I recently purchased a horse. Had no topline and was a bit underweight. I did treat him for ulcers based on his symptoms while eating. He would get down and roll, then get up and eat his grain again. Classic gastric ulcer sign. He had a course of Gastrogard. He’s food, obsessive and always hungry, even though he is well fed. I’m thinking again that perhaps he has pyloric ulcers, which Gastrogard will not heal. I do plan to get him scoped, but was wondering if there is some supplement that someone had has tried that they really feel has helped their horses’ gut heal. This has affected his temperament. Has anyone tried Digestive HP? Thanks in advance.
my mare is on it. full disclosure, she hates it and won’t eat their recommended serving size. prior to going on it, she lived on both sucralfate and gg. i weaned off gg and onto digestive hp in (late?) september, she’s currently getting just over half their serving size but that’s all i can get her to eat. since being on it, her anxiety level has completely come down - she is much more at peace, for lack of a better term. but as far as an ulcer preventative, she’s getting scoped on tuesday so will let you know!
I’d be interested to hear the scoping results. Did anything else change besides adding the HP and taking her off GG? Do you think that her anxiety has decreased due to dormant ovaries? Thanks for responding. I hate to get caught up in the whole supplement thing.
What is ‘well fed’?
Soy free RB, 1/2# Triple Crown Senior 2x/day so he has something to munch on, free choice excellent quality well made orchard grass hay with some alfalfa in front of him almost all the time and Emcelle Vitamin E.
Ask your vet to test gut fluid (pulled during gastroscopy) for both pH and for bacteria.
Good suggestion although he may do it anyway.
It’s super expensive and I’m sure a product that has better ingredients for cheaper is out there, but we are ulcer free and my horse eats this like it’s candy. There is this one and a slightly less expensive version that works. It’s pellets now and not powder.
My anxious horse is no longer anxious.
https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=52001DBE-A5E6-4ACA-9327-D2BDD239FE4B
I think all gut supplements will be YMMV and based on the actual issue at hand if you can track it down, but this was recommended to me by my nutrition-nerd vet for my senior gelding and he was a different horse after being on it about a week - I never did any scoping or anything but he had a few colic episodes that we couldn’t really figure out so this was a recommendation based on his symptoms and they did resolve.
Pricey, but cheaper than a bi-monthly emergency vet visit because he was feeling ouchy
I would remove all beet pulp from the diet and see where he is in two weeks.
Probiotics from two different brands don’t seem to be making a difference either way. But Equishure made my hindgut filly better after a round of sucralfate. Recently her manure started to get loose and small, so we’re a week into trying Outlast and her poops are larger and harder. Outlast also seems to be reducing wood chewing in my other mare but tbd on that.
It’s pricey but I have been really pleased with the SmartCombo Ultimate supplement. It has everything I would want to supplement except Vit E. Before I was using the SmartGut Ultra and really liked it too. My horse eats them well, and they are pelleted which K much prefer to a powder.
her scope came back perfectly clean for squamous (which is where historically we have battled) and one small area in the glandular which vet thinks should be mild enough to be non-clinical (causing her to demonstrate pain, but we’re going to try hitting it with misoprostol anyway). in all the times i’ve scoped her throughout the years, this is the best her stomach has ever looked. and i don’t think the decrease is related to dormant ovaries as she’s also always been on regumate, and even prior winters she hasn’t been this chill.
Very much appreciate all the information and experience shared here. If it matters, it will also help another horse.
Wow. Congratulations on a positive scoping. So I guess Digestive HP may be on to something. Thanks for the update!
Why remove feedwith beet pulp?
@Maude I’ve had the best luck with Uckele GUT hands down over the years …I also like feeding soaked Pink Mash along with Purina Outlast
Thanks so much!