Gastric Ulcers - how to control them?

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coco4nikki

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I have had a 17hh, 6 yo Hanoverian gelding for 5 months He was in a few yards before coming to me. My place is calm and everything normally settles, he didn't! He is out all day and fed on a high fibre diet. I had him scoped and he had grade 3 ulcers. He went on a course of Gastroguard which seemed to do the trick, but he still had his moments. He was rescoped and they were nearly healed, so continued with Gastroguard which is now finished. He is still grumpy, especially when being tacked up and girthed and doesnt like having rugs on. The funny thing is - he has always looked in fabulous condition, never been off his food and never had colic. Can anyone recommend an economical suggestion as to what I can give him to keep the ulcers away. I really do want to get on this horse and ride it without worrying about being bucked off!!
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Are you sure it's the risidual of the ulcers that are making him grumpy? My horse doesn't like being tacked up or rugged, but doesn't have ulcers. He's generally just a bit grumpy.....
 
If your gelding was imported he may prefer not to be turned out so much. Rich grass can aggravate ulcers; and the continental-raised horses aren't accustomed to turnout and don't always appreciate our British way of doing things.

If it is ulcers you will find loads of old threads in the archive on this subject however the basic idea is: High oil and fibre diet. Cut out sugar and starch. Alfalfa is a natural buffer (ie lines the stomach) so feed lots of low or non-molassed alfalfa. The mix Saracen Re-leve is recommended by my vet routinely for horses with ulcers, although really targetted at tying-up.

There are (relatively) cheap supplements eg Slippery Elm, or U-Gard, the Equine America one is good.

However as Amymay says, could it be something else - sore back, even strained supraspinous ligament spring to mind; or is he just grumpy. Is it worth asking old owners about his routine with them and whether he was grumpy then?
 
He is generally a very sweet horse with no malice - he is telling me that it hurts. I also had a horse on loan that was grumpy with saddling and rugging and his problem was arthritic changes in his back, this was after the back experts had said he was OK!!
 
Interesting poiint - he was bred in this country and is much happier out in the field, he gets a bit stressed in the stable. I have looked at the old threads and found some interesting theories, just wondered if there had been any recent breakthroughs! I think your suggestions are in line with my research, just got to get the right supplement. He has had all his back checked and treated, he was tight but vet thought that was due to him holding himself with the pain of the ulcers. The owner said how sweet the horse was. I am also looking at Coligon and also Starting gate granules.
 
If the horse is in pain, it will reflect in the gut. I would recommend Coligone very highly, five of mine are on it and I wouldnt take them off it now. A maintenance dose works out (with mine) at about 55p per day. Coligone immediately lines the gut and neutralises any acidosis. It has turned nasty/depressed horses into pussy cats on the yard, I also use it on recovering laminitics and any horse I think has a pain issue.

Do let us know how you get on.
 
Thanks for the recommendation. I ordered some last week and waiting for it to arrive, hoping it will be a miracle cure. It does amaze me though that vets just put a horse on Gastroguard at enormous expense and then when they come off it, they expect all ulcers to be gone and never come back -which of course in some cases they do. As I said at the beginning my horse has a very good routine plenty of roughage out in the day and yet the ulcers still came back!!
 
Have you had him rescoped since the GG finished? My horse had ulcers which needed antibiotic treatment to heal.

What kind of advice have you had on future management? For example my horse is now fed alfalfa chaff 30mins before exercise, and pre and pro biotics have been shown to help too. There is no such thing as a miracle cure!
 
Yes I have had him rescoped after the course of Gastroguard and antibiotics and they were nearly all gone, he then went on to reduced dose and when that was finished I had no real advice from the vet regarding keeping the ulcers away and they are back again, well the symptoms are, he is being rescoped this Friday. After the antibiotics I asked vet to prescribe pro/prebiotic, which he has been on. I have also started giving him oil. He has plenty of chaff as well. What antibiotics were you given, mine had Trimadiazine, and did they work on your horse?
 
Mine had doxycycline and yes, they worked. Mine has always been miserable as sin in the stable and to tack up/rug up etc - it's just his temperament. However the real change has been under saddle - he never showed any major symptoms, just started chipping in when SJing and gradually got worse until he would not SJ at all. Now he is fixed, he is still as miserable and grumpy as ever, but his jump is amazing - I had not realised how 'flat' it was last year. He is also more willing to engage on the flat properly.

Mine was always fed a fibre diet and had plenty of turnout - 24/7 in summer and every day in winter, he still got them. I have altered his regime as per vets advice and now he is fed lots of alfalfa chaff (I use mollichaff high fibre as it has no mollasses and contains straw so is great for providing long fibre to help prevent splash ulcers - mine had grade 4 splash and grade 4 duodenal ulcers), and is never exercised without being given chaff 30mins before hand to protect against splash ulcers. There is little research to show how long over the counter antacids like Coligone/Ulcergard etc last in the stomach, but the research on neighlox shows that about 6hrs seems to be the max, so feeding it 2 or preferably 3 times a day would be the ideal. I can't feed more than twice a day so I am choosing not to feed any supplements like that as I am not sure how much more help they will be. I do plan to get my horse re-scoped as soon as I can get hold of the vet though!
 
How much chaff do you feed before exercise & does it have to be alfalfa chaff or will any sort do? Needless to say I'm another poor person trying to prevent a recurrance!
 
Nope, doesn't have to be alfalfa chaff - the vet told me chopped up hay would be ok as it's the long fibres from the stalks you want them to have, not the leafy grass we generally keep them on these days. I, however, am too lazy and would rather thrown money at the problem than chop up hay, plus alfalfa is alkaline so helps lower the pH of the stomach - given that a bag of Mollichaff lasts me a month and costs about £7 I can live with buying it!

I just feed a double handful before exercise, so am the crazy person in the lorry park feeding my horse chaff before each phase out eventing. If he declines to eat it I damp with apple juice to make it more palatable - I've found the Mollichaff is v dry so needs to be damped before he'll eat it.
 
Thanks SpottedCat. I only asked because I'm not sure the alfalfa isn't making his itchiness worse if I feed much of it so if I can I'd rather feed something else. Would the Safe & sound I normally feed be ok? the website says it's a "blend of low calorie short chop fibre and a unique ‘nutri-nut’ which helps to maximise chewing and eating time which is essential for promoting healthy digestion as well being ideal for slowing down greedy feeders and providing occupational therapy". Otherwise I'll go & buy some Applechaff or Showshine chaff which are both chopped straw with either a low sugar coating or a soya oil coating.

Whatever I get I'm sure he'll be quite happy to get a double handful of it before work!
 
My vet has said that Trimadiazine would work as well as Doxicycline, so I have to take his word on that. To me though I still can't understand why the ulcers still come back after the bacteria has been treated. You say that the doxcycline worked on your boy, but he has still got to have chaff to prevent the splash, what happens if your horse is stressed at competition and won't eat? I feed mine a haynet before I do anything with him, which I assume is as good as chaff?
 
QR: Nari - I am sure either would be fine for the purpose you want - the alfalfa is only good coz it lowers the stomach pH too - you can feed other things for this.

Coco4nikki - my vet said once you treat the bacteria they rarely return but I know peachesandcream on here has had similar problems with bacterial ulcers. I have never had the problem of my horse being too stressed to eat - he eats anywhere and everywhere! However sometimes he is too busy watching the world so then I damp the chaff with apple juice which works well. A haynet is just fine, my vet said if I wanted to I could make chaff out of hay for this purpose. I only feed chaff because then I know he's had something 30mins before exercise.
 
Dear All Many thanks for all your help and comments, he has been rescoped and the ulcers all but gone now! So will keep on with all preventative measures and keep my fingers crossed we don't have a recurrance. He is still a bit erratic and touchy when tacking up sometimes, so have put him on a course of bute to see if that helps, if yes, then it is off for a bone scan ..aargh! I will get to ride this horse properly - eventually!!
 
I agree with what you say about the continental horses not being used to turn out. Apart from the social side of finding it difficult to socialise with other horses which I have found with all some of my imports to some extent or other, I am also experiencing a nightmare with recurrent colic from my imported WB who was unaccustomed to ad lib forage and in particular turn out. He is only able to be maintained colic free on a maximum of 6 hours per day turnout and has four hours as the norm.

In response to the original poster saying her horse is still grumpy I would say that a lot of her horses reaction may be learned behaviour, for example if something used to hurt the horse, then the horse has every expectation that it will continue to hurt.
 
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