Peeing on Hay?

What does it mean when your horse pees on their hay?

Since I moved my boys from a 6x12 stall to now a 12x12 stall, one has begun peeing on his hay and he never did before. The hay was near one corner of the stall and my boy peed near the back where he always poops. After a few days, I noticed the pee spots near or under the hay pile, so I started leaving the hay on the other side of the stall. His poop pile hasn't moved from the back. Again, after a few days of seeing pee spots where the old spot was, they now moved close to or under the hay again. Well, this evening I saw the act myself when he came in from the pasture. I had the stall all ready, picked clean with fresh water and fresh hay. He ate his grain and then went to the hay pile, but instead of head down munching, he took a step on the hay and then stretched out so his front feet were on one side and his back feet on the other, perfectly centered over the hay pile. Then he began to pee on the pile.

What the heck is going on? He usually doesn't waste any hay at all, and now he pees on it and barely picks at it at all. Any clues? My othr horse eats it just fine, so don't think it's the hay suddenly. I have noticed too that he has been chewing the mineral block like crazy lately while my other one hasn't at all that I have seen.

:arg! :arg! :arg!

 

I don;t know, but I have one mare that does this...doesn't matter if she is in her stall or outside, when I feed them their hay, she pees on it! I thought she was doing it like she was "claiming" it as hers.

 

I don't know why he'd be peeing on the hay specifically, but if he seems to be peeing more, you may want to try limiting his salt. A friend had a colt who loved salt and consumed relatively large amounts of it. As a result, he was flooding his stall! She cut back the salt and it solved that problem.

 

FYI MINE DO IT ALSO.IN STALLS OR OUT. GO FIGURE.

 

I agree with Mona, I think that some horses are telling the others --you can't have it, it's mine kinda thing. We have a gelding that will do the same thing when other horses are around but he is clean as a whistle in his own stall. But I have to add, we have a mare that will go and pee under her hay rack where the hay falls when she eats every time she is in her stall. Go figure. <<shrug>>

 

I have had mares and gelding do the same thing. Our horses still seem to eat it.

I also had a QH colt who loved to poop in the water tank...it really irritated me.

 

Ha ha we have a filly this year that backs up to her water bucket at night and poops in it! It is irritating.

 

I had a stallion who peed on his hay AND his grain! Then he would eat it. The other horses would nose it, but not eat it. I take it as a "this is mine!" Sign.

"Ha ha we have a filly this year that backs up to her water bucket at night and poops in it! It is irritating."

Sounds like she's just one step away from being potty trained! Get her a handle to flush and you'd be in business!

 

I have a mare that you have to make sure no hay is behind her because every time you feed her she pees, and a gelding that when you tie him for grooming and he has to wait his turn he will dump a load. Minis can be so funny at times. My one gelding has to have his haulter on him tight when he is tied for grooming or eatting his grain or he will rub the nose band part right off his nose.

 

He may be considering it to be like shavings since you increased his stall size. Mine will do it if I feed them their hay on the ground, but only after they have pretty much eaten all they want. I would suggest putting it in a hay bag, or decreasing his stall size.

 

The horses I have out in paddocks seem to love to do that. Nice clean fresh hay----and they go and pee on it. It does not seem to matter whether they are colts/stallions or fillies/mares.

I tried round bales this year for the first time. Only for January and February as it is cold and the hay will not get moldy. They managed to break it down, spread it out all over and then pee in it, poop in it, and sleep in it.

I told them to clean it up ladies. Poop freezes, so they should not be too upset about it being there (I clean up what I can find)

I do not have round bale feeders yet. I wanted to see how well it would work, ----I like it, but I am going to look into getting a couple of goat round bale holders for next winter. Seems to be made for smaller heads and heights. I like having hay out there for them round the clock, keeps their weight up in the cold weather.

1 large bale has been feeding 8 horses for 3 weeks so far and I can see at least another week of it left. Cheaper that way to feed too! When one has 45 horses, it just makes it nicer. wish I could do that for most of the year. But, once it starts raining, I do not want to be dealing with wet moldy hay. Just peed upon hay.

 

She has no worries about trying to flush, the maid service comes in every morning and cleans

 

My gelding has always done this outside only... I figured it was because the hay keeps the splashing to a minimum. After filling a shallow hole in his paddock with shavings he stopped peeing on the hay and started peeing in the "potty" I made for him. (I didn't set out to make him a potty, I was leveling out the ground where the water used to sit... he just started using it that way) After that we had a LOT less wasted hay and he also quit going inside to pee if his hay was gone!

As for doing it in the stall when there are shavings around, I have no idea! But don't leave a towel, jacket, blanket or anything else fabric too close to my boys stall... he will drag it in and pee on it for sure! Same goes if he "undresses" himself, he will pee on his blanket as soon as he gets it off. It makes for some interesting glares at shows if someone leaves a show shirt in his reach.

 

I agree with some of the other posts......that it's at least partly a territorial thing.

What "p*sses" me off (pardon the pun) is that they don't always EAT the hay once they've marked it!

 

I'll vote for territorial, at least in some cases...

Flash did this when he was in a corral with our two geldings and was new boy in town. Now he's in a separate corral and no longer does it.

Scarlet, on the other hand, pees in anticipation of getting her hay. She began doing it when she was fed...then began doing it as soon as she saw me coming with it...then when she heard me opening the hay storage...now she does it as soon as she sees me come outside at feeding time.

Just like Pavlov's dogs, only it's pee instead of drool...

 

I have been told that they do this because it keeps the pee from splashing in their legs....I do think its also a territorial thing as well..cats do it too..ever notice that a cat will pee in its litterbox as soon as you put new litter in it ...its to re-mark what is theirs I guess, same goes with horses I suppose. Drives me nuts though..I get their stall all clean , and 2 seconds later they come in and pee all over the fresh straw. I remember my mom saying " I just cleaned the kitchen , you kids , and there is another glass in the sink"

 

Mine do the same thing, if given the chance. What I mean is, usually I feed their hay in feeders, indoors and out. Then they can't pee or poop in it. I guess they could still pull it all out of the feeder and then pee or poop in it, but mine don't. I have small goat hay feeders for inside and a larger sheep/goat bunk feeder for outside. Sometimes if the ground is frozen, I'll go ahead and scatter their hay around to mimic grazing...and of course it's inevitable that they pee or poop on some of it. Good luck!

 

When I first started feeding mine coastal hay (always fed only alfalfa), they would pee on it. They would eat some and pee on the rest of it, then or course not eat the rest of it at all. Once I learned what quality coastal hay was and bought that, they ate it. They all slept at night around the round bales, I guess they thought it was bedding? I rarely see them do that anymore, they eat everything I give them. I think some coastal hay is sweeter than others, and the sweet they will eat. If fertilized it would be sweet. They still don't care as much for first cut coastal but will eat it without peeing on it now.

I have one mare that pees when you feed her, no matter what you feed her. Disgusting mare Puts her front feet in the feed pan and then pees.

B

 

Thanks for the replies, I guess then there is nothing for me to worry about. I am learning all about their little their habits and quirks now that I get to take care of them and see them everyday. (after boarding for six years, they came home Christmas)

billiethekid, he does that too, heaven forbid should his blanket come off. At first I thought it was because the bellyband may have hung too low and got sprayed, but it makes sense now that he would pee on it when he wiggled out of it too.

At least my feelings have rebounded, it's nothing I did to cause him to do it. THANKS!!

 

When Ariel had her second foal Chip he decided to stand over the hay to pee. Then I saw something that shocked me. His sweet loveable Dam used her chest to push him against the back wall of the stall quite quickly and quite harshly. I don't know how many times she did that but believe me he learned quite quickly not to pee in moms hay and I would see him leaning against the back wall to pee after that. I believe Erin will tell you that he still pees as close tot he wall as possible. Nobody pees in her hay.