Possible ulcers?

[Angel99]

I’m a tad confused by all of the information regarding ulcers and treatment.
What signs have you found that indicated your horse might have them?
The more that I read about ulcers, the more I think my mare could be suffering from them. Having been on 4 different yards over the last year (breeder, sold on, then bought by myself, then moved again &#128584 she has been rather unsettled. She’s a stressy person anyway. Maybe I’m just looking for excuses for her behaviour!
Signs that make me think ulcers are- stamping and shuffling back feet while eating, sensitive to touch flanks, lost weight, flinchy when being ridden which makes her shoot her bottom under, spooking

 

[emfen1305]

I didn't even suspect ulcers but scope was the first thing my vet did as part of the poor performance work up I had - he wasn't lame just lacked impulsion and any desire to move, started refusing to canter. He scoped because it was the easiest thing to start with and turned out he had grade 4 bleeding ulcers! They recurred a couple of times so changed vets and pushed for more investigations and was found to have PSD and probably SI issues so thinking the stress of the pain is what was causing the ulcers. He is on what I hope will be our final round of treatment and then hopefully they will stay away for good! All of the symptoms above could point to any number of issues including ulcers. My lad is spooky and does shoot under, this didn't improve when he was scoped clear so think this is just his personality. I did notice a loss of appetite at all times when he was having a flare up, including this time!

If you are going down the investigating route, make sure you are insured. The treatment alone is roughly £550 just for a month's worth of omeprazole, mine was treated on full dose for 4 weeks, rescoped clear and then treated on 1/2 dose for another 4 weeks and then rescoped again and still clear so dropped to 1/4 and that cost something like £1500 but I know that they often don't clear after 4 weeks. Join the horses with ulcers facebook page - loads of really helpful people on there!

 

[Fruitcake]

My horse had low level intermittent colic with one episode going on for a few days so vet scoped. He really wasn’t a prime suspect for ulcers. (Native, good doer, lived out, got no hard feed, very laid back on the outside). He did, however, windsuck.

He did become a little spooky which was very out of character.

 

[shellibob]

Ulcers are very common and usually secondary to pain somewhere else or stress, lack of constant forage can also cause them!
Symptoms can be really subtle or really obvious!
Mine was girthy and massively over reactive to things , he had had kissing spines, hock arthritis, sacroiliac problems and was kept on individual turnout so stressed with that
There is a horses with Ulcers Facebook page which is really helpful

 

[Angel99]

Thank you for your replies

My vet is coming out tomorrow so I will discuss my problems with her.
The FB page was really helpful so thank you for pointing me in that direction.

In the meantime I have swapped her feed, hopefully she will like it as she has been off her feed recently, and will start her on a digestive supplement just in case.
There are too many factors that lead me to believe she may have the ulcers other than what I’ve already stated. Also the Jazz breeding doesn’t help!