Ulcers - Training/Competing on Gastroguard

Chloe_GHE

Chloe_GHE

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 January 2009
Messages
4,902
Location
Wonderful Wiltshire
Visit site
I keep Dustry on Protexin acid ease and have done since I can remember, recently I ran out and within 5-7 days he was a different animal.

It has concerned me that his attitude and behaviour changed so much, and that by keeping him on a supplement i am just treating the symptoms not the cause.

Spoken to my vet and she's suggested scoping and gastroguard, which is all covered under my insurance.

She has also said that it is fine to continue normal work and competing whilst they are being treated.

Has anyone had any experience of this?...

I feel that for the cost of my insurance excess it is worth getting it done, even if I do have to then keep him on a preventative supplement afterwards at least then I would have the peace of mind that the route cause has been cleared up.

thoughts and experiences of this please...
 
I found your post interesting, because it is sort of the opposite to my thinking! Let me explain...

I've had two horses scoped and on Gastrogard - my previous one and my current one. Current horse was scoped back in October last year. He had grade 1-2 ulcers, so relatively mild. He'd been scoped as he was very sharp, bucking, girthy and not gaining weight. I put him on the course of Gastrogard and he got a bit better, although I wouldn't say he was a changed horse or anything like that. Then around January time, ulcer symptoms returned. I was a bit gutted, I think at that time it was because there wasn't much grass out in the field, he is not big on grazing and will just stand and stare into the distance in preference, and so I think the ulcers came back. I treated again with a shorter course of Gastrogard (was slightly desperate at this point too as this was not long before the Winter Regionals) and also put him on Succeed. He won his Regional and we went on to Winter Champs in April, and when we did I had him on half a tube over the weekend just to help manage the stress. He was definitely better when he had the GG as he would be much more chilled etc and less girthy.

Since then I have been trying various supplements. My reason for this is that he keeps having relapses. I guess it depends on why your horse has ulcers in the first place. I have always been hot on ulcer management - even with my previous horse, so I couldn't really do any better with the facilities available to me. But my horse is a stressy sort and sometimes does relapse. My problem with GG is that I don't like the idea that it shuts down acid production - surely that is for a reason and it can't be that healthy to shut it down? This also has a knock-on effect on the hindgut, so prolonged use of GG has a negative effect on the hindgut.

Also, don't believe that GG is the ONLY thing that will treat ulcers. This is not true, this is what the drug company want you to believe. In some horses ulcers heal themselves, or just through better management. And with some horses some supplements help. GG itself does not actually physically heal them, all it does is shut off the acid so that the lining of the stomach is free of it for long enough to heal itself. So if you think about this then if you are feeding fibre ad lib surely this can also soak up the acid so the stomach wall heals? And if a supplement can neutralise the acid then again that can also allow the ulcer to heal?

I am still searching for the magical supplement that will keep the ulcers from coming back, I have tried a few - Succeed, vet's own gastric guard, Egusin. I think the Egusin is doing a fairly good job, he has gotten positively fat of late - however we are in a difficult situation as he has been on box rest for 2 months with a fracture and he has been showing some ulcer symptoms. But we moved yards this weekend (twice in the end, long story!) and so added to the stress too. So jury is out for me for Egusin, am still deciding what to do next.

With regards to the insurance. I was slightly horrified to find that when I got my renewal through my horse is now excluded for "gastro-intestinal disorders" which means he is not covered for colic (or won't be once this claim is closed)! I tried to get them to change it just to gastric ulcers, however they said that ulcers show a disorder of the intestines and therefore he is excluded for all gastro-intestinal disorders. The mad thing is that if he were to have unexplained colic, that could be reviewed after a clear year without colic, as there is no proof of an actual disorder!! I will speak to them again but this does worry me - he's never had colic but if he did I would have to foot a colic op bill. I hope he never does need one as I am very careful of my management, but even so it is worrying!

So my advice to you is to think very carefully before you go this route. Personally if the Acid Ease were keeping my horse happy then I would stick with that. And of course make sure your management is as good as it can be for an ulcer-prone horse - minimise stress as much as you can, feed low starch and low sugar feeds, feed forage ad-lib.

I am also not sure about the symptoms/cause argument. I am not sure whether the pain from ulcers comes from acid splashing against them, or the acid themselves, but I would argue that if the acid ease is neutralising the acid it is probably helping to at least reduce the ulcers rather than mask the symptom of pain.
 
I have always worked as normal while on gastroguard they have an ulcer supplement after the gastro guard is stopped .
However when my TB was scoped he became ill afterwards he was jaundiced when they scoped him ( caused by the starvation ) and had severe runs and abnormal droppings for two weeks after vets had not seen one react badly before just my luck .
 
The only thing that helped my last horse long term was gastro plus, the lady is great to speak to and really takes her time to advise, I would definitely recommend , my vet is now using instead of gastroguard due to the results she is seeing
 
With mine I had to reduce intensity of work for first week or so of treatment with gastrogard, but they were severe (grade 4). So no lessons/competing - just quiet hacks. This was to give best chance of them healing quickly.
 
What about Marshmallow (Althaea Officinalis) and Aloe Vera juice?

Marshmallow relieves inflammation and irritation or the mucous membranes throughout the digestive tract, Upper and lower respiratory tracts as well as urinary tracts, it heals ulcers, relieves bloat, wind, scouring and coughing. You can feed 2 tablespoons of the powdered root per day added to the feed.

Aloe Vera juice can be syringed into the mouth and it helps to heal gut and skin ulceration, helps to dehydrate the skin and bowel, heals burns, bites, blisters and stings.

Both treat the cause and the symptom and are relatively easy to feed while not being expensive.

Here is an article on Aloe Vera - http://taranet.co.uk/Aloe-vera-extracts-in-equine-clinical-practice.pdf
http://www.animalmedicationdirect.co.uk/barrier-aloe-vera-juice-for-horses-500ml-5l-pr-5096.html

Marshmallow information - http://www.holistichorsekeeping.com/resources/articles/natural_ulcer.html

Hope they help :)
 
Sorry, I realise I didn't answer your question. Competing on it is fine, and in fact like I said when I've done important comps like championships I've given a low dose on those days to help manage the stress. It's just that if I were to have another horse which I thought had ulcers I don't think I'd go down the scoping route again, I think I would move straight to finding a supplement that works, and if I really needed to I would probably buy the GG outright. I think it's about £200 a box of syringes and I read somewhere that a study showed half syringes were just as effective as whole ones.
 
I'm another that has had whole of gastro-intestinal tract excluded following claiming for ulcers, and my insurers (petplan) have advised that it is not reviewable :-(

I've had huge success 'managing symptoms' with plain old bicarbonate of soda - costs me about £12 a month. Once the course of GG had finished he was maintained on Rite-trak at £150 for a 50 day supply which really helped (despite having scoped clear, temperment improved on the RT, which is also meant to be good for hind-gut acidosis, which GG does not fix), but once the 12 months on insurance expired I switched him onto plain bicarb since its one of the main ingredients in the Rite-trak and things have carrried on happily with him ever since with no blips.
 
alsxx said:
I've had huge success 'managing symptoms' with plain old bicarbonate of soda - costs me about £12 a month.

I switched him onto plain bicarb since its one of the main ingredients in the Rite-trak and things have carrried on happily with him ever since with no blips.
Click to expand...

You can buy a bulk tub (5kg I think) of bicarb from hyperdrug.co.uk for £10. I'm on month 2 with 2 horses on it and still not put a dent in it. Much more cost effective than buying out the local chemist every week! ha ha
 
Personally I would have a horse scoped if I thought he had ulcers. I have had one horse scoped that I was convinced had them - was as thin as a hat rack, and had started being girthy and playing up under saddle. She didn't have any sign of them, I was convinced she would have a stomach full of grade 4 ulcers. Turns out, it was a combination of poor management from the livery yard, onset of kissing spines and potentially a weak digestive system.

Horse nr 2 had problems. Had various things investigated, and then finally for ulcers. We had suspected that she may have had them, but as she was in a stress free environment, it was the last thing to check, as *in theory* they may have healed themselves. She was on an all-round supplement, one of the benefits was to help ease gastric problems. She was moved yards, and taken off the supplement, as new yard didn't feed supplements. She went downhill, and got her scoped, and stomach was full of grade 2 ulcers, which vet had suspected had been there for some time.

She is now a totally different horse.
 
TPO said:
You can buy a bulk tub (5kg I think) of bicarb from hyperdrug.co.uk for £10. I'm on month 2 with 2 horses on it and still not put a dent in it. Much more cost effective than buying out the local chemist every week! ha ha
Click to expand...

Yes thats where I get mine from! £12 includes postage though! Cheapest I have found :-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top