Recurring ulcers and lameness

clockwork.satan

clockwork.satan

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Hi folks, I just thought I'd make a (pretty rare) post here as my partner and I are just about going spare. We've got 7yo Highland Pony gelding who had laminitis three years ago and was diagnosed with pyloric and hind gut ulcers in October. This was treated with GastroGard successfully and we've pretty much changed his diet and management completely and got him onto Equine Science's GastroPro and all seemed fine so we (foolishly, it would seem) started celebrating victory and only just a couple of weeks ago were looking forward to finally getting on with his education and booked a saddle fitter to have it adjusted.

However. On Monday, we noticed that he was starting to show some lameness, and towards the end of the week, was swishing his tail, and acting uncomfortably when we touched his sides. More worryingly, we've noticed stronger than usual digital pulses in all four feet and that he's generally uncomfortable (but not in a laminitic sense) being walked in hand, and looking uncomfortable in his rear and holding his tail to one side. We are absolutely flummoxed over the cause of it all, so I'm just looking to see if anyone else here is experienced anything similar.

We're getting the vets out on Monday and have got an equine touch myofascial release practitioner and trimmer coming out next week, but are just feeling uneasy over it all. Thanks.
 
How long have you been on the gastropro? Have you completed their recommended course? Have you tried a probiotic and a hind gut buffer such as equishure? In my experience the gastrogard treats the symptoms but not always the cause. The reduced stomach acid has a knock on effect to food passing into the hind gut so can upset that area. If hes had laminitis his liver will probably also be compromised. Didcyou ever get him blood tested? It is possible that its an overloaded liver problem that may be pushing him towards another laminitic episode. It may be worth feeding a mycotoxin binder. If he has raised digital pulses then that signals an alarm that there is an issue with blood flow to the feet. It could just be bruising and he may be holding himself awkwardly but if he is lame then i would seek veterinary advice. Get your myofacial practitioner to check the tmj's and therefore teeth, which can cause sore poll area and referred pain behind. All from personal experience and a lot of vets fees! The ulcer fb pages can be helpful if you need more on that issue. Hope you get to the bottom of it.
 
I presume you've been looking for sugars in the diet as the culprit - both of those conditions are exacerbated by sugar (which turns to acid in the gut) Frosted or stressed grass? Haylage or rich hay? Cereals (starch, aka sugars). HiPos have evolved to live on a very poor diet, how about good clean straw instead of hay for example
 
Hi Marmaduke! Thank you for such an informative reply! We've had him on the 'stomach maintenance formula' GastroPro - and specifically their 'blood flow' one which intended for laminitis - for around four months now and we've not tried anything like Equishure yet, as we've been feeding the Phyto Origins GI and PhytoCoZin supplements, which are both designed to encourage healthy gut action so we were under the impression we were doing everything correct, which is why we're are so frustrated! For all intents and purposes his hind gut appears to be massively improved over how it was before as he always did scoury poos and is now doing proper horse nuggets, and this hasn't changed over the past week or so.
In terms of a Mycotoxin binder, we're actually waiting on a tub of Thunderbrooks Mycosorb A+ arriving, so that's a good shout, too. We were checking over him again earlier and those digital pulses were definitely lower than they were yesterday, which was a relief but we soaked his feet regardless and he's on soaked hay to reduce any potential sugars. We walked him again in the school and I think you're correct in thinking that he might holding himself awkwardly rather than feeling pain in his feet, but it's so difficult to say for certain.
It'll be a call to the vets first thing tomorrow and hopefully we'll have more information soon. I'll get back here to update!
 
Hi JillA, thank you for your reply. We've had him on as sugar free and low starch a diet as possible for a long time now, even avoiding alfalfa and keeping everything as natural as possible. He's in a very small field with unfertilised grass (which there's not much of) so we're fairly certain we've got all that covered and believe me when I say we've tried everything to prevent another laminitis attack, including moving to another yard! We tried him on straw rather than hay a while back, but it made him colic so that's out the window!
...We've decided to keep him in tomorrow, and this approaching cold snap with the inevitable frost is not going to help to alleviate our worries!
 
I was going to say I would keep him in off the grass in case. I don't think we know enough yet about the gut health/lami risk but it does seem to exist (not ulcers in particular but worth a mention).
 
I should probably update this, eh? Well, we've had the vet out a few days ago and rather interestingly he said that we should put the ulcers to one side for now, so it's either the case that the Equine Science GastroPro Extend did its job or he reckons that the cause of the ulcers needs looked at first - but it's interesting to note that the tail swishing stopped at a few days box rest and we could touch his flanks without any reaction. We had all four feet x-rayed (which is part of our vet plan) and that's nothing to worry about there, and he did flexion tests which shown nothing out of the ordinary.

So we're still a little up in the air over the cause of all of this, but the jury is out on our boy having done a bit too much, we, 'horsing' around as we heard a couple of days after the vet visit that a couple of mares had escaped from their field a few days before he became noticeably sore and be was apparently doing vertical rear-ups and thrashing around his field like an idiot. I'm pretty certain he's managed to hurt himself (either back or hock, we reckon), which flared the ulcers up and perhaps caused an outbreak of low grade laminitis. We're just not sure, but will hopefully find out what to do next.

For the time being, were just giving him gentle walks in hand and he's still a little lame. Fingers crossed it's nothing too serious.
 
Thats good news then, hopefully a bit of time will sort him out. We cant watch them all the time and sometimes i just wish they could talk!
 
Marmaduke said:
Thats good news then, hopefully a bit of time will sort him out. We cant watch them all the time and sometimes i just wish they could talk!
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Thanks!

We actually had an equine touch practitioner out today that we've had look at the boy before and she found that, due to his messing around in his field and the rearing up nonsense, he's managed to literally bend himself out of shape. The myofascial tissue on his back, flanks, hocks and gaskins was all pulled tight as a drum and as a result he wasn't able to move his hind end properly. She's released all of that now, so we're giving him a rest tonight and will see how he is tomorrow. We've got a bunch of exercises to do with him which should supple him up so, providing he doesn't do anything else ridiculous, we should hopefully get him back on track soon.
 
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