Excessive drooling?

[pinkdaisy]

Weird question. Several of our ponies have been drooling excessively. I don't mean just that clover drool... it's a lot of drool. It almost looks like they're holding water in their mouths and spitting some out every once in a while. In fact, in I had one pony in a lesson the other day that looked like he spit out a mouthful of water twice in the cross ties and three or four times during the lesson. He can't possibly hold that much water. Obviously he can't throw it up. What's up with this? Anybody ever seen it before?

[whatsnottaken]

I've known horses that react very strongly to the clover fungus and drool massive splots of spit. Literally to the point of worrying about dehydration, and there was really nothing to do but either keep them off clover or wait out the clover season.

One horse always hung out with his head over his stall door, and we kept a large bucket under where he generally kept his head, otherwise it was towel time.

[hfhopper]

I just called my vet about this today. Patron is doing the exact same thing and I was overwhelmed by the amount of water/saliva he was spitting out. My vet said that because of all of the rain we've had lately, the clover fungus is extra heavy this year. Hence the excessive reaction some horses are having to it. Basically, nothing to be concerned about unless the horse isn't drinking enough water to make up for the amount being lost. But really gross, I agree!

[pinkdaisy]

Okay. Thanks guys. We had some serious rain and the pony pasture was partly flooded. I couldn't imagine it could be just from regular clover because they have nubs of grass in their pasture (all of them live on air-- can't be out on lush pasture) and very little clover.
They all seem to be in great health otherwise-- great attitudes and willing to work. I'll make sure they keep drinking.
I love this board. Thanks for the quick answers!

[picasso]

Just yesterday, I was giving Mark a handfull of hay stretchers when he let loose with a torrent of drool all down my hand and arm. Then Conan let loose and created a huge puddle right by my foot. Ewwwwww .

[Katelyn]

We call it "The Slobbers" up here!

It comes from fungus in the clover. The horses don't seem to bother it, unless the grass is getting low. Cadeau was a little piggy, so got the slobbers every year. She would stand in the cross ties and just spit out a mouthful every once in a while. Her stall was also a wreck.

I had to remember to ask herr to open her mouth BEFORE I asked her to take the bit or else I'd get drool running down my arm....ick!

Jay was super picky, so never had a problem. Panda didn't either!!

hang in there - its gross, but not a medical problem!! Just be sure they have plenty of water!!

[pinkdaisy]

I've never seen clover cause so much drool. Usually it's just foaming and a little bit of slobber.

[Deb]

I know of 4 horses from over the years who displayed the excessive drool symptoms. In all 4 cases it wasn't just a case of drool, but copious amounts of fluid, also. The 1st time I saw it happen was in two horses on the same pasture which had previously been owned by my sister and her husband. They had horses on the same pasture for years and had no problems as displayed by the newcomers. A Vet was called in and the horses were diagnosed with having allergic reactions, but there was little to almost no clover in the pasture. The next 2 cases were found to be suffering from reactions of being fed straight Johnson Grass hay. Johnson Grass is in the Sorghum specie of grasses. While it is a fact, molasses is made from processed Sorghum the level of the offending toxin is greatly reduced by processing it for equine feeds. The owner of these last 2 cases had no idea he was doing a bad thing.