Gastric ulcers are an issue for horses of all breeds, disciplines and lifestyles—it's not just a performance or racehorse thing. Owners, trainers and managers are bombarded with research and advice on how they should be dealing with equine gastric ulcer syndrome for years now, but throughout all of the chatter, there have been constant pieces that veterinarians remind owners to practice daily:
- Stick to recommended medication timelines
- Offer unlimited forage
- Offer unlimited turnout
Recommended Medication Timelines
The ulcer medication omeprazole helps to heal the stomach and cut down on the acidity. This is very important for glandular ulcers, or ulcers that form in the bottom section of stomach. (Squamous ulcers are found in the top section of the stomach.) For best results, the medication needs to be given to horses on an empty stomach to allow the stomach to thoroughly absorb the medication. If the horse has not fasted prior to being given the medication, the absorption is impaired.
The routine of the modern stall bound horse actually aids in the medication process because the horse will have fasted overnight, after finishing his evening meal. In this case, the owner/manager/trainer can then administer the medication first thing in the morning, wait one hour, then feed the morning meal.
“A lot of times, my clients will give their horses their medications first thing in the morning, do some chores in the barn to give the medication an hour to absorb, then feed breakfast to the herd,” said Dr. Ashley Embly, associate ambulatory veterinarian at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky.
However, Embly and other veterinarians understand that owners might be crunched for time in the mornings.
“Clearly, the owner has to be dedicated to treating their horse with medication,” she said. “Another option is medicating the horse before evening meal time—but that's if the horse is kept inside all day and has consumed his hay.”
It depends on how the barn is managed—when are the horses turned out? What's the feeding schedule?
“It all depends on what works best for the owner and their specific horse,” said Embly. “The ideal timing is to do so on an empty medication.”
Unlimited Forage and Turnout
The majority of Embly's clientele are performance horses, which means that turnout is limited and there is a limit to the amount of forage the horse has access to, considering they are kept inside for a period of time. Of course, this is the case with racehorses and horses that are maybe kept inside overnight or during the day to avoid the summer heat. Which presents the problem of offering unlimited turnout and unlimited forage.
“This is a case, especially with racehorses who aren't able to have any turnout, where hay nets are kept full throughout the day to allow for the access to forage,” said Embly. “However, ideally the more turnout time they have, the better it is for their stomach. But, if that is not an option, hay offered all day is the option.”
If there are concerns about an obese horse munching on high quality hay all day long, for fear of weight gain or increased sugars, Embly recommends utilizing a hay of lesser quality, perhaps just a grass cut, to feed throughout the day. This allows the horse to continuously graze throughout the day (or night).
“Alfalfa is lovely because it buffers the stomach, and with some horses you're able to do that, but with others, for other issues, you cannot do that all of the time,” said Embly. “It's very horse-dependent and you have to look at each horse and their metabolic state to see which program works best for them.”
Other Factors
On top of the medication and access to unlimited forage, Embly reminds owners that they need to look at other factors, like stress factors. If a horse has a particular buddy in the pasture or next to him in the barn, and that buddy leaves for a period of time, that might increase the stress of that horse, for example.
“Ulcers are not just about feeding, of course, but also the stress level of the horse,” she said. “You have to analyze what is stressful in their day and see if you can minimize that.”
Give the Horse a Chance
With all this information given in different forms yearly, it's assumed that most owners are starting to follow prescribed actions to help their horses battle their gastric ulcers. In Embly's practice, her clients are aware that in order for their horses to perform at their very best when called upon, they must follow through with feeding and medication practices. Much can be said for racehorse trainers and other performance horse owners and trainers.
“My owners are amazing because they have their horses on preventatives, they know when there is just one slight thing wrong and they want to diagnose the issue as quickly as possible,” said Embly. “They know that if their horses feel better, they'll perform better and it's worth the money.”
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.One such example was a client's horse who started to have one slight quirk. The dressage gelding didn't have any complaints except for being a little spooky, which was out of the norm. Embly exhausted all diagnostics from lameness to blood tests and nothing came up abnormal.
“He was the fattest, laziest, sanest horse that gobbled his food and ate quickly,” she says. “He didn't show any of the classic signs of ulcers, but I had exhausted everything else except for scoping him for ulcers.”
With the owner's permission, the gelding was scoped to discover one of the worst cases of ulcers Embly had ever seen.
“You do have your classic ulcer signs—skinny, avoids grain, slow eater, dull coat—but then you have horse that is chunky, eats everything, shiny coat, perfectly beautiful coat…scoping for ulcers should always be on your diagnostic list,” she said.
The post The Horse Owner’s Role in Fighting Gastric Ulcer Syndrome: How Much Are You Willing To Change? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
