Gastroscopy for Ulcers

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Bug

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I have been offered a free of charge gastroscopy for my horse by my equine hospital, I guess so they can do more research about ulcers, as I have a horse who is at medium to high risk.
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He is a windsucker and a bit underweight but he is willing to work and have had no loss of performance (only bought him in March) and he is a cuddly, kind character, so there are no real symptoms.

Is the gastroscopy painful for them and do you think that I should go for it or that they are just using him as an experiment?
FYI - I have to pay for the sedation and the gastrogard should he require it.
Obviously if he has ulcers I would want to know and treat it, but wouldn't wan to put him through unecessary pain or stress.
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Any thoughts welcomed
 
I'd do it.
The sedation cost will be minimal. The actual scoping won't be particularly stressful but you will have to starve your horse prior.

Let's hope he's clear though as gastroguard costs a bomb!!!
 
Do it. But make sure you are insured up to the hilt first on the off chance he should require gastrogard - you'll spend thousands on it (and I am not joking!). The sedation will be a minimal cost, I think mine cost about £30 each time, but check with the horsepital first.

It is neither stressful nor painful but they do need to be starved for 12 hours first.

Symptoms can be anything from windsucking and being underweight to a violent reaction to being ridden and anything in between. Some horses so no clinical symptoms (and therefore arguably are not affected by the ulcers, but that is a whole other debate!).

My horse for example started chipping in strides in combination fences and progressed to refusing to SJ even though he was fine round Novice BE XC tracks. It affects them in different ways. He is now more willing to work over his back and lengthen to a fence etc since being treated.
 
Thanks for your advice, sounding like I should go for it.

Did all the ulcers go once the Gastroguard had been given?
 
My horse had a month on gastrogard (at a cost of over £200/week), which cleared up the splash ulcers. However he also had deep seated ones at the base of the stomach which the gastrogard did not touch, so he had a month on antibiotics and gastrogard. That did the trick. We are nine months in now and he has cost me nearly 4K in treatment (thank god for insurance) - most of that is gastrogard.
 
Defo do it, its not as stressful as you'd think. I treated mine with a herbal remedy which the vet didn't necessarily approve of but it worked and it was a lot cheaper than GG.
 
What is the deal with riding them once they are on the treatment - do they need to have complete rest or can you carry on riding as normal?
 
I had to keep riding mine and competing him as rest will cure ulcers. There was no change to what I did with him except feeding him hugely expensive medication every day!
 
Horses eh?! Why do we do it?

Think I will get onto my insurance now and check what the deal is and then give the horspital a call in the morning...

Thanks so much for all your info, it has been extremely helpful
 
I had a eventer with ulcers - had him scoped cos he cribbed and found the ulcers. GG worked brilliantly - he only cribbed after meals for a short time instead of 24/7. (he was cribbing to reduce the pain of the ulcers) He got ulcers from being kept in 23/24 and fed high levels of concentrate (was adv eventer) while suffering from claustrophobia - he hated being stabled.

After treatment, he put on weight too and was generally a more settled horse.

I think it was really worth it - and I would probably have done it even if he hadn't been insured! Best of luck with it
 
My horse is going to be scoped. Im just having a total breakdown at the price of GastroGaurd, where all 99% he has Ulcers. He hasnt shown any ridden symptons & doesnt Have any vices.
But he has always had a very sensitive Tum & since May he has come down with Colic 4 times ( so twice in May & every month since it's a nightmare & is resulting in Vet visits he's tat un-well with it), everytime it's been after he's been worked.
He's fine if i ride in the morning.
 
I had to keep riding mine and competing him as rest will cure ulcers. There was no change to what I did with him except feeding him hugely expensive medication every day!

Sadly rest doesn't cure them it just lowers the stress levels & reduces the symptoms, they do have to be treated to be cured.
 
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