windsucking

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lucindakay

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:rolleyes: odd question but does anyone think that excercise irritates ulcers, as recently we are cnvinced my horse as ulcers as he windsucks and due to the snow hes been in for a couple of days so therefore done no excerise other than the ten minute walk in hack to stretch, since being in the stable hes stopped windsucking, and we have an inkling that excersie may be irritating his ulcers?
does this make sense of am i barmy? or is there an answer i just don't know

(excuse spelling its on my phone)
 
Exercise causes the acid in the stomach to splash about. It helps to feed windsuckers/cribbers half a scoop of alfa a prior to work to minimize this.

Very interesting that he's stopped while in!
 
Alfala before riding is a good idea. Make sure all feeds are chewy (not mash) chewing creates saliva which buffers acid. Alfala had properties
which help with ulcers.

Could he have stoped while inside as there is free access to hay and not while out? Lack of fibre creates / makes ulcers worse.
 
i did not know that, thank you i will do that, so just to make sure i'm not going crazy that is essentially chaff?

maccachic he has a rolly of hayledge 24/7 to keep him off the fencing as he is prone to pulling it up, so he always has fibre, he probably gets less while in.

we are getting the vet out to go through our options but can i carry on riding him as he isn't nappy or difficult unlike another horse that had ulcers? i'm just assuming hes not in pain as he is very quiet and always has been but shpuld i stop riding until the vet comes to visit? problem is no horses are allowed out in the snow because the fields on a steep hill and horses are prone to sliding down it so he can only be walked around a forrest at the moment, do you think i should stop riding him for the meantime?
 
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exercise can definitely aggravate ulcers - it does for my ulcer prone boy. My only word of warning would be that for some alfalfa seems to do more harm than good. It's very horse specific, but if mine has alfalfa he's more uncomfortable. Instead I tie him up with a haynet whilst I groom him and tack up and this gives him enough hay to buffer the acid in his stomach.

Aloe vera is excellent for soothing stomach upset - 60mls of pure aloe vera juice in a syringe every day for 6 to 8 weeks. It's what the racehorse rehoming centres tend to use as gastroguard is so expensive. Obviously no substitute for vet advice though, so do speak to them.
 
ghostie said:
Aloe vera is excellent for soothing stomach upset - 60mls of pure aloe vera juice in a syringe every day for 6 to 8 weeks. It's what the racehorse rehoming centres tend to use as gastroguard is so expensive. Obviously no substitute for vet advice though, so do speak to them.
Click to expand...

aloe vera" thats interesting, we were fearing the gastrogaurd really can't afford that, i might test that out, i assume they hate the taste of the stuff!
 
I posted an extract from a Moorcroft newsletter here that explains it more fully:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=549642&highlight=aloe+vera+moorcroft

Mine's not a massive fan but I find that if I syringe it in when he pulls his head up to get away from it and keep his head up until he swallows then it's fine :) It is meant to be better to syringe it than to put it in food. I bought a massive bottle of it on Amazon - although I think health food shops do it too.

Also would avoid feeding any cereals at all if you suspect ulcers. Unmolassed sugar beat and micronised linseed are fine, as are most unmollased chaffs (although as mentioned keep an eye on whether yours is sensitive to alfalfa in some chaffs).

Also if the horse has gastric ulcers it may well have hind gut ulcers too. Yea sacc is a very good supplement for this.

(spot the woman that spent a lot of time and money sorting out her horse's ulcers even once he'd finished gastroguard - fingers crossed he's now fine)
 
thank you all, this is all very eye opening, as i've never experienced a horse that windsucks before (admittedly i wouldn't have bought him if i knew but there are always those sort of risks with dealers)
well i will try the hay and chaff, as we just have plain chaff and i feed him allen and paige calm and condition (will this be upsetting his ulcers too?)
the aloe vera will definetly be the on the shopping list.
thank you all so much
 
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