My horse recently went on antibiotics for a week to clear up an infection. I am doing 2 Nexium per day (what I’ve read to be the basic treatment level for very mild or ulcer prevention). My horse doesn’t have active ulcer symptoms, but I know Bute and antibiotics can be a trigger, so I’m doing this as a preventative. She is also on Uckele GUT daily. I did the 40mg Nexium for a week and will probably wean down to 20mg by the end of this 2nd week and stop. Again, horse is not a chronic or high ulcer risk-type, so I don’t turn to Nexium heavily in situations like this. Technically there’s no harm in over-dosing with a pill or 2, but I also don’t want her system to become “dependent” on esomeprazole unnecessarily. You’ve got to go with your own judgement sometimes in these cases…
Nexium does not work on hindgut ulcers (nor does gastrogard). There is some evidence that omeprazole and the like may actually exacerbate hind gut ulcers…as with less stomach acid, food may pass through the gut poorly digested, thus disturbing the bacteria and pH balance of the hindgut (at least, that’s what I was told).
I had a mare fresh off the track with raging ulcer symptoms. Treated with Nexium, she showed good improvement…but still had soft manure, harsh coat and ribby. I could have tried sucralfate, but instead I put her on DAC CoolGut digestive support, and I’m pleased with the results. In two weeks, her coat was glossy, manure was solid, and she was filling out over her barrel. I keep her on CoolGut, amd started my other two horses on it, too. Pretty cost effective source of Omega 3, though it may take some horses awhile to adapt to the taste.
I give 3 tabs the night before trailering. Occasionally I give another dose the next night.
My horse was showing mild gas colic symptoms at meals. I did 3 tabs once a day for a couple months than tapered down. Touch wood she’s been great and I do use it as a preventative.
I am moving my horse on Sunday to a new barn. The last time we moved him (to my current barn), he was extremely stressed out for the first week. He didn’t eat his grain (we have switched to a newer, better grain) and was pacing a lot.
When we go to shows, he tends to be stressed out, soft stools, and a bit “spooky”. At my show this weekend, I treated him with Ulcergard and he did better than any other show we’ve been to in the last year. He didn’t finish his grain but was eating hay, drinking well, not spooky, and behaved like the gentleman that he is.
I was going to use ulcergard for about 9 days (start 2 days before the move, then continue for 7 more days), but that isn’t cheap.
Any recommendations on how much to give and for how long?
I am thinking I would give 3 pills for 7 days (Friday - Thursday), then start tapering down. But, I’m not sure how quickly I should do the tapering.
@mydogs I would do 60 mg for your nine days (or until he stops acting nervous, if he frets again with the move) then 40 for a week and 20 for a week. 
I’ve got a new horse coming that has been on the Purina Outlast a few months now, as she noticed off the track he wasn’t eating or feeling great. Now he eats heartily and is significantly better overall.
I’m looking at just purchasing a bag of Outlast to keep him on, but wondering if anyone has experience against using Outlast vs. Nexium?
It sounds like he is not in an active ulcer stage now, but I want to support him during the move to my place. Should I keep with Outlast, or would a 30day Nexium round and taper and see where we are at be a better idea?
Outlast is a buffer. I don’t think there are any studies of buffers actually treating ulcers? I always treat horses coming off the track, and I’d do the same here, with the goal of not needing any stomach support for the day to day stuff.
Or, discontinue the Outlast, see what you have, and go from there. Maybe the horse is fine now and you don’t need anything?
One week in at 60mg/day and I have noticed a significant difference in my 9yo OTTB LL eventer. He had started stomping his hind legs under saddle and engaging in a LOT of tail swishing in the last month since we started going out and doing many things (events, clinics, paces, etc.), but these were atypical behaviors for him. Initially, I suspected back soreness, however, chiro and massage therapist have confirmed no pain, he recently had his teeth done, and his joints are good. Figured it couldn’t hurt to throw a treatment round of Nexium at him, given the increase in workload and travel.
The stomping and tail swishing have ceased 100% and his behavior was significantly calmer than typical at our HT over the weekend.
There is no reason it wouldn’t work, but it is more expensive than omeprazole at treatment doses for horses
Did you actually read the first post? Or any subsequent ones?
Thanks, yes I agree I don’t think it treats ulcers like others, but maybe just helps the unsettled/worrier type tummies (wish I could find something for my own tummy like that!).
I’m torn for sure! at least Outlast is easy to come by here if I notice he needs it, just trying to plan out if I should give him anything for the transition. I’ll ask current owner to pack a ziploc of it for us to use the first week and go from there.
I can’t tell you all how grateful I am to have found this thread. I have two OTTBs, both mares, one 20 years old (got her off the track at 5) and the other is 4 (just arrived from the track on 7/18). My horses are at home and are essentially on 24/7 pasture turnout with grain 2x/day.
Back Story:
My older mare, Jewel, has had a rough spring, which I blamed on the harsh winter we had. However, she has also been incredibly irritable under saddle. Usually she is ready to work, but our last couple lessons have included rearing and kicking out. She is a princess, but this is NOT normal behavior for her.
The new mare (Napa) is very sweet and laid back. A very different personality from Jewel. As mentioned, she is 4 and came to me last week, directly from the track. I have had her less than a week at this point, so I don’t really know what is “normal” for her. She is ouchy everywhere (shoulders, topline, hind end), feet in poor condition, etc. Kind of par for the course for me experience with fresh from the track OTTBs (I’ve had 14 of them off the track).
On Friday, I had my local equine body work practitioner (recommended by my vet) out to work on both mares. Both tested positive (on accupressure points) for ulcers. Obviously, this isn’t the same as scoping, but I believe in this type of work. And I believe that if I’m willing to listen to them, the horses tell me when something is wrong through their behavior.
Last night Napa had a mild colic episode about 1/2 way through her grain (2 lbs of Kalm N EZ). I contacted my vet. Napa seemed to recover quickly enough and based on my description of events, vet suggested ulcers and getting her started on gastroguard/ulcerguard right away.
Treatment:
After looking at the cost of gastroguard/ulcerguard, looking at my bank account – and contemplating discussing treatment costs with my non-horsey husband – I have decided to move forward with Nexium treatments for both horses. I plan to keep a fairly detailed record (as much as possible) of behavior (eating, grooming, under saddle, etc.) for both horses along with dosage, etc. I am also going to see if my vet has any interest in doing a scope study on them. While Nexium may not be FDA approved, it is definitely bank-account approved.
My theory as well. While my “hony” does not present as clinically “ulcery”; he has an ucler prone environment and has moments under saddle that could be attributed to ulcers. At 26 bucks for a 5 week trial (3 weeks of treatment and 2 weeks to wean him off) I couldn’t not try it.
Update:
20 Year Old TB Mare:
I didn’t start my older mare on it. I’m going to try her on a digestive supplement first. We’ll see how that goes. I discussed it with my vet and she thought that a support supplement might be better for her since she is still looking really good (not ulcery). She suggested scoping her before treatment. At this point, I’m not going to do that.
4 Year Old TB Mare:
Tonight will be treatment #4 of Nexium (3 pills fed with handful of grain about 10 minutes before she gets her evening feed). She came off the track a week ago. Until today, she has been seen ONLY WALKING in the pasture for turnout. And she had a mild colicky episode on Friday night. What young TB only walks in the pasture? One that feels like crap, apparently. Today (3 days into Nexium), she is cantering, galloping and playing in the pasture!! WOOT!
Interesting that you mentioned your horse walking in the pasture.
I just moved my horse to a new farm at the beginning of the month. It was a big move since many horses were moving barns together due to the previous one closing to boarders. Talk about a stressful situation for horses and owners.
I knew it would be stressful so I started my horse on Nexium before the move but only did a week-long treatment and then 2 weeks of weaning off. Turns out, that was the wrong idea. I should have done a whole month of full treatment.
Here is my Nexium success story:
Situation
- Horse moved to a new barn at the 1st of the month - was on Nexium for 3 weeks (1st week - 3 pills; 2nd week - 2 pills; 3rd week - 1 pill)
- Horse was pacing the fence line within 20 minutes to 4 hours of being outside and would not stop until he was inside, even if it meant he was dripping sweat and breathing really hard
- Gave horse a new friend, seems to help (17.1hh horse LOVES his 13hh best friend) but not a lot, still pacing
- On the 2nd week, horse started to stay outside all night for 2 or 3 days but then we got bombarded with rain storms for a week straight so no horse was going outside
- Horse would no longer stay outside all night long after the rain storms and he was not getting Nexium
- Gave horse 1/2 tub of ulcergard for a weekend show - HORSE HAPPILY STAYS OUTSIDE for 2 nights in a row, yeah! Immediate results with ulcergard
- Horse doesn't get ulcergard after the show, he starts pacing the fence again
I will be giving him 3 pills for 3 weeks, 2 pills for 1 week, then 1 pill for 1 week.
He is also now on Outlast to act as a long-term buffer, but it does not work as quickly or as well as Nexium or Ulcergard. My horse was on Outlast for a few days without any other medicine and he was still pacing the fenceline.
Love hearing about successes!!
I’ve got one of mine on it right now, too. She’s on antibiotics, and was on banamine, which automatically = Nexium. Figure I’ll start a taper when she comes off the antibiotics. But she’s been great through it all, despite a painful cellulitis, three days of banamine every 12 hours, and the SMZs. Love how easy it is!
I just weaned my 5-1/2 month old TB colt. I had been doing gradual separation during/after feed time for several weeks, which was going well but colt could be a little distracted at feed time and wouldn’t always finish. The day I took the mare away for good, I started him on 1 Nexium a day.
Two days later he was eating better than ever. It’s been 10 days now, no attachment left for his dam, but I’ve kept him on the Nexium. He’s actually gained weight since weaning. Not sure how to taper off 1 pill (open the capsule??) but I just want to add that it’s great for weanlings too!
Great thread! I have a horse that has just had laparoscopic/standing surgery. The prep for that surgery was quite a lot of fasting (reduced hay for 1 day, no hay but grain allowed for 5 days total, and no food at all for more than 48 hours) and she is now on banamine for pain while gradually being reintroduced to food. She is not generally ulcer-prone (although I do preventative treat with Abler products for 1 day before, during, and 1-2 days after when traveling/showing), but I’m thinking this situation would be high risk for ulcer development? So perhaps I should do a full 4 week course plus tapering? Thoughts or relevant experiences?
If you’d started prior to fasting, I’d say you could treat through your “stress” period and taper. Since you’re now playing catch up, I’d do a full month. Preventing versus treating is how I view it. There are a lot of roads to Rome, and this is just how I would approach :yes:
Good luck!
OK, that’s kinda how I was looking at it. The surgery was planned fairly quickly so I was busy with the multiple things that needed to be in place for it to happen and it just didn’t cross my mind. Also, I am not sure the hospital would have been willing to deal with it so she would have been off it while she was there anyway (total of 7 days by the time she comes home).
