Horses with hind gut issues - whats your routine?

[Scarlett]

There seems to be a few horses being diagnosed with hind gut issues (ulcers/flora imbalance/inflammation/acidosis etc) recently. My vet certainly thinks that due to how horses are kept/fed it's actually a bigger issue than thought previously.

I have a gelding with inflammation of the hind gut. We don't know what initially caused it and further investigations are on going. I do know that some small changes to his feeding seem to have really helped, along with Equishure and Aloe Vera.

To those of you with horses who have hind gut issues how do you manage it? What do you feed? Are there particular triggers you have found that make the horse worse? Anything that made your horse much better?

My boy is barefoot and when his gut is bad it goes straight to his feet and he becomes incredibly footy, thankfully he is back to being rock crunching sound which the vets agree is a really good sign that his insides are improving.

He lives out 24/7, is hayed in the field, comes in every day for a couple of hours for his feed and more hay. His feed is Winergy Growth, linseed, Equishure, Aloequine Aloe Vera, and is b/f vits and minerals. My vet wants him to get alfalfa, which he loves, but makes his legs swell and he goes footy (though he copes with the alfalfa in the Winergy?). He also can't eat Copra or beet which limits our feeding options a bit.

Just interested to know how other people manage their horses....

 

[thatsmygirl]

I haven't got a horse with a hindgut issue but do feel it is all the feeds that the companies sell which are high cereal/starch/sugar so think people do need to be carefull what they feed.

Also management, restricting grass/stabled all night with little hay so I suppose what your vet thinks. Plus changing diet quite a bit which happens where I am, people seem to just buy what's on offer but don't think about the horses system.

Wish more people would link health to footyness instead of saying " oh he needs shoes" but that's a different thread as I could gabble on with that one

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I think haylage has done absolutely nothing to help the health of our horses. My farrier is certain that the increase in laminitis locally is due to the increase in the feeding of haylage.

 

[maccachic]

Ensiled feeds are more acidic than hays so could be this.
I think cooked / processed feeds are not helping.
Restricted movement is def a major be it yards, stable or small paddocks.
Feeding with little thought as to why. Ie a competition does not need hard feed just because it competes, you can feed a fat horse to get it energy, adding stuff because its a new in thing etc

 

[fuzzle]

My horse suffered from hind gut ulcers, she is out in the day at grass and stabled in the evening, she is a good doer!!!! fat and shiney! she has fibre diet only NO CEREALS!!! haylage which is more on the dry side. she has herbal treats, no mints has contains sugar!! keep clear of sugars and stay on fibre and a good supplement to prevent them coming back!! equine science works for her 12 months still ulcer free so very happy xxxxx

 

[Joandripple]

Sorry I do not wish to offend, but how does one diagnose "hind gut" discomfort? I had my boy scoped in April as I had a feeling that he had ulcers! And the cost of the scoping was the same price as one of the supplements I was comtemplating! So I thought better find out for sure rather,than wasting anymore money! He showed all classic signs, not off the leg, girthy, and wind sucking after short fed and treats, quite stressy by nature. When he was being scoped my vet only just had enough of the scope to check his tummy! That's the reason for my question.

It turned out that he had a lovely healthy tummy but had bilateral bone spavin hence the poor way of going. I have changed his diet to more fibre and no cereals anyway and have now included Naf 5* magic to his diet. It has pro and pre biotics in it too which is good. He is now much happier and vey rarely windsucks now.