loose stools (sudden onset)

Question
Dear Judy, My 13 year old gelding (3/4 Arabian)had an episode of diarrhea yesterday, but then it seemed to stop just as suddenly.Could this have been caused by a change in his grain 5 days ago? Or could it have been a reaction to a small bunch of dandelion greens he ate? He's eaten them before many times without any issue.He is stabled with turnouts(in a training program), grass and alfalfa hay, Triple Crown Complete(1 scoop)with a joint supplement.He UTD on worming and immunizations.What USUALLY  causes this in a horse? I like to be informed so that I can prevent and avoid problems where I can. Thank You!  

Answer
Hi Arlene!

A short bout of diarrhea like this can happen the day following a de-worming treatment but I would expect to see a feed change reaction in less than 5 days.  You may want to find out if the dandelions had been treated with any herbicides.  I don't know if your area is under going a wet fall like we are here in North Texas, but down here the rain caused some green shoots in our paddocks.  The horses loved it but it did loosen their stools a bit.  Did any other horses in your barn experience anything similar?

Since it lasted such a short time, it's really hard to say what caused this and how to avoid it in the past.  The short duration of this episode means that your horse didn't have to go through any dehydration so that's good.  I'd keep a good eye on him (sounds like you do this anyway) for any repeat performances and note the instances if they do reoccur so that you'll have some good historical information for a veterinarian if it comes to that.

There are more unsolved cases of diarrhea than there are solved ones.  Hopefully your horse won't look back from his bout but if you observe any other things that worry you, please feel free to post them here and I'll do my best to steer you in the right direction.  

Thank you Arlene :)