that it's just around freezing, not when it's -20C so they don't end up with a big icicle tail, but it does dry off fairly quickly.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Acadianartist said:


> Yes, I've also resorted to tail bags in this situation. However, I have been told by several horse people that it's not safe to leave a tail bag on in turnout


Acadian I actually* wasn't *referring to a tailbag....
I was referring to using a short wrap and wrapping the tail bone carefully to keep the upper tail neatly contained. 
_My apologies for the confusion, should of been more specific.  :redface:_

I don't do and never will do tailbags...for the reason you mentioned and others.
Once you see what can happen to a tail kept in a tailbag _without_ the proper care done you don't forget nor want that to happen to your own horses tail...
Notice I said,_* proper care given*_...makes a difference.
:runninghorse2:....


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

horselovinguy said:


> Acadian I actually* wasn't *referring to a tailbag....
> I was referring to using a short wrap and wrapping the tail bone carefully to keep the upper tail neatly contained.
> _My apologies for the confusion, should of been more specific.  :redface:_
> 
> ...


Sorry I misinterpreted your post @horselovinguy! I thought it was unlike you to be promoting tail bags. Did not realize you just meant wrapping the dock. As someone who has a horse that often has runny stool, however, I can tell you that the dock is the least of my concerns. Harley can have stool all the way down his tail hairs. Then it freezes on like one long poopsicle. He doesn't usually get any on his dock, but you're right that a tail wrap might help keep some of the hairs out of harm's way. I'd be nervous about using a tail wrap personally, because I've never been taught how to do it properly, and we all know that a little too much pressure on the dock could be catastrophic. 

I've used tail bags the night before a show when needed. But then Harley is stalled for the night, and tail bag is very loosely attached below his dock. In fact, I am so paranoid about it that I usually attach it too loosely, and it comes off before morning. Oh well.


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## Abzeez (Aug 22, 2016)

Dotty is the same, it's just tail hair that gets messy, and her legs, and sometimes even her hooves. It's supposed to be 40F tomorrow so I'm going to take that opportunity to clean her up before we get below freezing again. It is rumored to be a colder winter than normal. But WI winters are always cold! 

I was going to try psyllium husks, but I didn't want to try too many things at once. That way I can eliminate what isn't working. I was able to get her to eat her yeast pellets by just putting a few in her dish at a time. She wouldn't eat them when I made them into mush, of course. I thought for sure she would, but there she goes proving to me that every time I think I have her figured out... I don't.


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