Best "before riding" feed for ulcers

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emfen1305

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Apologies in advance if this should go in feeding, I wasn't sure, I will post there too!

My boy has just been diagnosed with grade 4 ulcers and has been on the full dose of peptizole for 2 weeks with another 2 weeks to go and then 4 weeks of maintenance dose. He's not done much work (prior to the diagnosis as I didn't want to ride him as he wasn't right) or since he was diagnosed but he's getting rather bored and jogged the whole way on our hand walk the other day so i thought about bringing him back into light work on the vets advice as long as i feed some chop before i ride. I've recently swapped him onto healthy tummy for his tea but since doing this he has completely gone off the top chop lite he was on! The problem is he is a good doer so he can't keep having scoopfuls of the healthy tummy as is quite calorific so I'm looking for another chop which i can just give him a scoopful of before i ride - does anyone have any recommendations?

On another note, i am also on the hunt for a good ulcer supplement for when he comes off the peptizole - old school vet says not to waste money but i'd like to hear people's recommendations!

Many thanks :)
 
Any non molassed chaff will work; alfalfa is good if he will tolerate it but check the analysis to make sure it's not coated with molasses or soya oil.
Dengie does a molasses free Alfa A but it takes a bit of tracking down from suppliers! Mine can be a bit fussy but likes alfa cos it's green and smells nice!
 
ironhorse said:
Any non molassed chaff will work; alfalfa is good if he will tolerate it but check the analysis to make sure it's not coated with molasses or soya oil.
Dengie does a molasses free Alfa A but it takes a bit of tracking down from suppliers! Mine can be a bit fussy but likes alfa cos it's green and smells nice!
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I did use to feed alfa a molasses free but he got a bit tubby so swapped to hifi lite molasses free but he turned his nose up at the second bag of that (though i did start the equinox at the same time). I think he likes the healthy tummy because it has pellets in and is very green so i might potentially just give him what he would have for his tea before i ride and then for his tea he can just have balancer and his supplements!
 
Lucerne - apparently there is something actually in it that helps. Have a look at this FB page - he is in Australia, but is a vet and has done a huge amount on ulcers. Kohnke's Own
 
NZJenny said:
Lucerne - apparently there is something actually in it that helps. Have a look at this FB page - he is in Australia, but is a vet and has done a huge amount on ulcers. Kohnke's Own
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Alfalfa and lucerne are the same thing - just called different things in different places.
 
Just a handful of chaff would be fine. Its to reduce acid splashing the stomach lining.
Or you could look at adding slippery elm to his feeds everyday. Its a relatively cheap way of protecting the stomach lining as its powder form and once it goes to the stomach it acts as a mucilage, that is a gel like substance that lines the stomach. The only problem with this is that if you are feeding any medicine orally e.g. bute which is absorbed by the stomach lining then it won't get through!

I tend to feed it to my horse from time to time and its very good, you can find it on the apocethary alchemists site on ebay for example.
 
applecart14 said:
Just a handful of chaff would be fine. Its to reduce acid splashing the stomach lining.
Or you could look at adding slippery elm to his feeds everyday. Its a relatively cheap way of protecting the stomach lining as its powder form and once it goes to the stomach it acts as a mucilage, that is a gel like substance that lines the stomach. The only problem with this is that if you are feeding any medicine orally e.g. bute which is absorbed by the stomach lining then it won't get through!

I tend to feed it to my horse from time to time and its very good, you can find it on the apocethary alchemists site on ebay for example.
Click to expand...

Thanks i had looked into some more "natural" therapies like chia seeds and others but i'm going to try the protexin supplement first along with yea sacc to help the hind gut! i had heard about the slippery elm though so i might try that!
 
Beausmate said:
I believe it is high in calcium.
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It is, but that wasn't it. He did a brilliant presentation at Equidays and I asked the question. The answer was very scientific, but there is something specific to the lucerne that acts as a buffer to the acid in the stomach, as well as helping with the slosh factor when riding.
 
FfionWinnie said:
Out of interest is it of any additional benefit to feed chaff just before riding if the horse has access to adlib hay?
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A question I have often asked myself. I would think that as long as the horse has something coating its stomach lining it wouldn't really matter what that feed was.

I know someone that won't feed their horse hay whilst out at a competition or hunting. No hay for an hour before travelling, no hay in the trailer on the way, no hay when at the other end, whilst tacking up, or after the event, and no hay whilst coming home.

So the horse could go as many as seven or eight hours without anything going through it, which to me, would explain its rather dramatic and poor behavior. I often think if they gave it hay its stomach would be lined and it would be a lot more comfortable all round.
 
I would just feed hay before it went anywhere - unless your horse is poor, or unless you are trying to feed it minerals which aren't very palatable, I would say just hay would be the best - ad lib, so its never without.
 
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