Hindgut?

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Maz55

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Hi there, I’m looking for opinions on my mare as I am wondering if she might have hindgut ulcers or acidosis- or am I clutching at straws?
Have had her three years and she is a nervous spooky very sharp horse. Lacks confidence on her own. Very unpredictable. One day can be calm and quiet but the next like riding a different horse. Changing to pure feeds seemed to take the edge off a bit and she is no longer picky with her food.
I’ve tried every calmer with no effect and someone suggested ulcers to me (she is a good doer, shiny coat so not typical - vet laughed at me when I mentioned scoping) so I tried her on Ron Fields ulcer30explus. For two weeks I had a totally different horse - consistently calm and focused to ride, but the sharp horse is back. She has ad-lib hay. I’ve tried upping dose but not had the same effect it did. To be fair she is much calmer in herself (eg in stable on own) but still struggling with ridden work. So now I’m wondering hindgut? She is reluctant to engage right hind (but is crooked which I’m working on with instructor so could just be a training issue/weakness). She’s been very grumpy changintg her rugs this winter and less tolerant around other horses and she does occasionally chew on her metal rug rail or top of door. She doesn’t appear to be cribbing as such.
I tested the ph of her poo today and it was 6.45 so slightly acidic. So do I try equishure? My concern is I’ve tried sodium bicarbonate and oil but it gave her the squirts and made her gassy (poo is normally fine) but she gets more gassy when anxious! She does also headshake when uptight when ridden. Thoughts please? Am I just clutching at straws and just have a stressy horse or do you think my hunch could be right?
 
I'd change vets and have her scoped if you think she has ulcers. Lots of well looking shiny horses have horrific ulcers. If she does have them then I'd treat them and treat for hindgut as well. Its not expensive.
 
Mine was fat when I insisted on a scope. She had grade 2 and an inflamed stomach. I do find we get flare ups with stress or when something else is wrong so probably worth having the reluctance yours shows with the right hind checked out too.

If the supplement is helping can you not keep her on it?
 
Thanks for replies. Question really to see if anyone else would think same as I’m starting to think maybe I’m paranoid!!! The supplement is definitely doing something but not the improvement I hoped for hence wondered whether there is something else I can try before resorting to vet route - had my fill of them this year!!
 
Yep, ask for a scope. Mine is a chunky good doer and everyone thought I was bonkers when I said I suspected ulcers. Lo and behold, grade 2 and 3 squamous and glandular, with probable hind gut too. We are still trying to sort them out, and people are still saying they wouldn't guess as she is 'not the type'!
 
Equishure is designed for hingut, Maz55. That's what I tried for my mare, but she wouldn't eat it in anywhere near the recommended dose, so it didn't do anything. My mare walks oddly (always has done), so I think there is an underlying issue (she wasn't nearly so nervy as a companion). I'm in the process of buying a new horse, so intend to fully retire her when that horse is settled in and monitor from there. She's best on restricted grazing (appears to have allergies to certain grasses) and on the most basic feed (best combo I had was Slim Chaff with brewer's yeast and linseed, but SC was discontinued and have been trying to find a good one since). My mare struggles with Timothy, so I avoid that and have to be careful with meadow haylage/hay, as sometimes they're Timothy rich. Oh and she is worse on beet based feed, too, presumably because of the higher fibre resulting in a microbe rave of sorts in her colon!!!
 
Thank you. I’m umming and aahing about equishure as my girl is incredibly fussy! Unfortunately my mare refuses to eat anything other than meadow hay and is sensitive to haylage. good luck with your mare and new horse!
 
Equishure is encapsulated so there isn't liquid oil which can upset some horses. It doesn't seem to smell or have any particular taste and my mare who won't touch bicarb will happily eat it.

Succeed is oat based and designed for the hind gut too. It did seem to help my horse but I found it really expensive and now use oat oil and l-glutamine powder (which is the active ingredient)
 
My mare went through a stage of being very tense, explosive under saddle and appeared off on her right hind in walk under saddle only. Had her fully xrayed and scanned and they couldn’t find anything at all. She was sound but reluctant to engage her hind. Also did not want to go forwards under saddle. Turned out she had ulcers. She’s currently being treated and 9/10 been a different horse since. She was always a good weight and has a shiny coat so definitely don’t rule it out.
 
my horse gets equishure and has no problems eating it. Doesn't seem to notice and if I stop it makes a lot of difference.
 
Maz55 said:
Hi there, I’m looking for opinions on my mare as I am wondering if she might have hindgut ulcers or acidosis- or am I clutching at straws?
Have had her three years and she is a nervous spooky very sharp horse. Lacks confidence on her own. Very unpredictable. One day can be calm and quiet but the next like riding a different horse. Changing to pure feeds seemed to take the edge off a bit and she is no longer picky with her food.
I’ve tried every calmer with no effect and someone suggested ulcers to me (she is a good doer, shiny coat so not typical - vet laughed at me when I mentioned scoping) so I tried her on Ron Fields ulcer30explus. For two weeks I had a totally different horse - consistently calm and focused to ride, but the sharp horse is back. She has ad-lib hay. I’ve tried upping dose but not had the same effect it did. To be fair she is much calmer in herself (eg in stable on own) but still struggling with ridden work. So now I’m wondering hindgut? She is reluctant to engage right hind (but is crooked which I’m working on with instructor so could just be a training issue/weakness). She’s been very grumpy changintg her rugs this winter and less tolerant around other horses and she does occasionally chew on her metal rug rail or top of door. She doesn’t appear to be cribbing as such.
I tested the ph of her poo today and it was 6.45 so slightly acidic. So do I try equishure? My concern is I’ve tried sodium bicarbonate and oil but it gave her the squirts and made her gassy (poo is normally fine) but she gets more gassy when anxious! She does also headshake when uptight when ridden. Thoughts please? Am I just clutching at straws and just have a stressy horse or do you think my hunch could be right?
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Our boy wasn't your typical girthy ulcer candidate either but did not engage on right hind, wood chewed, head shaked, he was sharp & eventually bronked - turned out to be glandular ulcers - he also showed a lot of facial tension don't know if you've read about this as the new diagnostic aid but well worth googling - good luck I wouldn't hesitate in scoping if I was you.
 
The vets use a combination of sulfracrate and omeprazole to treat hindgut ulcers. Scoping can show inflammation at the bottom of the stomach which is thought to be a sign of hind gut ulcers. There's also the succeed test to see if there's blood in the droppings which is another sign. Then there's lots of supplements on the market all aimed to help so could be worth trying out. Unfortunately what works for once doesn't necessarily work for others so it is a bit trial and error. A lot of vets seem to be advertising discounted scoping days so it might be worth looking out for one of those? The scoping isn't the expensive part, unfortunately that's the omeprazole although I think that plays a lesser part with hindgut ones so you might not need to use as much.

Also just to say its not necessarily a miracle cure for behaviour issues, having read on here and other ulcer groups that it was I though it would be the same for my horse. But two separate vets really said it was unlikely to affect it as from their point of view, if ulcers caused major behaviours issues most race horses wouldn't be running. They were right, we are improving as I now know we need to work through it, but fixing the ulcers really didn't change the ridden behaviour. But she is much happier to be groomed which is was the indicator that made me get her checked.
 
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