edited sorry
Hi all, just wanted to provide a little update as my mare has about 10 days left of her 30-day Nexium treatment, then I plan to start tapering her off. Her symptoms have gotten worse in the past week 
Sheās not accepting of my leg at ALL during rides and kicks out or even bucks JUST for me putting my leg on, and last night had explosive diarrhea in the crossties
Sheās been having on and off chronic diarrhea for longer than sheās been sensitive on her sides, so I previously wondered if the two symptoms were not even related. We changed her grain to address the diarrhea and itās been about 2 weeks that sheās been on the new grain, I didnāt notice a huge change but it also hadnāt gotten worse until last night.
The vet suggested that I try Bio Sponge for the diarrhea so I ordered that.
My question is, the mare is currently getting 60g of Equishure AND 60 mg of Nexium, along with 1/2 cup of Omega Horseshine. Would it be a bad idea to add another gut-related supplement to all that? Maybe I start tapering the Nexium now?
I think Iām just gonna bite the bullet and get her scoped
Iād also scope at this point. When the basics donāt work, more info is always better. There are things in the stomach that need more than just a PPI, or maybe the stomach is clean, and the hind gut needs more help. Getting a look at the stomach will definitely provide some direction.
If you just canāt scope, Iād taper nexium. Keep the equishure. Biosponge is great for diarrhea.
Good luck!
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I started my mare on Nexium this past Thursday. I decided on 4 pills, not 3 since she is a big girl (17hh). I saw her on Saturday and she was just much happier, not kicking at me when I did up the girth, didnāt get pissed off when I brushed her stomach, much happier to move forward under saddle, and stopped anxiously chewing her bit, etc. I was/am thrilled!
I did the barn chores/feed shift this morning and I discovered that the barn manager had misunderstood and was dosing her 4 pill am + pm instead of just in the am. Since the nexium 2x a day is getting such great results, I asked her to just drop the dose to 3 pills twice a day, instead of 4 pills just in the AM
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Canadians, where are you buying Nexium? So far I have only found it in packs of 14 capsules for $17.99 at the drug store, and $16.99 at the grocery store. Still a great price compared to a course of gastro guard, but can I do better?
I hadnāt read about Lecithin/Pectin. Thatās interesting. I feed papaya puree along with Outlast after my mare went through ulcer treatment.
Hi all sooo just an update for my pony. I had her scoped this morning finally! and the results areā¦ sheās almost completely ulcer free 
I did treat her with almost the full course of Nexium (4 weeks of 3 pills per day; 2 weeks of 2 pills; 1 week of 1 pill) but i decided to start tapering like 3 days early from the 3 pills per day because her symptoms were actually getting worse and that was when I decided to make the scoping appointment. Soooo Iām not sure the Nexium really did anything in my case because I guess gastric ulcers werenāt the problem! So glad I didnāt just go straight to buying ulcer/gastro guard and decided to scope first!!
She has gotten much better in the past two weeks with her sensitivity to my leg / general grumpiness, but that was only 2 weeks after like a month or more of her being just awful and reactive, kicking out and bucking at the tiniest bit of leg pressure.
The vet found basically 2 very tiny, not even grade 1 ulcers on the border between the two stomach layers (I forget the term for this, sorry!) and then he didnāt see anything in the pyloric region, but there was still a little bit of hay there so it wasnāt a 100% clear view. He kind of implied that the presence of pyloric ulcers would indicate hindgut ulcers too and that theyāre usually together?? Has anyone ever heard that before?
I think since I have it Iām just going to keep her on the Equishure, and keep hindgut ulcers open as a possibility since itās not officially ruled out, so if her symptoms come back/get worse maybe try some of the treatments for that. Or just continue down a rabbit hole of what else it might be, thereās infinite possibilities!!!
I had a feeling this would be the result though, I rode her last night and she was just really good and in a great mood and so willing and I was likeā¦ this scope is about to be a big waste of my money! lol love horses 
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According to my vet and the research Iāve read, pyloric ulcers are not necessarily connected to hind gut ulcers. There is no reliable way to tell if a horse has hind gut ulcers so the best you can do, if you think they have them, is treat them as best you can and see if things improve. Iāve had good luck with Succeed for one horse who definitely had hind gut ulcers and sucralfate seemed to work really well for my other horse who had stomach ulcers (scoped) and symptoms that indicated hind gut ulcers were a real possibility too. There is some evidence that omeprazole can cause and/or exacerbate hind gut ulcers, so it is not uncommon for hind gut ulcers to go hand in hand with stomach ulcers (which is what the vet thought was happening with my current horse who took 2 rounds of 28 days of gastrogard and sucralfate to clear up what seemed like not very severe, grade 2 ulcers).
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Bringing this thread back once again. Info mostly for my own reference: My little guy (1000 lbs) just moved due to a change in management at our old barn about 1.5 wks ago. New barn is great, out all day, has friends, our workload has not changed, our trainer even came out earlier this week and said things were still improving despite being interrupted by the move. He is a sensitive and nervous horse but the last couple of months coming out of winter (March and April in particular) he has been fantastic, relaxed, and improving very quickly. Our first ride at the new place was amazing, still the same relaxed horse and happy to be outside. The first few times I worked him he was great. Tension has been escalating since then only under saddle, my ride Wednesday was incredibly tense and he was distracted, yesterday he bolted off from the mounting block as soon as I got on and again halfway through our ride when some geese flew up (this one I at least understand). Didnāt want to maintain the left lead either and maybe he has been less dopey in the crossties.
He gets 1 lb Etec One and 1 lb FibreMax, 1.5 scoops Elevate vitamin E/day, and 1 scoop SmartCalm pellets for the magnesium. I added the FibreMax after moving thinking he was looking dingy coming out of winter. Hay quality has increased significantly at the new barn.
He got 3 generic 20 mg capsules last night with dinner, will again tonight. Has anyone had recent success? How long until you saw a difference? I will say this was ānormalā behavior for him in the fall but even then I felt something was not right. Heās showed me how he can be and how he wants to be the past few months and this is a huge difference. 
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I have a horse on Nexium now. She sliced open her forehead screwing around on a very windy day, and after a few doses of banamine and antibiotics (nevermind the pain, stress, sedation of the day of) was really acting like her belly was a problem.
After two doses she was looking much better. Iāll run her through a course and taper. Still works great for me!
Itās my go to instead of Ulcergard now so any situations needing Ulcergard, I just substitute Nexium (or the Amazon or Costco generic). Works great.
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Well, I donāt know if itās the Nexium or that I finally told my trainer that heās been horrible this week (sheās coming tonight) but he was super last night. Relaxed, didnāt even think about spooking once. He gave his rope halter some half-hearted side eye because it was hanging on the fence, but thatās it.
I gave him the first dose after the horrible ride and we did a handwalk on the trail the day after. One day off, then longe in the field with some small up-downs, then back to usual work yesterday. So I did cut back the workload/stress a little. Hopefully things will continue to improve.
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I just āinheritedā a 6yo OTTB - kicked him out on 30 acres and started Nexium on 5/13. He had a reputation at the track for being quite a nasty horse. Every day he is less testy about his back and belly being groomed, Nexium is also now my go-to. Heāll get four full weeks of three capsules/day then a slow taper. So grateful for this thread!
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I did not have any noticeable improvement using Nexium.
The Abler granules worked wonders week one. Noticed obvious improvement in behavior. I do a month at treatment level then a second month weaning down.
Outlast really helps to maintain.
However; moving barns seems to cause a flare up. Which has happened twice in the past couple years. To professional training and then back.
How many mg did you use?
The 60mg dosing most often cited is only proven to raise pH for about 6 hours. It takes more like .5mg/kg for 24 hour increase, which is 12.5 of the 20mg pills for a 500kg/1100lb horse (so might as well just make it the whole 14 pill bottle).
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Unfortunately my horse is another case where the 3 Nexium/day dosage doesnāt appear to have been effective. My horse was on Nexium and Equishure for 4 weeks. I saw some improvement the first week (her main symptoms are girthiness and being tense/spooky while jumping), but then it plateaued so had her scoped last week. The scope showed grade 2 squamous ulcers. The vet said they looked ārecent in appearanceā, so not old or healing. So horse is now on GG plus sucralfate. Interestingly, she said that squamous ulcers often donāt need the full course of GG. So she is prescribing 2 weeks of full tube plus sucralfate, then 1 week of half tube GG, then 1 week of quarter tube, and then rescope.
Anyone in Canada able to get Nexium?
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Hello, my ottb gelding has been spooky and is sensitive to flank and girth /chest area touches, so i am considering a test run of Nexium. He was treated for ulcers in February with GG, but Iām wondering if they have reoccurred because we have had two barn moves in the last few months (boarding can be so fun, blah) and he is the type to feel unsettled by big changes like this.
At our new place he has awesome 24/7 turnout, a grain free diet, and as much hay/decent pasture as he can eat. the only challenge is that we prebag grain and have one barn staff member that doesnāt always get AM/PM feeds correct. For that reason, I would like to be able to dose him AM and PM, to make sure things are consistent. Should I feed 3 capsules AM and 3 capsules PM? or 2 and 2? Horse is 16.3, close to 1300lbs.
I was also thinking of adding equishure to each feeding as well for hindgut stuff. Or could do succeed tubes 2x per day in baggies, he loves those. Not sure if there are faves out there people use while doing Nexium? Thank you in advance for any advice!
My mare was scoped and found positive for ulcers last winter. She was to the point of bucking in canter, super girthy, very irritable and unhappy being brushed / loved on.
I did 3 pills AM / PM for 30 days then tapered down reducing a pill from each feed over 3-4 weeks. For the first 2 weeks she was on misoprostol and the second 2 weeks sucralfate.
About 2 weeks ago she started showing just the slightest whispers of ulcers again - bit hesitant to take the bit, early signs of being girthy, slightly resistant to moving off the leg. I started her on 3 pills AM / PM of Nexium immediately and 48 hours later she was happy happy again. Iām going to do out the full 28 days + taper but since sheās already showing improvement Iām just doing the Nexium (no misoprostol or sucralfate).
We had a few stressful outings / weekends away this fall and I did do prevention measures while traveling but donāt think it was enough. For reference my mare is 15.2 and ~1000 lb.
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How much Nexium would you use to replace a 3 scoop dose of Abler granules? 3 capsules once a day? Twice?
My horse is on Abler now but our next shipment is being held for customs inspection apparently and may not get to us before my current supply runs out. 
