Can ulcers present themselves by a good jumper suddenly stopping?

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My husband's hunter was fantastic and suddenly this season he has started off stopping at jumps, in particular timber. Funnily last season he started off stopping towards the end of the season as well, although he has always been brilliant over the biggest blackest scariest hedges.

I borrowed him over the summer and he lived out and his temper was lovely and he was a joy to have around. Over the winter he becomes a hard working master's horse, is permanently stabled and fed a high concentrate diet. At the start of the season he was doing brilliantly and my husband was really pleased with him but as the season has progressed he's got worse tempered and hotter and stops more and more at timber.

Unfortunately, he's not good with vets so scoping him would be a real struggle (just doing his booster vacs causes enough trouble).

He's been checked by the saddle fitter and chiro and is otherwise in good health, and, touch wood, sound as a bell.

Do you reckon this could be ulcers? It's simply the diet and regime that made me wonder whether it could be - I once had an eventer who had ulcers but he lived out permanently and was fed only on forage, chaff, etc
 
I think that is what happened to Spotted Cat's eventer. From what I remember she had to be very persistent with vets to get him fully checked out and they found the ulcers.

I would like to know whether headshaking can be a symptoms of ulcers, as my TB mare shakes her head like Iron Maiden's biggest fan first thing in the morning, but after she had had a day in the field this completely disapears in the evening time, only to recur the next morning.

Fiona
 
Funnily, it was what spottedcat went through that made me think of it. I thought it might be worth trying coligone to see if it has any impact. Having said that my husband reminded me that his horse was fine until he had a fall one day. We've had his back checked and fixed since then but I suspect his confidence has been knocked.

With regards your mare, I wouldn't have thought it sounds like ulcers because a day at grass wouldn't make the ulcers go so I wouldn't expect her behaviour to change from morning to night. I'd imagine it might be more likely that the dustiness of her bedding or poor ventilation causes an irritation to her nose.
 
It could very well be ulcers hun. But I think you need to dig deeper than that. Ulcers appear for a reason and often it's a management thing. It could very well be that suddenly being permanently stabled and fed a high concentrate diet is at the heart of the issue because the horse is stressed at the sudden change to un-horse-friendly conditions. Why can't he live out still? Coligone will help but - no offence intended hun - it will only help the ulcers, it won't help the horse if he's unhappy.
 
Sadly, there isn't really any turnout at the yard where he goes to in the winter, hence the regime. Am due to have a baby in a few weeks time and then he'll have a lovely holiday for a few months and then i'll take him on over the remainder of the summer and start investigating.
 
I posted a similiar question a few months ago for my hunter who was unchracteristically stopping. Most people came back with the possibility of hock spavin.
I put him on cortaflex and then we had the 5 week break with all the snow and ice, but since back to hunting he hasn't stopped once, but of course could just be a coincidence and the break was all he needed!
With reference to ulcers, they may well make him uncomfortable jumping with the acid splash, so could also be an explanation. Is he grumpy to be girthed and how is his condition compared to this time last season?
A high cereal diet is the worst enemy of a horse with ulcers, so could you change him onto a high fibre diet with ad lib hay instead to see if that helps, as it does sound like he is trying to tell you something? Coligone has also been mentioned for ulcers and I know a lot of people swear by it.
Good luck and let us know how he gets on.
 
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