Equine ulcers - symptoms?

[squirtlysmum]

I have a feeling one of my boys is suffering with equine ulcers and I would really like to hear from people about the symptoms their neds had and how they were treated. My horse is exceptionally sharp and very stressy particularly when saddled/being ridden. He does have a history of back issues however due to these I know his back is currently perfect.
Any info gladly accepted!

 

[MiCsarah]

We have one at work and his poo's are like cow pats. He's on some herbs from silver lining and we try to keep him as stress free as possible which is really hard with such a stressy spooky horse. Quite often they dont like being touch around the belly or being tacked up.

 

[Tiffany]

I've not had personal experience but my friends mare had gastric ulcers about 12 months ago. Symptoms were: slight loss of weight, not eating all of her feed, getting agitated when girth being fastened. I think only real way of finding out is by scoping. If I'm not mistaken, verts usually recommend gastroguard.

 

[Chloe-V]

I had a very stressy yearling a few years ago who developed ulcers when she had to be locked in for a few weeks an injury. If I remember rightly the most obvious symptoms were not eating, playing with her water but not drinking, generally stressing in the stable (box walking) and not liking being touched around her abdomen. Oh, and a 'depressed' look about her - just not looking right in herself, if you know what I mean ?

Vet diagnosed by a blood sample and treated with Antepsin and Gastroguard.
She did collapse on the floor in the stable late one night and had to have an emergency IV infusion but she picked up again after that.
The Gastroguard was very expensive but it really did do the job.

Also do try and make sure your horse always has plenty of hay to eat and doesn't run out so you don't get an empty stomach anytime, give feeds little and often and use low protein feed and try and make changes to your routine as slowly as possible.

Mine's now a strapping 4 year old with no health issues at all.

Hope your horse picks up soon.