Ben has a few ulcers, grade 2 equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD). Bad enough that we're starting a full 28 day course of Omeprazole. Ouch. Grade 2 is technically "mild", but looking at his stomach, ouch.
Then... Then... We enter the world of gastric supplements. Oh boy. One of those of there are so many things that claim to do this, none must work 100% of the time. I ended up ordering resolvinEQ from Kentucky Equine Research. It has long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. They did a study with 13 thoroughbreds in training. This supplement decreased severe ulcer (grade 3-4) from 38% of horses to 8% of horses. Low n number and the overall prevalence of ulcers was 54% in unsupplemented horses and 31% in supplemented horses. So it may not do a whole lot for the "mild" grade 1-2. I put mild in quotes because his grade 2 stomach sure looked uncomfortable. I'll see if there are enough behavior changes to gauge our maintenance treatment success from that. If not, scoping on farm was incredibly reasonable, so I'll have his vet back out at some point. We're definitely going to recheck after the month of GG to make sure they resolved.
Lifestyle wise, he'd probably be happier with a buddy all the time. He gets his friend at night but because the field they go in is small, he is without his friend during the day. In the summer when the grass is growing more quickly, we might be able to change that. He has forage nearly 100% of the time - grass with hay supplemented in the pasture and then hay for the 3-4 hours he spends in the stall to eat grain. After the biting, I did buy alfalfa cubes to soak and feed before trailering. The travel is definitely the most stressful part of his life. He likes the box stall set up better than straight load. I am not sure if he likes traveling with a friend better (ie in straight load) or solo in the box stall. He would travel less if he lived at JT's. And could probably have a friend to go out with who wouldn't beat him up. But he'd spend more time overall in the stall.
I think for now I'll try the new supplement and alfalfa cubes daily as our maintenance. If that isn't effective, maybe a major lifestyle change to move to JTs barn to minimize his travel. Although he'd still haul out to school and show, sooooo....
I might try some Purina Outlast as well. Unclear how to combine that with my alfalfa cubes idea. Also unclear how to get the GG on an empty stomach. Maybe post ride?
Oof. Anyone out there gone through this and want to share their fav gut support?
We usually give gastrogard first thing in the am, feed everyone else first and feed the gastrogard horse last. It’s hard to find a time when their stomach is empty! Also have given alfalfa just before tacking up to get the buffering, and feed ultium that has outlast in it.
ReplyDeleteHe's only one of five, so that wouldn't give us too much lag time on the feeding unfortunately. I'll look into ultium though!
DeleteNo advice to share, just wanted to send some good wishes for him feeling better soon!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I feel so bad for him 😔
Deleteugh poor Ben :( charlie is (luckily) not a classically ulcery horse... but i still end up treating 1-2x annually just bc... yea, lifestyle. competitions and lessons and trailer travel take a toll. he gets alfalfa pellets (soaked) with every meal to help keep the edge off, and i've heard good things about outlast too. charlie manages mostly pretty good by just getting his beloved large group turnout.... but there are other horses at our barn where that's just not enough. so turnout or stable mgmt really can't fix everything... good luck figuring out what works best for Ben!
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking based on comments that the outlast will be a permanent part of our routine along with the alfalfa cubes. Not sure if I want to rock the boat we just got on with the ProForce fuel to switch or if I should just start top dressing and feeding as a snack.
Deletei could be wrong, but i think most folks i know use it as a supplement, snack or top dressing vs primary feed
DeleteYes, sorry. In my head I was saying switch to ultium since someone above said it contains the outlast. Didn't type that though, clearly 😅
DeleteI've battled ulcers on and off with Mae since I got her 6 years ago off the track - we've found the only thing that has worked consistently is powdered omeprazole with her food. It's expensive but she has been on that for almost two years now without a colic incident. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of powdered Omeprazole before. I'm a bit hesitant to use long term proton pump inhibitors because of the mounting evidence in small animal medicine about the harm they can do. But horses are their own creature and obviously not having ulcers is far superior to having them health wise, so if nothing else works I may circle back to this.
DeleteUnfortunately ours don't have pasture for grazing - which I think would be the best thing for ulcer prevention for Mae. Best of luck!
DeleteI know you're not completely in control of your turnout situation, but a couple of thoughts on fields and buddies. One easy solution might be to install some grooming gates so Ben and Friend can reach one another but don't have to be in one anothers' pastures. I'm thinking something like this stallion social stall (https://thehorse.com/17588/can-stalled-stallions-interact-socially/).
ReplyDeleteAnother thought, which might be a bit controversial. Two horses, one in each pasture, overgrazes the ground exactly as much as two horses in one pasture, rotated back and forth from pasture to pasture. If you're worried about playful hoofprints tearing up the soil and grass mat, that's a slightly different concern. But it's not like you're changing the total area the horses are using -- the two horses use the exact same number of square feet. It's just that one model has both areas under constant moderate use and the other model has a high use-rest-high use-rest cycle. And we know resting grasses is good, especially in a Florida winter! So it might be possible to keep Ben and Friend together full time without overgrazing the field.
Ben's friend does come and hang out with him sometimes at the fence line and they can touch over the gate and do. But sometimes his friend goes off with the rest of the herd and that's when I can see him get obviously upset.
DeleteI see what you're saying with math on the total pasture use. There is one large field, one smaller field fenced with electric basically within the large field, and one entirely separate smaller field. Ben is always in the small field within the large one during the day. And at night he and the friend are in that field or the separate smaller field. I might be able to talk the GY's into letting me increase the size of the field within the field so it would get eaten down less with two horses on it every day.
I honestly think he'd be happier getting bit to pieces but with the herd. I'm not sure I can come to terms with that though. And the bully horse does occasionally kick which means there is a risk of real injury.
The problem is the small fields are small enough they would get eaten down significantly enough with 2 horses that they wouldn't recover, hence the need to increase the size of the one within the other field to try to make it work.
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