Belly Trouble?

[maddielove]

My mare various troubles appear to be never ending, we are now investigating the possibility of gastric ulcers (or a very acidy tummy, as she has no major symptoms) after a horse with similar symptoms to her (grumpy, moody, unhappy to be ridden) was diagnosed with one.
She is also very unhappy about me touching her belly and also very touchy about being girthed up.
I've ordered a supplement for gastric ulcers, if this helps a little I will get the vet in for a proper diagnosis and proper treatment.
I am interested to know if a Probiotic like pink powder or similar would do a similar job?

I feel really bad as I think it may have occurred due to muzzling her this summer a lot

Any advice welcome, esp. about the pink powder/probiotic as I could start this treatment tomorrow if it might help.

 

[Robbo]

I would advise you go to your vet as they can get you Gastroguard which is designed to coat the ulcers and would be far more effective than probiotics ( which really wouldnt help at all), they can also give you something to reduce the amount of acid in her stomach too. Also think about her management, try to feed concentrates little and often and ensure that she has lots of roughage. Is there anything which could be making her stressed as this can also predispose to ulcers.

It is also important that the vet checks her over to ensure that there is no other underlying cause for her discomfort.

Hope this helps!

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Another proven product to help stressy horses with gastric ulcers is Coligone. It's extremely palatable and is prescribed by vets although it's not a POM. If you PM H's_mum she can tell you all about it. Worked a treat for Sunny after a terrifying episode of gassy colic which was my own stupid fault.

 

[Maggie2]

Plus look at the diet and ensure plenty of fibre, and I am sure a lot of people on here have had success in maintaining their ulcer prone horses on Winergy.

Most bagged feeds are high in starch from cereals, Winergy is very low.

 

[Birker2020]

I know of two horses that were diagnosed with gastric ulcers. One horse was fed on antacid tablets to start with (she loved them) but I am not sure how she got on after she started having the medication from her vet as I left the yard soon after. Another friend has a horse who was has had colic surgery. He has been diagnosed with gastric ulcers and had a course of gastric guard. Apparently one of the things that can cause them is lack of fibre so give your horse plenty of fibre, also stress is the main factor with her horse and she struggles to keep him stress free and this sparks off colic. I have a horse who is colicky and has been tubed and rectally examed in the past. He was on pink powder for almost two years and I know have him on something else that by dengie horse feeds that is a supplement and give him a couple of scoops of that a day. He doesn't have ulcers to my knowledge but I always make sure he has constant access to haylage where able.