Tips for a new member of the ulcer club?

Nudibranch

Nudibranch

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Bought another ex racer last week; felt sorry for the little fella as he was to all intents and purposes abandoned on livery. He fits the bill though, cost me pennies and is a sweet boy. He is in need of some TLC, being pretty thin and with some mud fever. I am also sure he has ulcers. He is very touchy on the abdomen and very girthy - I've tacked him up for a couple of walks but not ridden him. When saddled he pulls the most incredible faces, tail swishes, weaves and generally seems very stressed but he does settle. I've used a Suberpad underneath as he also has some muscle wastage.

Anyway back to the point - he has shown a couple of little colicky episodes which passed quickly but he's clearly uncomfortable. I guess the stress of moving hasn't helped. He is on 24/7 turnout (acres of it) plus hay if he wants it. He just has a tiny damp feed to carry his Pro Balance. So hopefully plenty of fibre passing through will help. Today I started him on omeprazole but if there's no improvement I'll have him scoped in case it's a hind gut issue.

However, never having had to deal with ulcers before I wondered if there are any recommendations as to effective and reasonably priced supplements which might help? Having looked into the likes of Equishure, I am a bit skeptical as everything seems to contain very, very basic ingredients. I know they claim it's coated or whatever but still.... not sure the high prices are worth it for the likes of bicarb or calcium carbonate! Any tips anyone? Aloe vera gel?
 
Nudibranch said:
Having looked into the likes of Equishure, I am a bit skeptical as everything seems to contain very, very basic ingredients. I know they claim it's coated or whatever but still.... not sure the high prices are worth it for the likes of bicarb or calcium carbonate! Any tips anyone? Aloe vera gel?
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the only problem is that bicarb doesn't make it to the hind gut, equishure does. I have used equishure on 2 horses for exactly a year. Before that I used bicarb. There has been a lot of difference since they started the equishure.

I thought omeprazole was for stomach ulcers, do you have stomach ulcers or a hind gut problem? I thought it was stomach ulcers you scoped for not hind gut.
 
Gastroplus is great, was the only thing which worked on my last horse, really transformed him, and am currently feeding it to my current horse who we suspect has hind gut issues, he is also showing big improvement. My vet here in Germany is very impressed with the results
 
Omeprazole is for stomach ulcers, so he has a trial of this. If no improvement then a scope would eliminate them for sure, then treat for hind gut instead.
 
If you think hindgut is an issue then I'm another who's been very impressed with Equishure. For stomach ulcers I'd go with omeprazole, but if he's insured I'd be inclined to scope & get it on the insurance particularly if he's already showing colic episodes. There's no reason why you can't treat for both.
 
I suspected my mare had stomach problems so we did a succeed test, it cost around £26 and tests for stomach ulcers and hind gut issues grade 2 and above. My mare tested positive for hind gut, so we did a course of steroids and that helped her as she had low grade collitis. It's better to know what you are dealing with, rather than spending money guessing. In my opinion anyway. Good luck :-)
 
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