For well over a week, all four of our horses poop has been an unusual dark black. The majority of piles consist of well formed nuggets, with more moisture than usual. No unusual odor.
I wonder if our dry weather and stunted fields are to blame? The darkness could be from eating some type of weed, as they usually thrive when grass struggles. However, our pasture and field weeds are managed. Our pastures are far from lush these days. They don't look much different than any other year. We feed hay 365 days, and it is the same grass growing in our pastures. We recently got some decent rain, and a couple days of short teasers. Nothing changed.
Same poop, different day.
I googled, and the only thing I found out about dark poo is it could be caused by a possible ulcer. That is not our case. The vet was out today and we asked about our poopy situation, complete with samples. He didn't think we should be concerned.
Our vet was out to do a pregnancy check on Cierra. For the fourth time, she is not pregnant.
I wasn't even excited for the appointment, or very hopeful. That ship has sailed, with good reason. However, this time Cierra is not in heat. According to her cycle, if she is not pregnant she should be in heat. Our vet feels bad, he shouldn't. All we can do is try.
He mentioned most facilities collect semen until the end of June, and we could possibly try again. Brad was going to check the exact June end date on our contract, but it is doubtful he will choose to try AI a fifth time. The other option given was to do a pregnancy recheck in two weeks. Our vet said he has had an occasional mare with a fetus that took longer than average to form, but it is not the norm.
Same poop, different day.
