Feeding for ulcers?

Holly Hocks

Holly Hocks

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My mare is going to be scoped in the next week or two for gastric ulcers. Not going into all the symptoms, but initially thought it was a bad back, however there are other symptoms. Head tossing, stable grumpiness (she usually has the temperament of an angel but is narky and irritable and doesn't want to be touched) and doesn't under any circumstances want to be ridden. If I am working her in hand in the school and put my hand on her side to move her over to ask for some lateral work, as well as ears back and teeth grinding, she has even tried lashing me with a back leg. This is totally unlike her.

So if the result is ulcers, what have you fed with success? What do I need to change?Horse is an 11 year old TB, currently off work until issue is sorted apart from a bit of long-reining on the roads and gentle lunge work. I currently feed fast fibre, micronised linseed, and boswellia for her arthritis. I have just introduced Aloe Vera as I've read that it's good for digestion. I want to keep it low sugar and starch. Obviously if she is diagnosed with ulcers, I will treat her with the Gastroguard.
 
Alfalfa is good for ulcers because it's relatively high in calcium. Lots of fiber too so the stomach is never empty.
 
meandmyself said:
Alfalfa is good for ulcers because it's relatively high in calcium. Lots of fiber too so the stomach is never empty.
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I used to feed Alfalfa but stopped as I thought it fizzed her up a bit and as she is unshod, I've heard of it causing footiness, but I'm willing to try it again.

She has totally adlib hay - I took her off haylage back in November when the haylage was wet. She is never without hay. Does it sound like it could be ulcers to you?
 
I've had a crash course on ulcers last year as my mare came back with grade 4 ulcers twice. I think I finally got it and she is finally filling up and looking good.

What you have to remember is to keep it as high fiber and low starch as possible. Calcium is also good as it neutralizes the acid in the stomach, but if your horse won't eat alfalfa (or can't) just buy some limestone or beetpulp and add it to her meals. However, the alfalfa would be better as the calcium is in the form of oxalate which is far less usable by the horse so less likely to unbalance the diet.

Mine is currently having, divided by 6 meals:
- Add lib hay
- 4kg of Rowen Barbary Solution Mash
- 3kg of Alfalfa cubes
- 1kg of Sumo Original
- 0,5kg of Sumo MB
- 1,5kg Forage n Fiber
- 0,5kg of Alfa A (mixed with the forage and fiber to act as a buffer and slow her down).

I also add linseed oil and a spoon full of bicarb to each of her buckets. The bicarb really has made a huge difference.
 
With mine, I fed for several things
1. to line the system - a good oil, coconut oil was recommended so that was what I used
2. to maintain as low acid as possible I used bicarb as above
3. to avoid the digestion ever being empty he had ad lib forage (this was early winter) and high fibre feeds, especially unmollassed beet pulp
4. to avoid acid from stress - field rest
5. to get the digestion back to its optimum a decent probiotic (I used live yoghurt)
6. to avoid sugars which can become acidic he had a low sugar/starch/cereal diet

Good luck. I presume you will be getting Gastroguard if the scope reveals a problem. Incidentally a scope negative result doesn't mean a true negative, there could be a problem in the large intestine which the scope doesn't reach.
 
Thanks all. I'm going to change the diet now, on the assumption that it is ulcers, as it could be a couple of weeks before I get the scope appointment through as I've got to take her to another vets for it. I've got some Speedibeet in, but not used it as it was fed to my old horse. Will that have more calcium than the Fast Fibre? I've also got some bicarb of soda in, so the change can start today. I'm not going to get the Alfalfa at the moment although I appreciate I may need to get it....
 
My horse had ulcers and was scoped. My horse is now on a similar diet to yours currently. I had to take him off Alfalfa as he's barefoot and made him very footy so has a small amount of readigrass with his fast fibre.
He gets now bicarb in his water.
I added YeaSacc, brewers yeast plus he gets RiteTrac by KERX which albeit expensive made my horse back to normal within 48 hours even after Vet GG treatment. RiteTrac treats the whole tract not just stomach.
Personally I would avoid speedibeet. If your horse is lacking weight I would up the linseed and split feeds into smaller amounts more frequently.
 
Beet pulp does have more calcium than Fast Fiber.

Just an FYI, RiteTrac is just bicarb, oil and a binding agent to keep them from separating. So if you feed store bought oil and bicarb, you'll be spending a 10th and having the same results.
 
I have 2 with what were probably hind gut ulcers. Couldn't be touched along the sides, one ended up in vet hospital, grooming was a nightmare

feed is:

soaked copra, makes a great difference.
dengie alfalfa pellets soaked if you want to add alfalfa. They don't cause footiness in the way that alfa A can do for some


absolutely no sugar beet whatsoever. It doesn't matter if it molassed or not. No fast fibre, it has SB in it. I found getting rid of all SB was a major step forward.

no molasses obviously.

Supplements for both are:
morning
metabalance.
salt.
yea sac,
micronised linseed
magox
limestone flour

evening
charcoal


plus lots of bicarb water am and pm after feeding or bicab in the feed if necessary.
 
I have an ex racehorse who was scoped and came back with ulcers. Put him on gastroguard and they nearly cleared up. He was on Top Spec and changed his feeding to another make as slightly cheaper and then the problems started again. Was grumpy, reared, wouldnt go forward, sore back and doing other things, so got him scoped again, no ulcers! So we treated him for hind gut ulcers, and researched them. I changed his feeding back to Top Spec and a few weeks later he is been ridden and going to his first show in a few weeks time.
With hind gut ulcers you should not feed any cereals or grains and it pays to look at the ingredients in your feeding. Our local merchants own conditioning cubes had nothing but cereals and grains in them!

I would definately recommend Top Spec conditioning cubes,top chop alfalfa and cool balancer!

Good luck
 
Holly Hocks - I would contact Sarah Braithwaite of ForagePlus for dietary info for ulcer barefoot horses. It's her niche ;)
 
Impu1sion said:
I'm interested to try this too - how much bicarb should I give my horse?
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I don't think there is any set amount and for mine it was trial and error. I gave it to one horse in warm water that didn't appear to have any gut problems at all. He chose to drink it but it made him runny.
I give it at the rate of a good heaped 15ml scoop in around a half of a 3 gallon water bucket to those that want a drink. They chose and some drink the whole lot and more besides. These are horses that I don't suspect they have ulcer problems. They just chose to drink it if they want.

I have 2 with gut problems. They get around 4 x 15ml scoops a day each, some in feed, some in water. They are no side effects from this and sometimes one will have had more than this.

I found that when I fed fast fibre and supplements that I could barely touch the sides on one when I wanted to groom him after feeding. Having gone onto the copra, no SB and bicarb in the feed (or straight afterwards in a drink) I can touch him anywhere at any time.

It is a case of trial and error and seeing how the horse responds.
 
Impu1sion said:
I'm interested to try this too - how much bicarb should I give my horse?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure whether I did it right, but I gave a large 25ml scoop in the feed, twice a day. Probably should have given more, but it was a trial and error thing (this horse very rarely drank out of his water bucket in the stable, he would go to the automatics in the field so it had to be feed based). I did hear of one trainer years ago who used to do the same with each horse on his yard - might or might not have made a difference, but it almost certainly wouldn't have done any harm
 
Oberon said:
Holly Hocks - I would contact Sarah Braithwaite of ForagePlus for dietary info for ulcer barefoot horses. It's her niche ;)
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Thanks Oberon, I'll do that when she's had the scope to see whether she's got the ulcers or not. I watched an interesting video on their website yesterday about ulcers and palpation of certain points on the body......she reacts to all of the points! I started her on the speedibeet yesterday which ate. I was surprised as she's very fussy. I added some bicarb to it and some to her water.

It's hard changing their feed when there are the barefoot issues as well which is why I'm a bit reluctant to add alfalfa at the moment.

If my girl does have ulcers, it might answer why she has been such a difficult horse over the past three years which has got worse and worse! If not, then it's a back issue.....
 
Impu1sion said:
I'm interested to try this too - how much bicarb should I give my horse?
Click to expand...


I feed one large spoonful every meal, so 6 spoons in total. For my horse it made the biggest difference, we had tried everything to stop her runny/smelly poo and bicarb was the only thing that did the trick.

Funny fact - when I commented it with my grandmother, she told me her brother had lots of stomach and intestine issues when he was in his teens and back then the doctor recommended a low starch/sugar diet and he had to drink a cup of water with a spoon of bicarb in it 3 times a day.
 
I am buying 5kg tubs from hyperdrug but with so many horses I am going through so much. Has anyone found a cheaper way to buy say a 20kg sack?
 
You're luckier than me, I buy them in tiny 500g bags! I go through a bunch of them each week... still cheaper than Equishure (which is bicarb and oil in a tub) so I can't complain too much!
 
SCMSL said:
You're luckier than me, I buy them in tiny 500g bags! I go through a bunch of them each week... still cheaper than Equishure (which is bicarb and oil in a tub) so I can't complain too much!
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OK :D:D

hyperdrug is around £17 including postage for 5kg. BTW
 
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