Wait, what?!?! Gastroguard offers a free second round if there are still ulcers after treatment and a second scope?
They sure do! I remember reading about it somewhere (probably on here), and then my vet brought it up before I had a chance to ask, when he came to scope. He checked in with the rep to confirm that the program was still active, which it is. We finish our 28 days of Gastrogard tomorrow and have a rescope booked for Thurs.
I donāt think it matters, but Iām in Ontario.
1 Like
Thank you so much, SolarFlare-Iāll ask my vet about it. I hope your rescope on Thursday goes well!
1 Like
Yes, they do! Itās called the Assurance Program. I utilized it last summer, and they covered my horseās second full round of GG in full. They do require that the horse be scoped prior to the first round of treatment and at conclusion. Your vet will submit their findings and the company will determine whether a second round can be covered.
1 Like
My horse had his rescope this morning. His last dose of Gastrogard (28 days) was Monday. I put him on 4 Nexium Tues and Wed as I didnāt want him off omeprazole if he hadnāt healed yet.
The scope this morning showed near total healing, with just a small patch of very minor, healing ulcers. The vet described it as ānot active, more like discolouration from where the ulcers wereā. He recommended one more week of GG to clear that last patch up fully.
We took a photo of the patch and heās sent it to the GG rep. Just waiting on approval now but it sounds like they ARE going to send me a second round. In the meantime I have 10 tubes for the week of treatment plus a few extra for pre-show prevention.
Once heās off the GG, Iāll put him back on the Mad Barn Visceral. I had him on it from December onwards, but hoping now that the ulcers have actually cleared up, it will assist with prevention. I have a bunch left as I bought the giant tub. I did email Mad Barn to ask what to do as it clearly did not heal the ulcers after over 6 months on it (they promote it as being able to heal and prevent), and they suggested temporarily putting him on a double dose (1 scoop am and pm) for extra support when heās done the GG, then back down to 1 scoop for maintenance. Itās not cheap (about $3/day for the maintenance dose) but if it will help, Iām willing to keep him on it.
Horse is licking his bowl clean at every meal and behaviour is back to his wonderful self. Heās got a very fine coat so I hadnāt realized it wasnāt really at its best, until about 3 weeks on GG when overnight it went to slick as glass (which is normally what heās like in the summer). Heās super shiny again. He dropped a touch of weight as vet advised we cut back on any concentrates during treatment (they upped his beet pulp and cut back on the senior feed) but he should put that back on now.
5 Likes
curious, are you in the US? Just began reading about injectable omeprazole, thinking this would be worth a try but from what I read itās not available in the US yet.
what dose of Nexium would you use for pre-show preventative?
I am in the US. My vet and I tried injectable omeprazole, but had to discontinue use because my horse had serious side effects, including injection site swelling, fever and lethargy. The fever was the most troublesome side effect. The side effects lasted almost a solid week. I do not recommend.
good to know, thank you. Was concerned about the side effects after reading some articles from Australia.
The plan was to give him a few days at the full 4-pill dose, since that definitely seemed to help. However, I did get approved for 28 free Gastrogard after the rescope, so since Iāll have that on hand, vet suggested 1/4 tube for 3 days before the show, then a full tube on the day of the show. I donāt want to waste the last 1/4 tube so Iāll probably just do 1/4 tube for 4 days.
1 Like
I am in the middle of a Nexium ātrialā and so farā¦positive results. My barn owner asked me if I had noticed any differences in Kyraās behavior. Not with meā¦she was fine and riding as usual. She was being very aggressive to both her neighbors. She agreed to use a hay nets for her hay and in racking my brain, I remembered this thread and decided to try a course of Nexium.
Well she is finishing week two of Nexium and she is back to normal relations with her neighbors which still isnāt great but she isnāt trying to rip their faces off. She showed no fussing with grooming or girthing but by the middle of last week she was mellow with a capital āMā. I thought I was going to have to carry her out to the arena 
. I even checked her temp a couple days she was that mellow (it was normal).
The interesting thing so far is that this horse has always been uber fussy in the mouth. We dabble with training dressage. Some bits do pinch her cheeks but we have long ago (she is 20) weeded out the ones that do that and are down to a couple that I use her and donāt pinch her. Nevertheless she has a long history of bit resistance and tends to carry tension in her mouth. She tries really hard but often gets bracey in the mouth. This last week she has been surprisingly and pleasantly quiet with her mouth. I mean light and day different.
So, with her being more peaceful to the neighbors and the improvement in connection, I am going to finish out the 28 days and then taper. She is now getting her 3 meals in slow feed hay nets and I hope that keeps the tummy happy. I give her Outlast before I ride. If she relapses behavior wise, I will have her scoped but thought I would try the cheaper alternative first. So far, so good.
Susan
5 Likes
oops - wrong forum!
Iāve lurked on COTH for years but joined just for this thread.
Iāve read through the entire thing and read it again, come close to trying the Nexium then get freaked out, but I started my horse on 60mg/day yesterday figuring I had nothing to lose, especially knowing that my horse had a more mild case of gastric ulcers if any at all.
Day 2 and she is already a different horse, Iām kicking myself for waiting so long. I have my dosage and taper plan ready and am looking forward to seeing how the rest of this trial goes.
7 Likes
Firstly, I want to say that this thread is so helpful!
My quickish story - very similar to some others - TB with high anxiety, head tossing, biting at girth, touchy to groom (formerly loved grooming), pissy in general (formerly kinda lovey). spooky.
Well, ulcers seem to be the consensus and Iām going to go ahead and treat with the Nexium since its cheap.
My question is, what is the go-to for aftercare maintenance? I see that a weaning off period is needed, but is there something you keep them on long-term? Succeed/Equishure/Outlast?
I am planning on doing one thing/time so I know whats working, my long-term maintenance plan was to add a little alfalfa into the mix, along with continuing the Outlast (after the Nexium is phased out).
Also wanted to add for anyone coming here for the first time - I got generic Nexium at a grocery store, 42 mini caplets for $15. Amazon has them even cheaper but the shipping is going to take about a week so I wanted to get some right away, and Iāll order the Amazon stuff to start after I run out of these.
1 Like
This is going to be dependent on your setup, and what works for you horse. If you canāt address the reason behind the ulcers, yeah, some sort of maintenance is probably a good idea.
If you have a Costco, watch there for sales. They have their own generic, and I think that might be the best price going on esomeprazole 
1 Like
Thanks for the tip! I am a Costco member. So I will definitely keep my eyes out!
Horse is at home, with two other horses. So I do have the ability to feed 3+ meals/day, and have control over timing (within reason - I do work outside the home). But in that respect we are lucky. I would say the biggest contributor to our issues are that this time of year, we donāt have grass turnout, to preserve the small amt of acreage we have, but horsie has 24/7 stall access and paddock, and hay in front of them most of the time.
While I have you, Iām assuming the Outlast is kind of not worth feeding right now, correct? Since the Nexium reduces the acid, and the Outlast buffers it, but if thereās no acid to buffer, its kind of worthless right?
Yeah, a buffer at this point is probably a waste.
For winter issues, you might try upping his vit e and/or blanketing him heavier than you think he āneeds.ā Think about allllll the things that change in winter and how they might be able to be addressed. 
3 Likes
Your help is very much appreciated!
Amazing, amazing thread. Starting my guy on Nexium tomorrow thanks to last weekās cold snap. Update on best pricing, Samās Club was the best pricing I found (42 capsules) in their generic at $12.98 compared to Costco at $13.99.
Not a huge difference, but large enough difference to note in my opinion.
