Regardless of this, mares should be maintained on a rigorous deworming schedule. Parasite eggs must often incubate in manure before becoming infective, so foals usually sidestep parasite transmission from coprophagy. Foals typically only consume fresh feces from their dams. The primary concern surrounding coprophagy is parasite infestation. Because these bacteria are necessary for the proper digestion of fiber, coprophagy may allow for a smooth transition from a milk-only diet to meals of forages and concentrates. Some horsemen believe it is a normal developmental milestone, and the practice may jumpstart the establishment of the microbial population in the intestinal tract. Foals will begin practicing coprophagy as young as four or five days old. If the calcium consumption were allowed to continue unhindered, it would have actually been detrimental to their condition, as increased calcium slows phosphorus absorption.īreeders and other handlers of foals regularly encounter pica in the form of coprophagy or the ingestion of feces. The ponies ate more calcium than phosphorus. In a separate trial, ponies fed a phosphorus-deficient diet were offered a range of mineral salts, including phosphorus and calcium, from which to satiate their mineral inadequacies. Ponies fed a calcium-deficient diet consumed no more of a free-choice calcium supplement than ponies fed a calcium-adequate diet. This premise is substantiated by research performed in the 1970s. A horse licking its concrete automatic waterer or a pony scooping up a mouthful of soil is likely more curious or bored than nutritionally depraved. Horses do not typically express nutritional imbalances as pica therefore, they do not seek ways to rectify imbalances. Nutritionists have found that horses have a true appetite for only three nutrients: energy, salt, and water. Mineral or vitamin imbalances are often cited as the cause of pica. This phenomenon has been observed in horses of all ages, breeds, and sexes. Pica is the desire to eat unusual substances that possess little or no nutritional value, such as dirt, wood, hair, and feces.
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