Beginnings of ulcers

[izzy.myers]

Hi all,
I have owned my horse for roughly 6 months now. He is amazing in all ways however I have noticed he can be very restless. When he is stood tied up he will constantly chew on the lead rope he is very mouthy and even to be ridden he is constantly chewing on the bit. I have been told this is a youngster thing however he is 7 so in theory should have grown out of this
More over, he will scrape is teeth on the wall and bite the door bolt and pull his teeth on it.
He hasn’t been girthy at all until today when he bit me doing up his girth (could just be coincidence) and doesn’t really have any ‘typical’ symptoms of ulcers however, he has had everything from the saddler to teeth physio you name it he’s had it.
I’m now unsure whether I pay for him to be scoped or if I’m just over reacting
I’m an apprentice so I have limited funds if there’s a supplement I could try first before scoping I would 100% try however I’m not sure if this is the right route to go considering i don’t know if it is ulcer related
Any advice would be appreciated
Many thanks for reading

 

[Regandal]

Ulcers sound likely. If he has active ulcers, no supplement will heal them. Remove the guesswork and get him scoped. I’d phone your vet and ask for costs, my vet practice was very reasonable for a scope.
Is he insured?

 

[stangs]

It does sound like ulcers. Scoping would be ideal, but if you really want to be sure before getting the vet out, you could try aloe vera as a 'supplement' - if his behaviour improves on it, that's a pretty sure sign he's got gastric ulcers.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28555939/ - not the most reliable paper in the world but still worth a read.