The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Supplement for gut? Will taking them off a gut supplement make them more prone?

9K views 19 replies 8 participants last post by  BeamerCorgi 
#1 ·
Does anyone have any suggestions for a good supplement for a healthy gut? Like ulcer guard and to promote healthy gut function? Also once you put a horse on a gut supplement can you take them off of it with out them becoming more prone to gut issues? Like if i want to only give a gut supplement during show season then take him off of it in the winter?
 
#2 ·
I have 2 ulcer cases here right now and both of them are on ranitidine all the time and also on Anigest. I can remove the anigest and it does not seem to change anything but I cannot remove the ranitidine because their ulcers flare. I have used G.U.T by Uckele (gastric ulcer transnutrient) when they have ulcer flares and it helps with the meds to calm their bellies back down.

If the horse has no ulcer problems now and you use gastroguard or ranitidine while showing, it should not cause them to get ulcers by taking them back off. If it was me I would not give gastroguard or ranitidine unless you think the horse is getting ulcers during show season. I would instead use the G.U.T or Anigest or optizyme. I like Anigest and G.U.T the best. G.U.T smells like hot chocolate powder and the horses love the stuff too! Anigest does not smell as good but is a little cheaper and seems to work just as well.
G.U.T by Uckele Horse Products

Anigest by Animed Horse Products
 
#4 ·
Here is a link from equine now with a price for it. They say one 5lb bucket can last up to 53 days. It depends on whether you feed the lower amount or the higher amounts. I ordered my buckets of Anigest from TSC and paid $36.00 for them including shipping. Buying from equine now will run about .48 per day. Seems they want almost $12 for shipping though.
AniMed AniGest

The G.U.T supplement will last about 60 days if used on the low dose. That is expected for a 2lb bucket. Costs about .75 a day. They want $11 in shipping.

Those per day prices did not factor in shipping!
 
#6 ·
Gang, go look up EquiOtic and watch the video. My vet just turned me onto it. He does alot of trials for the clinics in Lexington, KY. This is a new technology in which they actually take a bacteria from the horse. This is the first time it has been done in strength. We have one horse on the barn started on it and the owner says that the horse is not as uncomfortable. I watched the video and read the research on the website and it seems pretty straight forward. The guy that developed it I do know is one of the top equine internists in the country. So far, so good. I had no idea how probiotics really worked or didn't until I read the studies.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I just watched the video and read some of the article, I might actually look into ordering some of it and trying it.

ETA: Tried to go on their website and it says "member only" password required! What the heck?
 
#8 ·
I just went on in my Firefox browser and got the same thing but I then opened up my Safari browser and got right in. Try explorer or another one.

I really appreciate the feedback. I did alot of the reading and was very impressed. I am glad you saw what I did. I thought I was crazy. We see alot of new things since we are near to Lexington. The vets use us as Guinea pigs!
 
#10 ·
I am using firefox also, but have tried explorer and get the same result. Oh well. I am about 1.5hours from Lexington so I will just ask one or both of the vets I use and see if they heard of it/have access to it. The one is strictly a horse vet and the other is an everyday large animal vet.
 
#12 ·
Rather than considering supplements, much better is to consider holistic management of the horse and in particular ensuring a routine of exercise and turnout that reduces stress and assists digestion rather than hinders.

Also ensuring that the horse is allowed to roam and graze and trickle forage feed.

Ulcerguard is omeprazole and it helps to inhibit acid in the gut but rather then medicating there's ways to prevent the requirement in the first place.

Don't feed big 'meals' and then long periods in between. Horses need to trickle forage feed and digestion is best when the horse is able to roam and graze.

Ensure good intake of water to help to keep acid down.

Remember that excess acid can also be caused by such as intensive exercise when pressure from the abdomen causes the stomach to contract, pushing acid from the lower stomach up in to the more vulnerable upper stomach, thus further increasing acid exposure in these animals. So you might want to consider what you're doing with her in terms of her exercise regime and whether it's causing undue stress.
 
#13 ·
i ride about 3-4 times a week for like 1-1.5hours. i am at a boarding barn so they feed 2 meals a day, one in the morning then one in the evening. i don't have the option to give him all acess hay or grass during the day, but he does have acess to clean water all the time.
 
#18 ·
True and not true

Did you get vaccinated for smallpox as a child? This was anticipatory maintenance. Maybe necessary and maybe not. Horses do not always need something but, due to stress and changing conditions such as age and level of work, they do like any other athlete. While the ulcer treatments can be a bit extreme, and I agree with you I would not use one if I didn't need it, I could see a good preventative probiotic.

I have done this for 35 years at the top levels of the sport and for the most part you can get by with very little but it is that little part that can mean allot! The high starch diets of the past cause a ton of problems with Ulcers. Out farm switched to a high fat diet 9 months ago and have eliminated the problems with a new tech probiotic that we were on farm trial with.

It all depends on the horse and the condition. I think if you have your horse on constant Omerperazole then you have a holistic issue. Feeding, genetics, environment, training, etc.

In a ulcer study I read, it said that 85-90 of the 2-3 year olds at the tracks were starting to have ulsters. If you know that do you not try to prevent it?
 
#20 ·
I can only go by what my experience has taught me in 35 years. You have to do some research. We are having excellent results with this new technology probiotic that my vet gave us on two horses that tend to be ulcer victims. What the probiotic does is binds toxins and therefore reduces or eliminates the lactic acid that seems to seep in and cause problems. I can only tell you what our experience is and that is after two weeks of using the paste the two horses never act agitated. One horse is a 19 year old Grand Prix horse (Reserve East Coast Champion) and the other is a imported Intermediaire II Danish Warmblood. So, both know pressure. And both are responding very well. For the price it can't hurt.

There is a ton of BS in the supplement business. Vets do not always know the difference.Probiotics are one area that is very misleading. The old standard was "yeast". They didn't tell you what kind of "Yeast" or how many CFU's were in the yeast or bacteria. None of the probiotics had bacteria that were sourced from a horse and the CFU's were deplorable. You can go to youtube and look up probiotics and there are several videos by different people talking about them. Bottom line: Big CFU's and Bacteria from the horse appears to be the new state of the art.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top