feed for a horse with ulcers

annar

annar

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i have a horse who i suspected had ulcers and has responded to treatment with omeprazole. what im wanting to know is what diet is ideal for him. and also any feeds to avoid?
weve gone from 24 hr turnout to stabling overnight due to yard rules and he has started cribbing again so suspect his tummy is sore again.
he has a fantastic appetite but cribs after his feeds and is touchy around his stomach when grooming and is quite lazy when ridden (hes a ex race horse)
He has good quality hay whilst in.
At present he's on 2 feeds a day (am and pm) of spillers conditioning fibre and original balancer and speedi beet. he also has settlex and hilton herbs gastri x. all advice appreciated, thanks. x
 
What has your vet suggested you feed? Our local horse vet suggests Pure Feeds products. I own a feed merchants, and having looked at the ingredients, I think they are expensive, bearing in mind the weight of the bag. Keeping it simple seems to be the key, maybe grass nuts or alfalfa nuts, and an unmollassed chaff - Dengie have just brought out both Alfa A and Hifi in an unmollassed form - and Speedibeet, but I would still talk to your vet and take his advice.
 
Spot_the_Risk said:
Our local horse vet suggests Pure Feeds products.
Click to expand...

I fed my TB on Pure Feeds products and she was horrible on it! I looked at the starch and sugar contents in them and compaired with other 'no starch' feeds, it is high.

My TB (also ex race) used to crib after meals untill we changed her to her new diet. She now very rarely cribs.

We feed: Alfa a oil, topspec cool condition cubes, micronized linseed, speedibeet, topspec balancer, nettles and mint.

This is a very high fibre, oil and protien diet with very minimal sugar and starch. It has also allowed my horse to gain the weight and condition she needed, and gives her enough energy for competing.

I would reccomend a similar diet for your horse.
 
We cut out everything for my cribber except alpha a original. When he needed a little extra in winter I put him on dodson and horrell equine sensitive
http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/products/horse-ranges/tailor-made/equine-sensitive.html The idea is to avoid anything mollassed and full of starch and sugar. The simppler the better. we used settelex with great success.These combined with a treat ball and taking his door away at feed time (to break the habit) we managed to completely stop his cribbing.

Hope that helps

Emily
 
Alfalfa pellets or Dengie alfa mollased free, speedibeet

micronised linseed for Omegas, conditioning and gut muculage

brewers yeast (main ing of Pink Powder) for gut function

yea-sacc for gut function

mixture of herbs containing liquorice and marshmallow (I use Equinatural products)

mint for taste and digestion

for more energy - good old oats (soaked well).

if more weight needed - wheat feed/bran with limestone flour.

The above is all cheap as chips when compared to buying commercial mixes but IMO much much better.

Look at Thunderbrook feeds if you want to use commercial mixes.
 
thanks for your suggestions. can i ask where people get linseed from? i used to feed my other horse linseed from natural horse supplies but i hear you can buy it in bigger bags. i do add linseed oil to both boys meals is this no good? annax
 
Micronised Linseed is manufactured by Charnwood Milling http://www.charnwood-milling.co.uk/

You can buy direct from them, although the postage cost is quite high. (Although I find the quantities needed are so small that it is still a very economical feed).

But if you live anywhere near Southampton you can buy from Long Acre Feeds http://www.longacrefeeds.co.uk/ best to call in or phone them - the response to email is patchy at best.

A Charnwood stockist list is here http://www.charnwood-milling.co.uk/pdf/APPROVED-STOCKISTS-2009.1.pdf

I would agree about the low starch/low sugar diet with lots and lots of slow chew fibre (hay rather than chaff).
 
My 4yo who had ulcers as a secondary to peritonitis is fed

Allen and Page Fast Fibre and ride and Relax
Top spec Cool condition cubes
Some Alfa A

Plus U -Gard, Glutamine and corn oil
 
My ulcer prone windsucker (with additional complication of alfa-a intolerance :eek:) is fed:
ad lib hay
D&H Just Grass
Speedi beet
Outshine
and strangely enough soaked or boiled whole oats
he gets turned out daily, but doesn't get to graze as such from April to October as rich grass makes him worse.
 
My pony who had ulcers basically just had hay, hay and more hay.

We cut out all treats - esp. things like polos as these would trigger an attack.

When he needed 'feed' we gave him Allen and Page fast fibre with a vitimin suppliment and pink powder.

The other thing we had to watch was worming - it would always trigger an attack so he was give GastroGuard preventatively a few days before and after worming and this kept him ticking over. He went from being nicknamed 'the anoerxic' to having to watch his weight on this routine.

Good luck - its not much fun to deal with.
 
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