Mare being scoped for ulcers - can any1 talk me through what's going 2 happen please?

We had a scoping clinic at a yard i was on and a friend got her boy done.
He was fasted from the previous evening
Sedated prior to the procedure
The scope, about the circumference of a hose is passed up the horses nose through into the oesopehogus and down into the stomach, he never batted an eye at it
The person doing the scoping can then maneuver the camera around to look at the stomach from all angles and take still pictures which are shown on a screen that was the size of. Laptop.
They can enlarge the picture and stills to see very clearly any damage
The scope is then removed very easily and the horse surfaced up quickly with no ill effects
 
As Marydoll has said. Some horses do cough when the vet is trying to get them to swallow the scope and some resent the scope first going up there nose, which is no surprise really. The sedation will help keep the horse relaxed.

Generally, horses have there water withheld 4 hours before the scope so you don't have to go 'swimming' in the stomach contents if the horse has a drink just before it is due to be scoped.

The best thing i can suggest is to not get nervous as this will upset your horse and wont help the situation, they all cope with it fine! Also be careful that you don't start to feel faint, the last thing the vet needs is to try and pick you up from the ground! :D

I hope that it is good news for you both tomorrow. :)
 
Thank you Dottie! I won't faint don't worry! I will do my best to stay calm :)

I have been involved with race horses being scoped (for wind problems) but it's just so different when it's your own horse!

She is only a baby (well, ish!) and can be very nervous so I'm probably more worried about the bit leading up to the sedation!!

She's booked in for 2 weeks today so I've got so much time to get stressed and anxious about it!!

I wonder if she could have any sedation in the morning if the vets are going to sedate her for the scoping? (Maybe I'm the one who needs sedating!!)

I've been practising loading to try to remove that element of worry but it's not been going very well!
 
If you speak to your vet, they may let you use some ACP in the morning before you set off- as long as they know she's had some, they can adjust the i/v dose accordingly. This may help relax her for her trip but definitely keep practicing with your loading though, even if you just walk her up and out the trailer, so you don't end up having a battle on the day!

Also, kept up with your loading and traveling once she has come home from the vets, you'll be amazed with the amount of horses that become reluctant to load after a visit to the vets as they associate the trailer with 'going to have needles in me and pipes up my nose!'. If you take her out for nice trips it will hopefully help her forgot about it!

Good luck and try not to worry! :)
 
He was fine after being fasted, we thought he'd be well peed off, but he was ok, im sure he was fasted from teatime, i cant remember for sure but water was possibly removed later that night then scoped about 10ish next day.
Dont worry its a very quick procedure and its facinating to watch
 
Thank you all!

I will call and ask them about the ACP I think!

Initially, they wanted her to go in the night before but have now said that she can stay at home and just go in for the day.

I'm trying to think long term and that this will help her feel better, it's just getting through the next few weeks!!
 
Hi ,yes he did have grade 2/3 ulcers.
He wasnt your typical stressy type, externally he is a big, chunky 17hh cob xdidnt look like the obvious candidate for them
The symptoms he had were, bucking when asked to canter, and colicky type symptoms, biting his flanks, kicking his belly mainly after feeding or when coming in from grass. He also kicked his stable walls or if outside, kicked into the air
he had a course of gastro guard and is now on colease
 
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