The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Possible stomach ulcers?

4K views 35 replies 10 participants last post by  jojanadge 
#1 ·
Hi guys, I have recently got a horse from the track, a sweet gelding. He is very skinny, ribs showing, pelvis sticking out a bit, and doesn't eat much. I work at the stable who raced him and since he retired (around 2 weeks before I took him home) he wasn't finishing his dinner and he doesn't seem to be eating much here. I am wondering if he has stomach ulcers, as I am all too aware of problems feeding a high energy diet but not exercising a horse can be. Right now he is just getting:

Breakfast:
2 scoops lucerne chaff (also known as alfalfa)
2 scoops basic pony pellets

Dinner:
2 sc lucerne chaff
2 sc pellets
1 sc pollard

I have been supplementing it with a scoop of the food he got as a racehorse to help him transition to a different diet, but am not sure whats in it as my boss just chucked a heap of it into a big chaff bag for me to take home. By the look it seems to have oats, barley, lucerne and wheaten chaff and lupins, maybe some sunflower seeds (I think),

So wondering what you think re: ulcers, and any opinions on his new diet. Also, his teeth have been done, I gave them a good feel and they are in pretty good shape.

Thanks!!
 
See less See more
#5 ·
I am in the last few days of treating my horse for ulcers. When I asked my vet about treatments he suggest starting treatment (ulcerguard) If that didnt show signs of improvment then we would go ahead and scope.

scoping can be VERY expensive and sometimes even with scoping uclers can be missed. I saw improvemnt with my mare within 3 days of treating her with ulcerguard.

If you and your vet suspect uclers, go ahead and start treating. If you dont see improvemnt then you can start looking at other things.

Hope your horse feels better soon :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blue
#7 ·
exactly, Blue. Yes, Ulcerguard is not cheap. (around $700 for the full 28 days of treatment) But I found the cause of my horses problems within a few days. And I didnt need to trailer my horse to the vet and have her scoped.

She has 3 more days left and I can say she is a COMPLETELY different horse. Finally putting weight on, her ears are up and shes not bucking under saddle. :)

$700 is small price to pay to have my horse back to being happy!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: WillowDunit06
#8 ·
I have mixed emotions about having them scoped. I started ulcer guard. I wasn't having any clinical signs but maybe a training issue. After 10 days on UG my horse get really sick. The vet found a small ulcer in a hard to treat painful area so my treatment was different than normal treatment. If ifthis works my vet treatment bill will be over 3500.00 she was in the hospital on IVs
 
#11 ·
I see you are also an Aussie. Definitely ensure he can graze in some form all day, either grass or hay or hay in nets if you need him stabled. While you are determining whether ulcers are an issue or not, see if you can get hold of some Anitone. It is not an ulcer treatment, but can help according to anecdotal evidence. It's a general horse tonic and mineral supplement. It's a liquid and you can add it to feed or give straight into the mouth via syringe. Quite a few rescues use it because it gets a horses appetite back.

When we got Rose, our pony, back from a dodgy trainer (long long story) she was very thin, stressed and not eating much of anything. Two days of Anitone in her feed and she still wasn't fussed on eating, would leave three quarters of it and just stand there looking depressed. Day three she tucked right in and hasn't looked back. I've only had her on Anitone about six weeks, and she is like a whole new horse! (I hate to sound like an advertisement, but it's been a remarkable turn around) if nothing else it's a good, relatively cheap, general mineral supplement.
 
#12 ·
Most horses coming off the track have ulcers. It comes with being stabled 23 hours a day, pumped with high energy feed, run hard and pumped full of whatever it takes to get them to the winners circle.

Get him on a good probiotic, UlcerGuard and back to a very basic diet of hay, oats and alfalfa pellets until the ulcers are treated. UlcerGuard is expensive but you see results within about 5 days. It takes 28 days for the full treatment. Some more extreme horses do need to stay on 1/3 of a tube daily for life but thats the extreme. It works well though. If you can't afford UlcerGuard at leaststart him on some Gut Coat. Its a bandaid solution but it will at least help.
 
#14 ·
UlcerGuard is $9 a day... I currently have a horse in my barn going through treatment. Scope was $300 and had to haul the horse to the vet clinic for it. Never had a vet able to scope at home as they always want the horse in stocks for it amd most farms don't have stocks.
 
#15 ·
BugZepper89, maybe your situation is different? My vet does this procedure at the clinic, not the farm. I Also dont have my own trailer at the moment. I also dont have insurance on my horse. I also didnt want to do something as invasive as scoping my horse.

Even if I did have the scope and found ulcers (which I'm sure he would have) I'd still have to pay for ulcerguard, plus the scope.

I bought a few tubes of ulcerguard to see if I saw a difference and I did. So I bought enough for the 28 days of treatment.

For me, treating was a better option at the time.

Thats great that your vet can do that at the farm though!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blue
#16 ·
I believe I paid $27 a tube for ulcerguard. (through valley vet, thats the cheapest I could find it) She was on a full tube for 12 days and a 1/2 tube plus UGuard Pellets morning in night for the remaining 16 days.
 
#24 ·
Thanks for all your help! He has access to 10 acres of grass 24/7 at my place, though mum informs me today he can't swallow :(
I will have a look at him when he comes up for dinner but mum has booked a vet for Monday. I'm so worried now.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top