Recommend me a gastric supplement

[ajn1610]

I have a mare who was diagnosed with gastric ulceration. She has undergone a course of gastro guard and was scoped and given the all clear. She has had a couple of months on a maintenance supplement called gastro soothe but it's expensive - £90 a tub. I'd like to see if there is something more generic that will keep her comfortable. Any recommendations please?

 

[khalswitz]

I use a bog standard farm shops own brand digestive supp. It contains pre and probiotics as well as live yeast - and is £35 for 3.5 kg (3 months supply at highest dosage rate - four months for me).

 

[Spotsrock]

Once my lad was clear of ulcers I use Protexin gut balancer to keep him clear

 

[wench]

Aquacid

 

[JennBags]

Alltech Lifeforce - it's a fab all round supplement, and really helps with ulcer-prone horses.

 

[Mongoose11]

Yea sacc. Cheap and wonderful.

 

[mandwhy]

Dengie healthy tummy contains protexin, as does calm and condition, so I usually just feed either of those and sometimes add other things in if required.

 

[Questiontime]

I didn't use any supplements to keep my old horse ulcer free. After a lot of research and reading veterinary papers, it seemed to me that they were all much of a muchness and that there was no 'cure all' other than continuing on gastroguard at a maintenance rate for ever - NOT cheap! I decided that if there was no definitive answer as to which supplement to feed, I wasn't going to waste my money and tried to manage it with diet.
I just fed my mare good quality, organic forage, avoided grains and molasses, and made sure that she always had plenty to eat ad lib. I also always offered her a haynet and small feed to eat whilst I was tacking up to ensure that her stomach was always well padded out to stop all that acid slopping around whilst she was working*
I fed her Thunderbrooks meadow grass, with Simple Systems blue grass nuts or soaked lucie nuts, and unmollassed sugar beet. Because she didn't have the best appetite in the world, I also gave her fenugreek in her feeds which acts both as an appetite stimulant and digestive aid, and you can buy it online for indian food wholesalers for very little money compared to buying it as a horse feed supplement.
I can hand on heart say that this system of management worked for my mare, and she has never had a relapse. She originally had grade 4, bleeding ulcers in the glandular mucosa of her stomach as well as grade four splash ulcers in the squamous epithelium, so she had them really badly. I am not saying that the supplements don't work, but this worked best for me, and was devised in hand with gastric ulcer expert veterinary advice.

*I would only recommend this if you are feeding grain-free. Simple Systems, as an example, is devised to be fed to endurance horses and as such can be fed and then the horse exercised immediately afterwards, but obviously not a massive feed.