Gastric Ulcers... Horse being scoped tomorrow

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dressage__diva

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I was wondering whether those who have had their horses scoped etc could give me some indication of the aftercare required for a horse with gastric ulcers?

She is being scoped tomorrow morning and I am collecting her in the evening... I am convinced they will find something which will explain certain aspects of her behaviour (dislike of having the girth done up, drinking a lot when she has been in a stressful situation, spitting back foamey water etc).

So any experiences would be much appreciated... I am looking for what immediate treatment (how long did you use gastroguard for) and what long term treatment was recommended.

She is on adlib hay at the moment, 14 hours of turnout over night (although she will be coming in very soon and get just an hour a day out) and she is fed Graze On and TopSpec Balancer only.
 
Hi There

I used to work for the company who make Gastrogard but on their dog/cat team. However I know a little bit about Gastric Ulcers so here is what I know!

Horses with gastric ulcers need treatment with Gastroguard daily for at least 4 - 6 weeks, although horses treated with Omeprazole (Gastroguard ingredient) can often show improvement within a week of starting medication. It is recommended horses are kept on G for the 6 weeks as any ulcers will take that long to heal.

The reason horses get ulcers is due to the lining of their stomach, the top half doesn't contain any gastric acid protection and therefore any horse that does any exercise out of walk will get acid splashing up onto the top half of the stomach, horses that have periods of work also have reduced blood supply to the stomach which helps remove acid. Some racehorses can pull up during a race as once in gallop the acid splashes on the ulcer making it hurt. Some horses can get ulceration on the lower portion of the stomach, these take longer to heal.

Omeprazole is the best treatment as horses produce 2 litres of acid an hour in their stomach, they are not like humans who only produce acid when we start eating, as horses produce acid constantly they require constant eating, even small amounts of food will help neutralise the acid in the stomach. With people we use things like Rennie which is an antacid - neutralising the acid that is currently in the stomach, if you were to use rennie you would have to give some every hour! Omeprazole works on the proton pump which controls the amount of acid produced, as the proton pump is inhibited their is less acid to splash on the stomach allowing the ulcer to heal. Having less acid doesn't stop the horse being able to digest its food any differently.

Following scoping, your vet will advise what to do following the effects of the sedation and may prescribe the G to you (or not?)

If you are given G - during treatment you give one syringe a day, they come in boxes of 7. once the ulcer has gone you can try some of the following to help matters:

G can be given at a quarter of a syringe daily as a preventative measure long term
G can be given for a day or so leading up to a competition - if it is a two day show, G should be given daily.
Never starve your horse, they cannot vomit so starvation is not required, if you are travelling, make sure they always have hay/haylage available for the journey and leave them with a haynet until you tack up to ride. You can take the hay off an hour before you ride, if you usually starve them until after competition, try and reduce this as much as possible.
Reduce concentrates and increase hay/haylage as concentrates don't take as long to eat.
Also horses that live on their own can benefit from mirrors or other companions.

Not sure if any of this is useful!

Here is a website about it all

http://www.equinegastriculcers.co.uk/
 
That was an excellent reply to your message _ the one from the person who worked for Gastroguard.However I can probably tell you a bit more from the horse owner's perspective.My homebred youngster was appalling after 20 mins work when being broken and looked ghastly with a roached up back.To cut a long story short Tim Brazil scoped him at our yard.He had just written an article for H and H on ulcers but reckoned my horse had the wordst ulcer he had ever seen and could offer no explanation.He had two weks of Gastroguard - one syringe per day and then a quarter of a syringe per day for another 4 weeks.Meanwhile I had a hair analysis done by Crossgates to discover more about him and to work out how to manage him when off the Gastroguard as that is the hard bit.They were brilliant and I keep him on cider vinegar and Equine Gold religiously.The Happy Tummy charcoal is an excellent product too and cost effective.Spillers conditioning fibre is fine for him and he has plenty of roughage when in .To keep weight on him I use the coconut product Copra so there are plenty of things you can do without having to resort to Gastroguard all the time as it is prohibitively expensive.Hope this has helped.
 
My mare was described as "cold backed" when I bought her, she windsucks a little too.

I had her scoped and she had grade 2/3 ulcers. She was on Gastroguard for nearly 3 months in the end, she was scoped again and came up clear.

I was advised to do all the usual things, adlib hay, avoid cereals and to permanently use Pro-soothe to avoid a recurrence.

Later I found she has several allergies and in accordance with that she can now pretty much eat Alfa A, Speedibeet and naked oats/barley. The ProSoothe had to be dropped as it contains wheat. Obviously I have continued with adlib hay/haylage.

She continues to have no problems with ulcers, is still cold backed and has a mean buck lol. But she is a happier, more relaxed person, and she works nicely now instead of feeling "sticky" all the time. Poor girl must have been sore.

Good luck with your horse. Hopefully tomorrow will be the beginning of a happier horse :)
 
Some really helpful replies about the development of a gastric ulcer but I just wanted to add a word about the WHY at the holistic horse level. Whilst there are many reasons why horses develop gastric ulcers, one of the most common is stress due to management. A horse needs to be managed as close to the lifestyle that hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have shaped him for as possible. The issues that cause the most stress are lack of turnout, feeding and company. Why will your horse only be allowed 1 hour turnout per day DD? Recipe for disaster if you ask me. You run the very real risk of adding to her stress levels and thus her risk of further ulcers.
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
Some really helpful replies about the development of a gastric ulcer but I just wanted to add a word about the WHY at the holistic horse level. Whilst there are many reasons why horses develop gastric ulcers, one of the most common is stress due to management. A horse needs to be managed as close to the lifestyle that hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have shaped him for as possible. The issues that cause the most stress are lack of turnout, feeding and company. Why will your horse only be allowed 1 hour turnout per day DD? Recipe for disaster if you ask me. You run the very real risk of adding to her stress levels and thus her risk of further ulcers.
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Unfortunately I am on a livery yard so have to comply with their rules etc.

Due to the area I live in, there are no yards that offer all year around turnout as we are on clay based ground. I have travelled up to 30 minutes to try and find somewhere that does, but even at this distance I did not find anywhere that also offers part livery. There was one yard that I found, but the arena was far too deep and having a horse with a PSD injury I was worried with regards to their legs.

I make sure all my horses have adlib hay / haylage (she is on hay) and they are turned out with their pal. She is currently out over night with my 3 year old gelding, but the ground is so bad they are currently having to come off the fields and I fear they may not get back out now. However, they will be turned out in the sand pen for an hour together daily and can see each other through the bars in their stables.
 
That being the case, you will need to try to keep this horse as stress free as possible. Routine is all important along with adlib forage and company. Hopefully you will be able to provide that, but if she still fails to thrive you're going to have no choice but to changer her management.

You may also need to consider feeding a supplement such as prosoothe after the ulcers are cleared. I'll warn you though it's a bit pricey at roughly £ 70 per month.
 
If your horse is going to spend the next 7 months with 1 hour turnout in a sand school every day and 23 hours only able to see other horses through the bars of her cage, sorry, stable, then I feel desperately sorry for her. I would never keep a horse in those conditions, unless of course it was for injury/disease management. I know some horses would cope but if you already have a horse with gastric ulcers, I fear you (and the horse) are heading for bigger trouble than you have now.
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
If your horse is going to spend the next 7 months with 1 hour turnout in a sand school every day and 23 hours only able to see other horses through the bars of her cage, sorry, stable, then I feel desperately sorry for her. I would never keep a horse in those conditions, unless of course it was for injury/disease management. I know some horses would cope but if you already have a horse with gastric ulcers, I fear you (and the horse) are heading for bigger trouble than you have now.
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Hi BoF, I know its personal opinion but I think you are being harsh to DD, she has already said that the horses will be turned out for an hour together and can see each other everyday, also it isn't confirmed if the horse has G Ulcers anyway.

If a horse has GU, then studies have shown that even having a mirror in the stable/lorry will improve their stress levels, so being able to see other horses must be even better. And I imagine the horse will not only have turnout but will have adlib hay and be ridden daily too.

I think its difficult for a horse owner to find the perfect yard. most do their best but maybe aren't suitable for every horse. I used to stable my horse at a top SJ yard and they only got an hour a day turnout (even in summer), and that was on their own - I have to admit that my horse jumped at his best during that time and won alot of classes. When I moved to where I am now, he had to live out until we had stables - which he hated and started misbehaving, jumping out - getting caught in the fence overnight etc so he could have easily developed GU by living out! :)

I think if you have a horse with GU, then treat and try to improve conditions as best you can, if you rescope the horse and they have gone then great, if not you may have to consider moving the horse to change his husbandry.

Cx
 
I personally would not bother with the scoping until a course of gastrogaurd had been administered. My old girl picked up within 3 days of having the gastrogaurd - (think its called gastro as i went gasp -oh at the price ) but it was well worth the money.

She did not have to have any special care afterwards - just good quality forage and small but often feeds.

Good luck - and hope everything goes well fo you
 
Thanks everyone for the comments... Unfortunately she was scoped and had grade 3 ulcers in the non-glandular area of her stomach. She is now on gastrogaurd for 6 weeks and then she will be rescoped at that time and maintained for a while.

I needed the scope for my insurance to pay... Otherwise I would have been quite happy to try her on the gastroguard for a month and see if there were any changes.

As much as I would love to have her turned out in a field every day of the year, in this area of the country there is no where that offers that due to the large rain fall and the fact we are on clay based ground. I have travelled over 30 minutes to a yard that offered this, but they soon closed the fields because of the condition of the ground. Therefore, I would rather have my horses somewhere they can at least go out and socialise in a sand pen (there are only a handful of yards that offer this... most have walkers which I didn't want) than to be unable to socialise at all.

Our fields are so bad you are up to your knees in mud and it is dangerous for both the handler and the horse too currently. I got my welly lost in it the other day, and I still haven't found it.

The vet thinks the ulcers have been there for quite some time due to the condition of them. I suspect she had these before I bought her as the behaviour has always been there and I have wondered whether this was the cause since March this year. I bought her in November last year and since then she has been on a very good management system.

She is a naturally hot and sharp horse due to her breeding, so I think this is going to be something we will always have to manage... She can live out at night through the summer months, so that will help her greatly too.
 
Hi DD

At least you have a diagnosis now, and hopefully the gastrogard will have it cleared up in no time.

Good luck, if you have any questions, feel free to pm me.



Gastrogard as a trial without scoping can be done and has been successful, some people have tried it that way as off the top of my head it £150 (at least) for a box of G and its a similar cost for a scope so some owners have just tried the G to save the scoping cost and then if the horse improves then it is likely that there was an ulcer. personally I would do what DD has done as my horse is insured and I would like to see it for myself.



Cxx
 
Just to give the OP a further avenue to research I have known a number of horses with severe ulcers and gastric related behaviour problems who have been completely turned round with the addition of Coligone to the regime.

This has been given in place of gastroguard. I can personally atest to the saving from slaughter of one mare who became so dangerous and unmanageable that the owner contemplated having her shot. After two days on Coligone she was a different animal.

http://www.hbradshaws.co.uk/faqs.pdf

Please give Katie a call and have a chat, its got to be worth a try.
 
spaniel said:
Just to give the OP a further avenue to research I have known a number of horses with severe ulcers and gastric related behaviour problems who have been completely turned round with the addition of Coligone to the regime.

This has been given in place of gastroguard. I can personally atest to the saving from slaughter of one mare who became so dangerous and unmanageable that the owner contemplated having her shot. After two days on Coligone she was a different animal.

http://www.hbradshaws.co.uk/faqs.pdf

Please give Katie a call and have a chat, its got to be worth a try.
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Thanks Spaniel... she has been on Coligone since about April / May time and it did seem to help, hence why I decided to scope too. She is still on the Coligone along with the Gastroguard as it creates that lovely lining to help her tummy. But I now have upped the dose and she gets 50ml in the morning and 50ml again in the evening.
 
Hi DD. I think you are right to have scoped. I did. She was scoped three times in all as I am insured too.

You may well find you end up with a very different horse after treatment. I certainly did.

The most important thing as I said before is keep the cereals down and the hay ration up :)
 
carolinefox1 said:
Gastrogard as a trial without scoping can be done and has been successful, some people have tried it that way as off the top of my head it £150 (at least) for a box of G and its a similar cost for a scope so some owners have just tried the G to save the scoping cost and then if the horse improves then it is likely that there was an ulcer. personally I would do what DD has done as my horse is insured and I would like to see it for myself.



Cxx
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Ah ok, here it's at least £500 for a course so that's why it sounded so strange to me :D
 
I found my TXxID fared far better on a diet that was free of any cereals (and TopSpec products just seemed to be entirely the wrong thing for him)

We also added linseed meal which acts as a mucilage, and we use MgO in each feed

Certainly behaviour has massively improved, as has his general level of grumpiness.

Now he seems to be able to tollerate briused oats - but absolutely not barley, maize, peas, wheatfeed etc.

We don;t feed Alafalfa either.
 
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