Ulcers can cause malabsorption in general, depending on how severe they are and how long they’ve been around. B12 and magnesium are 2 nutrient most commonly involved.
But if treatment goes on long enough, because the reduced acid production results in a lower ability to break food down into its usable parts. B12 relies directly on an acidic enough stomach in order to break down the proteins that contain it, and that’s just to get to the point of being able to bind that now-freed B12 with another protein that makes it bioavailable in the rest of the body.
It’s long been held that if a horse is reactive, spooky, cranky on top of typical acupressure points being reactive, it’s prudent to put them on an ulcer supplement or just go straight to the gg.
Not sure if it’s “long held”, but that’s the current thought process. It’s not one I necessarily agree with, as I think it’s more complicated than that. But a trial run of 5-7 days of treatment won’t hurt and may given you valuable input. I would go to a treatment product, not just a supplement aimed at “prevention”.
There are any number of other issues that can have a horse reacting that way, so it’s good to be open to ruling out other things as well
It got me thinking: if a horse seems to have dramatic behavioral improvement after the 28 day course of gg, but still has an exaggerated response to certain stimuli, I wonder if they’re subsequently dealing with a B12 issue. B12 of course being the vitamin for neurological health, among other things.
Vets, nutrition experts, anyone with experience: care to chime in?
Thanks.
It’s definitely possible. A diet high in sugar can cause a B1 deficiency, as the high sugar diet upsets the healthy microbiome necessary to produce what the horse needs, so he can never catch up. Making sure the diet is lower NSC, or at least not feeding pounds of a high NSC concentrate, and supplementing a small container of B1, usually is enough to get them in balance again, and then they can keep up with B1 production themselves.
