Fussy Filly

[flightcrash]

I’ll preface this by saying that my vet will be out again this week for a check up, but I wanted to get some ideas on what else to check my girl for before the appointment. I’ve searched high and low, but I don’t think I’m coming up with the correct technical terms for her symptoms and I’m getting beyond frustrated!

Anyway, I have a young homebred warmblood filly (my heart filly, of course!) who was born April 2014, so is right at 16 months old. She is incredibly sweet, well mannered, loves to be groomed, loves her baby lessons, coat has good condition, and she’s growing like a weed (currently right under 15.3h). Other than not being wild about her mane or ears being messed with, she’s wonderful to be around.

The problem is that last winter she started throwing little fits at meal times. This isn’t behavior that occurs with people in her space, but while eating her grain she’ll randomly back up, kick out, pin her ears, bite at her stomach, and swish her tail. There doesn’t seem to be a trigger, she’ll be eating quietly one minute and then going nuts the next.

She was getting Ultium Growth since before she was weaned, but I switched her to Strategy two months ago thinking maybe it would help. I add a scoop of Equishine to the Strategy by my bet’s recommendation. It has helped a little bit, but I wouldn’t say there’s been much improvement. She also gets an alfalfa mix twice daily with ample turnout (weather permitting she stays out 24/7). The behavior is the same whether she’s in or out. Her stomach also appears “tucked up” after eating. She’s also been on a regular deworming schedule, but I may have the vet do a fecal to see if there’s anything we may be missing.

So, I thought I had a case of ulcers on my hands based on her behavior, even though she is in great condition and doesn’t have the attitude problems normally associated with an ulcer horse. I started her on Succeed in March (still on it, her am feed even gets soaked to make sure she’s eating all of it) and we just finished a month course of omeprazole after the fecal test the vet did came up slightly positive for gastric ulcers and strongly positive for colonic ulcers. Omeprazole was given 30 minutes prior to getting am grain. Her symptoms still haven’t improved.

I guess I’m not sure where to go from here. My biggest concern is her being in pain, but then I’m also concerned about secondary injuries from catching the stall wall when she kicks out. This, of course, isn’t much of an issue when she’s outside. So, I’ve come to seek the wisdom of COTH! Has anyone else had an experience like this with a young horse? Is there anything it could be besides ulcers? Any other options out there for treatment? Any recommendations for daily supplements that could help keep her comfortable?

I’m incredibly grateful in advance for any answers or insight!!!

And a picture or two of the lovely lady because she’s my love

Sky
Sky Again
Sky again again - the chewed up fence is not her doing, former boarder that occupied her turnout was a cribber!

[alfonsina]

Poor girl! She does look very sweet. I would still be suspicious of ulcers. How did you treat for them? Gastrogard or a knock-off? 30 days is not always long enough of a treatment. It may be time to scope, so that you know.

Strategy by the way has an NSC level of 24, so not the most benign for digestive issues.

“Regular deworming”… do you mean automatically deworming periodically? FECs instead are the appropriate means nowadays to know IF your horse has worms, WHAT worms she has, and then a repeat FEC after deworming to check to be sure treatment was effective. Good luck.

[flightcrash]

Thank you for your reply!

We treated with a compounded omeprazole paste from my vet. He said it was the same thing as gastrogard, and I’ve had boarders use it in the past for treatment of ulcers with success. Although, my filly may just be special, haha!

I can talk to him about switching her to a ration balancer, she’s just been doing so well in terms of condition on the Strategy or Ultium Growth (was in a bit better condition on this) though that I’ve been hesitant to bring this up, especially since she’s growing! Are there any other suggestions?

She was wormed with strongid in January, panacur in March, equimax in May, and then strongid again in July. I should get up with the times and run fecals on everyone, I’ve just always done the rotation! I’ll definitely have doctor pull another fecal when he’s out

[RedHorses]

Random thoughts - gas? Excess acid pushing into her esophagus? Cramps from an allergy type reaction to something in the feed?

That’s a tough one. I hope you find the answer.

[Simkie]

Omeprazole can make hind gut ulcers worse. At this point, I think it would be wise to scope her to see what exactly is going on in her stomach and start her on Equishure or another round of Succeed for her hind gut.

I thought that single doses of Strongid and Panacur were useless due to resistance?

[flightcrash]

Oh, she’s been on Succeed continuously since March. I’ve invested quite a bit in meds for her so far, and while I don’t mind the expense if it’s helping her, it’s tough to swallow when it doesn’t seem to be doing anything! I hadn’t heard of Equishure before, but after a quick google, I can look into using it in conjunction with the succeed. I’m also going to ask about ranitidine for her.

She has been getting a double dose of Panacur, but not strongid, so that’s another thing to address once the fecal comes back.

I was afraid it was coming down to scoping her, but I don’t see a way around it at this point.

She is an incredibly herd bound horse. I’m used to mares being a bit clingy with their buddies, but she’s more than a little clingy. Her manners stay intact until she gets in her stall, but then she’ll be incredibly upset until her buddies are all accounted for. I’ve tried rotating her with different horses and she’s the same with all of them. I was almost wondering if it could be hormonal…