Ulcer supplements

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superpony

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Hi everyone,

I am after a bit of advice and experience about ulcer supplements! I have a 12 year thoroughbred gelding who has basically been a lawn mower for the past year due to soundness problems and naughty/nappy behaviour. He lives out 24/7 in the summer but comes in Nov-May at night and then spends all day in the field.

Unfortunately for the past couple of years he has ended up with colic a number of times over the winters, resulting in two stays at the vets to be sorted. I would really like to avoid vet visits/stays this year if possible so have been researching the possible causes etc. I have been looking at ulcers in particular and he seems to have the majority of symptoms (naughty to ride, grumpy, colic, really struggles to keep weight on in winter, stressing, not keen on eating and he also has regular bute). The vets have also suggested that it is quite likely he could have them but obviously without a scope we wouldn't know 100%.

Now I would love to put him on gastrogard but at £250 a week for a 4-6 weeks trial and with no guarantee of making a difference.. I just cannot justify that sort of money for something which may or may not help. Unfortunately he is no longer insured as there was probably only his ears left which were covered!!

So I am looking down the supplement route.. I know they wouldn't be as effective as gastrogard but I am hoping there may be some products around which could at least help? Does anyone have any suggests of ones to try or avoid?!

Thanks. :)
 
I must have tried almost everything on the market after my horse finished Gastroguard course! I spent ages researching and talking to my vet.

Just a bit of my experience in case in helps:
I was advised to go for something which coats the stomach rather than lowering the acid level (like an ant-acid) as these tend to only have a short effect of a few hours and when it wears off, the acid rebound can actually by worse than the original acid level.

I tried Equitop Pronutrin- through vets. Quite pricey at around £70 for two weeks. Seemed to be beneficial though and, although uncles never totally disappeared, stomach lining did look slightly improved on next scope.

I was convinced to give Equine Science Gastroplus a go but didn't see the miraculous changes I was assured of so, after a few courses of this, gave up.

Slippery Elm bark powder is probably the cheapest thing I've tried. I do think it seemed to help, although by this time, I had stopped scoping so I don't have any hard evidence of the effect to stomach lining, just behavioural 'evidence'. On the advice of my vet, I'm now using a new supplement called Exegus which is only available through vets. Again, I have no hard evidence of whether it is any better than the Slippery Elm but, in addition to coating the stomach lining, it's supposed to help to trigger something in the horse to make it produce gut mocosa as apparently, lack of this is often a genetic factor which can predispose a horse to gastric ulcers.

My vet did also say that she had been to a conference where it was suggested that feeding corn oil can have a beneficial effect so I don't know if this is something worth considering.

Good luck, I hope you find something that works for your horse!
 
Don't worry about not being able to afford Gastrogard; when my boy was diagnosed with ulcers I did a load of research. The upshot being GG is ok at masking the symptoms but not necessarily repairing and you could easily get another episode further down the line. I only used GG for a week until my supplement of GastroPlus arrived from Equine Science. It was good. It really helped. Then about 3 months later I spent 5 days on a course with Dr Kerry Ridgeway who explained that in his experience, the only supplement that helped and especially targeting hind gut (which GG and I don't think GP can) is a product called Eugsin SLH supplied by ForagePlus.

Other things to consider which could help:
Give a forage based hard feed before doing any work (simple systems; pure feed; thunder brook feed)- the acid within the stomach must have something to work on even whilst out hacking
If going out for a hack longer than an hour, stop and allow ten minutes grazing
Try and ensure access to trickle feeding 24/7
make sure ponio has a mate or more to interact with

Basically anything to reduce 'horsey stress'

Hope that's given you some ideas. Do PM if you need to chat things through further.
Good luck
 
Thanks everyone I really appreciate all of your replies. :) And thank you everyone for your advice.. super helpful I will ensure I follow this and will have a look at all the supplements.

I have also come across abprazole in America.. has anyone used this?
 
Hi there, I've tried a hell of a lot of supplements! I've tried the abler stuff...worked brilliantly for a week or 10 days, then tailed off. Went for scoping, pyloric ulcers found, did a month's gg, no change on rescope. Tried equine science, no change, they made him a custom formula, no change. Tried ranitidine from the chemist...a cheap indigestion remedy...dramatic change. I kept him on that plus gaviscon double action and all fine.

I started him on aloe ride a week ago as I suspect that he's also got post viral fatigue. Don't think it's a good idea to stay on acid reducers as apparently it can have a rebound effect and create more acid.

So far, so good!

T x
 
Hello, I have also practically got a market share in ulcer supplements, having tried most lol! My vet gave me a free sample of one called Ekygard to try when horse came off gg with a clear stomach and this worked well. He was rescoped 2 weeks ago and stomach looking very good, no ulcers so read into that what you will! However, I am convinced my boy still has ulcers in his hindgut, which can't be scoped, and many supplements don't help the hind gut. Gastrogard doesn't help it either. I am trying a supplement called equishure specifically for hind gut and I will report back on this when I have some results.
 
As this old thread has been dragged up i wondered if Kinnygirl ever did report back on the effectiveness of the equishure?
 
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