Weird serious problem?

I am embarrased to say this, its not like they are malnurished or anything but.....ok here is the situation we have a brand new bale for the horses (we have five) they have salt/mineral blocks lots of water and we give them grain every morning but for so odd reason i have seen a couple of them do it now they will poo and turn around and spread it out and eat it, its freaking me out! they are for sure eating the salt blocks and mineral blocks and the hay is real nice green and leafy so whats wrong with them why would they do this we have already wormed them for spring, if that has anything to do with it and my mare when we are out on rides she will eat mud its weird so ya .....is there something thats missing from their diet or what!?

i think i am agreeing with you raely cuz there is undigested oats in the feces and its not like they are eating it by the mouth full they are sort of just sifting through it

Horses eat poop when they "need certain bacteria called probiotics (meaning "for life") that aid in digestion. Because horses eat mostly grass and roughage, they rely on these microorganisms to ferment and break down their food. Without probiotics, horses cannot properly digest their food."

We've had this happen at our barn.

I've included one reference so you can get more detailed information.

You'd be better off asking this question of your local vet than a bunch of yahoos.

animals have been known to eat poop. Just keep the place clean.

Look at this, it may help.
http://www.usask.ca/wcvm/herdmed/applied...

They could be missing something somewhere.

Are you feeding a high quality round bale? I find that they usually are low quality, and from sitting out, lose their nutrition. If you can't use baled hay, supplement with alfalfa cubes.

For the grain, make sure it is high quality also. I like high quality pelleted ones over sugary molasses ones.

You can also start giving an all around supplement.

It maybe because the grain is not digesting fully. I have seen a lot of horses in my years and have several of my own but I have never seen them eat their own poo. I would call your vet and ask. Don't take them in or anything like that but call and ask if this is something you should worry about.

Do you make sure they get all the needed things in life. Like Iron, protein, vitamin a, all that. If not that may be a problem, it may directly affect a certain thing in there body that tells them to go for more things that maybe enriched with protein and or nutrients. It might just be a problem that they got from their parents. Which is normal. Some animals behave differently. It might not be the food but that doesn't mean they are malnurished it just may be a habit they picked up from somewhere else. Who knows.

You need to ask your vet, they may be missing something in their diets.

Talk to your [horse] vet, different areas have different soil problems.

Your horses have a serious virus that affects how their brains function. Unfortunately you will have to put them down.