Gastric Ulcers

[msjumper]

Hi i was just wondering if there are any readers with ulcer knowledge. My 16.2 holstein x tb showjumper was scoped 3 weeks ago and it showed he had grade 2 -4 stomach ulcers near outflow and inflow areas he also had inflamation and swelling in his stomach. He has been on gastrgard for 3 weeks now and there is a big improvement hes alot happier even to be groomed and loads better being ridden almost back to his self his appitite is great. He is still funny in canter sometimes so what i have been doing is just doing a few strides of good canter and just doing more walk and trott and leaving it at that as i didnt want him to get grumpy and funny. I dont know if it is still causing him trouble or if he is thinking that its going to hurt him. Hes on one tube of gastro a day and i have changed him to a high fibre diet low cal chaff,high fibre cubes, blus mash, i also give him brewers yeast and corn oil, and i give him a small chaff feed 30 mins before i ride. Hes turned out on a night and in in the day and he has lots and lots of hay so ii know he wont run out. Im thinking he will most probably need alot more treatment on the gasto and i am just being patient and building things up slowly. My friend had a horse who was on gastro for 4 months, so i am prepared that it could take a while. I was just wondering if any other readers could share there experiences and knowledge of ulcers with me. I just thinking the canter is going to be the last one to resolve . Many thanks

 

[tinaduffyjames]

Hi, my TB was diagnosed with grade 3 ulcers in Nov and after many courses of Gastrogard and many scopes, I now have them under control.
Keep him as stress free as possible, look to his field companions, his stable, his workload - everything . Then his diet. My horses management didnt conform to what is normally associated with ulcers so you really have to get picky.
Feed as natural as possible. I fed no mixes but he still had them.
He is now fed as much hay as he will eat, in the field and in the stable. Modern grasses grown for horse pasture are too high in fructans.
He has molassed free sugarbeet, molassed free alfalfa (high in calcium , good for ulcers) and corn oil (sold in any supermarket). He also has Equine Americas Ulcergard twice daily and seaweed supplement. He is fed all that twice daily although quantites of beet and alfalfa have been reduced now its summer.
Then if he has got worked up or if he has done fast work I give him 50ml of liquid Coligone to soothe his upper tract which isnt protected.
This is working for me as his last scope showed minimal ulceration and the vet was really pleased .
Hope you get sorted and that this helps.

 

[msjumper]

Hi tina thank you for your reply. can i feed coligone while he is on gastrogard or do would i have to wait untill he is off of it and also ulcergard? he has hifi light,mash and badminton high fibre cubes, corn oil and he does have seaweed and brewers yeast

 

[tinaduffyjames]

Hi, Gastrogard is so effective I really wouldnt give Coligone whilst your horse is still on it. Ulcergard (equine america) is fine to give alongside the Gastrogard and indeed I personally would start it asap so it is in his system before he comes off the Gastrogard.
Sulphur irritates ulcers and so make sure you are not feeding Garlic whilst he has them. I got in touch with some of the racehorse rehabilitation places and asked their advise as my vet was drawing a blank as to why my horse had them. My horse doesnt compete, isnt in fast work, wasnt fed any concentrates, is in a field with only 1 other horse and isnt bullied, has daily turnout etc etc etc. Everything opposite to what would normally be a cause. Some of the experts I spoke to said the ulcers could easily have been a byproduct of his racing days and that something could have caused them to flare up again, though my vet disagreed here and said they wouldnt have lay dormant and that he'd only just got them. I tend to disagree with the vet there though i'm sure some one could argue the case on here.
A horse produces stomach acid constantly and the best way it was explained to me is that you have to buffer the acid to help stop it splashing up onto the unprotected part of the stomach.
Short grass is not as good as long for eg, long strands of hay are even better at creating a 'matting' over the acid. Bare in mind though that the stomach can digest its contents in 15 minutes, so when going on long hacks etc the stomach will be empty very quickly and therfore acid will be sloshing around freely.
I was told to feed hay freely which i now do, make sure the horse has plenty of hay before riding. Several of the experts used Ulcergard and one reccomended giving Aloe Vera, though i havent tried it myself. Cut out sugars (molasses, carrots etc) and interestingly I was told to stop feeding 'Fast Fibre'. Now fibre is the good for the gut but the one chap said he found that in some horses 'fast fibre' and the like was a too intense fibre for some horses too handle and that alfalfa and sugarbeet with plenty of hay , was a much more natural and gentle way to make sure he was getting fibre diet.
If going on a long hack give your horse a chance to graze briefly half way round if you can, just so he had something in his stomach to soak up the acid. If he is stressed he will produce more acid so try and keep him as stress free as poss.
You can get coligone in powder form to feed as a supplement, but I went with what was used by others ie the ulcergard and bought the liquid Coligone to use at times of stress and before and after being ridden. I just administer it via a large syringe straight down the throat, like a wormer. He is so used to it now and stands really good. This will coat the upper stomach and soothe.
I could go on forever about gastric ulcers lol sorry. I tend to waffle as you can tell! Gastrogard is so expensive though and at the moment there is nothing else available so it is a case of using the gastrogard to get the ulcers to a manageble level and then maintaining them to prevent them getting worse.
Im sure i will think of loads more to say on the subject but that will do for this post lol.
Let me know how your horse gets on, as its trial and error and im very interested to know if things work etc.

 

[tinaduffyjames]

just a quick afterthought, maybe swap your hifi to dengie hi fi molasses free. also i would cut out the fibre pellets , just in case its too rich for his gut to cope with. If your horse needs more oomph, they also do alfalfa molasses free. The hi fi has alfalfa in though so that will help, you need to cut the molasses though which im sure is in the 'lite' version. The molasses free range is fairly recent. dengie also do alfalfa pellets which dont have any molasses.
If weight is an issue though I would go for the hi fi molasses free and cut the fibre pellets, increase hay/hi fi to maintain weight and switch to the pure alfalfa if you require more energy.