I'm panicking about scoping

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RHGR

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Hello, me again! So my welshie is booked in to be scoped on Tuesday morning so the plan is to drop him off at the clinic tomorrow afternoon to be starved overnight. I chose to drop him off as our stables don't feel particularly solid and he's a stressy guy. When I got him end of last year I couldn't even get him in a stable, it took about 4 months to get him even slightly relaxed in a stable. I feared if I starved him at home (no bedding either as he'd try to eat it) he would no longer want to go back in his stable as he'd associate it with something negative. Also anyone moving horses in and out of the stable block in the morning would send him batty (even now if he's in the stable with hay and munching happily, as soon as horses come in and out of the building he gets incredibly unsettled and starts running around and screaming for 10 minutes). I made the decision to take him to the clinic to scope and starve and got him booked in, but last night when I was lying in bed I started to overthink everything and got myself properly worked up to the point of tears. I'm terrified something is going to go wrong, I'm scared he's going to stress himself to the point of colic, or try jump over the satbel door or something. Part of the reason I wanted to take him there was because they could possibly mildly sedate if he's stressing but I don't know if that's a good idea or likely to cause colic due to slowing his gut down? It's just a nightmare, I don't know what to do and I'm scared whatever I do will turn out badly. I had every ounce of bad luck with my last mare (cobs don't break their pelvis, but she did. Gastroguard cures ulcers, unless they're allergic like she was) and I'm paralysed with the fear that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. I don't want him to end up hurt when I'm trying to help him get better. Not up for treating without scoping as he doesn't have any of the standard obvious signs and it will be very hard to tell if it's working. If I scope I know if it's ulcers or not and if it's not can look elsewhere.
 
my mare is a stresshead, will throw a royal tantrum if i feed the other one first etc etc - she’s been scoped twice and honestly did not care! i starved her at home due to work commitments meaning i didn’t have time to drop her off, and i was really worried about it, but she was honestly fine for the whole thing - overnight, travelling, once we arrived.

try not to worry about it! he’s in the best possible place should he upset himself, and in very good experienced hands - probably worth letting them know what he’s like though, so they can minimise the stress to him.
 
dottylottie said:
he’s in the best possible place should he upset himself, and in very good experienced hands - probably worth letting them know what he’s like though, so they can minimise the stress to him.
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Seconding this.

You've thought it through and you've made the smart choice, he will be in the best place for him to be. Anxiety brain is just making you second guess, which it does to everybody, but when your logical brain was in charge it made the right decision!!
 
Don’t worry, I left my mare at the clinic overnight after she’d been in for the day for a lameness workup and she was chill as anything when I picked her up after the scope.

They scoped her very early doors (7.30am?) so she was only without food for the night and she barely noticed.

Well worth getting a scope done even it shows up clear, as it did with my mare.

Good luck.
 
will also add, as you’ve mentioned not wanting to undo the positive association with the stable - same stressy mare was iffy travelling, at one point she was only travelling to go to and from the vets and still happily getting on the box! they’re more forgiving and resilient than we give them credit for!
 
Thank you! Anxiety is a regular issue I have in day to day life (didn't use to be in relation to horses but my last mare has given me ptsd I fear 😭🤣) and I need to remember that quite often it does take control and starts steering me in the wrong direction. Usually I make a decision confidently (because I am fairly intelligent) and then as the time comes closer the doubts creep in and I start to panic and I change my mind. Then probably 4 out of 5 times my original decision was the best idea and I've actually just screwed myself out of something due to my anxiety! It's a nightmare! It's become so much worse in the last year or two, starting to think I may be perimenopausal tbh!!
 
dottylottie said:
will also add, as you’ve mentioned not wanting to undo the positive association with the stable - same stressy mare was iffy travelling, at one point she was only travelling to go to and from the vets and still happily getting on the box! they’re more forgiving and resilient than we give them credit for!
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He's such a sweet guy and really does try, just don't want to add to his trauma and make something else scary for him as he's not had an easy time of it! Horsebox will be a nice place for him to be hopefully, mix of hay and haylage in a large holed net so he gets to munch away easily. He's done very little travelling except from home to home 5 times in the year before I got him. Part of me does worry he'll think I'm getting rid of him too, but hopefully the fact I'll be back the next day with another tasty haynet will keep him on side!
 
Mine's been scoped twice, he had pyloric ulcers which needed a different treatment to squamous ulcers so I was glad I'd had him scoped rather than just treating. I was a bit concerned about it as I starved mine at home and didn't know if he would be difficult to load and travel to the vet when he was so hungry but he was absolutely fine. The treatment worked and he was clear I think 5 or 6 weeks later. Mine also didn't have obvious signs of ulcers but he'd developed behavioural issues so I knew something was wrong.

Good luck, if you're anxious then it's a good decision to travel him the day before when there's more time available.
 
nutjob said:
Mine's been scoped twice, he had pyloric ulcers which needed a different treatment to squamous ulcers so I was glad I'd had him scoped rather than just treating. I was a bit concerned about it as I starved mine at home and didn't know if he would be difficult to load and travel to the vet when he was so hungry but he was absolutely fine. The treatment worked and he was clear I think 5 or 6 weeks later. Mine also didn't have obvious signs of ulcers but he'd developed behavioural issues so I knew something was wrong.

Good luck, if you're anxious then it's a good decision to travel him the day before when there's more time available.
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Thank you. His symptoms are basically just not going forward in the school. Still hacks totally fine, not girthy, but the way he shuts down in the school suggests it's not behavioural because he's such a trier normally. When he arrived at the yard I bought him through he starved himself for two weeks as he was so stressed and unsettled. Total stress head so that's why we're thinking ulcers. No use just treating as have had one with ulcers before and know there's numerous different types and ways of tackling them and didn't want to just be throwing money at stuff with no real knowledge of what we're fighting! Thank you for sharing your experience x
 
Honestly you are over thinking, recent report identified horses eat 80% of forage intake during daytime and only 20% overnight. Production of stomach acid reduces overnight as the horse isn’t/doesn’t need to eat as it’s sleeping/dozing etc. Starving overnight honestly isn’t a problem I had a mare that was starved for 7 days whilst being scoped. It’s funny but horses don’t anticipate situations…for the past year every time my mare leaves the yard in a horse box she has gone to the vets and been prodded, poked, injected, put on drips…and yet she willingly gets on the box each time. Please try not to worry, they honestly cope better than we do in many situations.
 
You have made the right call dropping him off, much easier to deal with the starving if you are not seeing it! I did this with mine when he had his scope and then again after the treatment to check they had gone. He actually had to starve a while longer because they had emergencies come in so he was starved longer than they originally said (wasn’t scoped till lunchtime 😩) but both times he was absolutely fine!

It’s honestly much easier for the vets to manage it!
 
Bobthecob15 said:
You have made the right call dropping him off, much easier to deal with the starving if you are not seeing it! I did this with mine when he had his scope and then again after the treatment to check they had gone. He actually had to starve a while longer because they had emergencies come in so he was starved longer than they originally said (wasn’t scoped till lunchtime 😩) but both times he was absolutely fine!

It’s honestly much easier for the vets to manage it!
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Thank you! Realistically I know the vets is the best place for him in every way, think it just feels scarier because it's not 5 minutes down the road if things do go wrong! But equally if things went wrong at home I wouldn't want to be driving an injured or colicing horse to the horsepital as that's far more stressful! Thank you everyone for your support, feeling a lot better about it today! x
 
That's us just back from dropping him off. He loaded and travelled like a star, he struggled with balance the first half of the journey but he's not done much travelling and was doing much better and tucking into his haylage after a little while! Walked off the box no bother, a little sweaty and with his eyes on stalks but behaved very well as I took him into the stable. He has a horse across from him for the night so fingers crossed he'll be a happy chap and we'll get some answers tomorrow morning 🤞
 
RHGR said:
That's us just back from dropping him off. He loaded and travelled like a star, he struggled with balance the first half of the journey but he's not done much travelling and was doing much better and tucking into his haylage after a little while! Walked off the box no bother, a little sweaty and with his eyes on stalks but behaved very well as I took him into the stable. He has a horse across from him for the night so fingers crossed he'll be a happy chap and we'll get some answers tomorrow morning 🤞
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Let us know how he gets on! X
 
RHGR said:
Will do! I'm very interested to see what the results are, think I'd prefer if there was ulcers as at least it's an answer, god knows where else we should look if it's not 🙈
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It was hind gut ulcers in mine , but without the clear scope for foregut ulcers first which ruled those out we’d have been pissing in the wind .

Hind gut ulcers can only be definitively identified at PM, but they can be diagnosed on symptoms and exclusion of other issues.

My mare was then greatly helped by the Equibiome test (which showed that her hind gut biome was way out) and following their post test supplementation protocol. This was suggested by both of my vets who were the ones to suggest it. She had been at the point of pts, but this turned her completely around.

Don’t believe the uninformed nonsense put out by a certain vet with a big FB following who insists that hind gut ulcers don’t exist, or if they do, they don’t cause issues. My vet outranks her in qualifications and experience by a country mile and has observed them many times on PM at a major university horsepital.

Anyhoo, that’s running ahead, fingers crossed for tomorrow’s scope.
 
Vets have just called, the wee man has some ulcers! Grade 2 squamous. Small area of reddening in the glandular area too, not bad but worth noting. He's getting his first omeprazole injection on site and then my vets will continue with that. Sucralfate to go in his feed too. They said he's been great, was settled overnight and has been very well behaved for them. Sure he'll be wolfing down his mash like he's not seen food in a week!
 
Does anyone have any tips on feeding powder sucralfate? Can it be mixed into a mash? Or should it just be sprinkled on chaff? He wouldn't eat it tonight just sprinkled on his chaff. He also is in a total huff with me and won't speak to me at all which is slightly heartbreaking even if it is understandable
 
Mine was getting soaked grass nuts anyway so I just mixed it in to this. He get about 1kg so it's quite a big feed when it's soaked.
 
With any powder I would add it to some sort of mash and mix it mega well x

One mash that I've found every horse/pony eats that has been given it is good old fashioned grass nuts - they're naturally sweet and with the lack of grazing due to the hot summer heat waves, I'd say give them a go. They also swell up quite nicely, can be fed sloppy to aid hydration and a bag lasts ages x
 
I'm trying to remember which drug was sucralfate, (mine was on gastro guard, sucralfate and misoprostol), I'm pretty sure I mixed it with apple juice and syringed it in, my poor girl has had so much syringed medication I can now administer it loose in the field! (Helps as the misoprostol was molasses flavour!)
 
RHGR said:
Does anyone have any tips on feeding powder sucralfate? Can it be mixed into a mash? Or should it just be sprinkled on chaff? He wouldn't eat it tonight just sprinkled on his chaff. He also is in a total huff with me and won't speak to me at all which is slightly heartbreaking even if it is understandable
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I am glad you have some answers, I did think he looked ulcery on your previous post. I ended up syringing the sucralfate along with some water into my mare as she wouldn't eat it in her feed. At least I knew she was getting most of it, even if I did end up wearing some of it some days. Just get his head up as high as you can when you do it. Good luck!
 
Mix it with a little soaked Saracen re-leve mix, I've never met any horse that doesn't love that stuff! And it's ulcer-friendly
 
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