What is your favorite gastric support supplement for “lanky” body type young warmblood horses?
horse is not colicky, but having a hard time gaining weight. He lives with a round profiled field mate, so that hurts hay feeding options.
Our OTTB has bloomed on Outlast. It was recommended by the vet who scoped him for ulcers.
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I’ve had good results feeding Succeed to my senior TB mare. She’s got a history of frequent gas colics and ulcers. I started her on two months of the VF paste formula and then switched over to the granules. She went from a gas colic episode every few months with at least one fairly serious episode about yearly, to one or two very minor episodes per year on average.
Bravo has always been a wood-chewer. I treated for ulcers a few times with no effect… then recently I started feeding Perfect Products Gastroease EQ https://www.bigdweb.com/product/code/8002D.do?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9ciQ6rT46wIVApSzCh3TrAokEAQYAiABEgLUU_D_BwE and it was somewhat resolved. However, when I added KER Equishure https://ker.com/digestive-health/equishure/ I have noticed he is not eating fences or wood any more… so… I think these, together, are a good combo. One is gastric, the other hind gut…
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One of my OTTBs is on Neigh Lox daily and has done great on it. My vet recommended it after ulcer diagnosis and a full round of GastroGuard. We have not had even a hint of ulcer recurrence or colic since.
If your horse will eat it, I really like G.U.T. - it has components for both hind gut and stomach protection and it’s reasonably priced. It is a fine powder and has a fairly strong smell to it, so although I’ve never had a problem getting my horses to eat it, I imagine it might be an issue if your horse is picky or hates powders.
No supplement will heal existing ulcers (IMO), so you need to treat first (omeprazole for stomach ulcers and/or I’ve had great success with Succeed for hind gut) then use a supplement for ongoing protection. Note that there is some evidence that omeprazole can exacerbate hind gut issues, so bear that in mind when determine what, if any, treatment is appropriate for your horse.
I’m in a similar situation I also have a lanky young warmblood that is a hard keeper and her 2 pasturemates are very round so I can’t really add any alfalfa. My girl is on Forco and I think that’s really helped her. I could see all of her ribs when she went first went on it and now she’s actually a little pudgy (which I kind of don’t mind going into winter).
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Thanks I will look into it.
I’ve been using SmartGut Ultra, I do think it helps, but it’s expensive. Since I stall at night I do feed alfalfa also.
Agree with others, treat first then do preventative.
I just read an article from KER about hard keepers and gut flora. Seems the hard keepers had different populations of bacteria in their guts. After reading this, I have started giving my harder keeper Probios… too soon for any results. https://ker.com/equinews/equine-intestinal-microbiome-contrasts-in-easy-and-hard-keepers/?highlight=gut%20flora%20in%20hard%20keepers
MadBarn Visceral. Introduce it a few pellets at a time - it’s got an odd smell, but every horse I’ve put it on has learned to enjoy it. It’s excellent.
To me it smells like a mix of Nestle Quik and something I can’t quite put my finger on. Lol
I had to add water to meals for him to eat it but he’s that way with all powder.
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Uckele GUT is wonderful… did great things for my guy when he was on stall rest. I did end up treating him for ulcers with Nexium and then had him on GUT for a period of time after and he’s doing great. He didn’t show any outward physical signs for ulcers, it was his behavior. He was attacking my senior TB. Now he’s a big puppy dog.
I always thought it smelled like cocoa 
… my dude ate it right up.
Ordered and on the way. Will report back.
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same! I actually really like the smell LOL. I just dry mix it in with the TC Complete and he eats it up.
