In general having forage 24/7 buffers acid production and is a preventative for ulcers. Since your horses are all on pasture, most are not in work or even broke to ride, I would expect them to not have ulcers
I don’t know if anyone has studied ulcer rates in feral or pasture horses.
@McGurk do you trailer this horse anywhere?
I have one that sounds a lot like your boy. His trigger is the trailer. I started dosing him the day before, during, and after any time there is a trailer trip and I try to limit how often we trailer and how long it is. With him, I’m convinced the ulcers are a side effect from ramped up anxiety about the trailer.
Funnily enough, he is my best hauler and loader - but he won’t touch a flake of hay or even grain once he’s loaded in. That was really my first clue something wasn’t right for him because he’s practically an air hose when it comes to food. I use him to finish of the goat hay, he is that much of a vacuum.
FWIW,
My vet is having me run allergy tests on my one guy who is constantly uncomfortable GI wise.
Good to hear. There is just so much talk about ulcers in horses… I guess when you have one with ulcers you learn the signs pretty well.
FWIW: 10, ie half, of them are broke to ride. BUT you’re right, only five of those i actually DO ride, other five are pasture ornamentation. One of the mustangs is carrying me bareback. Got another mustang making nice progress in that direction. And both of them are in paddock on hay (no grain…just pasture grass hay and alfalfa hay). I don’t think any of them have a stressful life though. Ulcers are basically from stress in horses? Like people?
My layperson explanation: even horses who aren’t in hard work or “stressed” can have ulcers. Unlike people, who create stomach acid when they eat or are stressed, horses’ stomachs create acid constantly whether eating or not. As grazers designed to eat ~18 hrs/day, their stomachs secrete acids constantly to handle the almost constant flow of food through the gut. Most boarding stables don’t have 24/7 hay or pasture access, hence the majority of stabled horses having some level of gastric irritation.
Anyone can correct me if I’ve got this wrong…
Trailering is not a stressor. He loves the trailer, destroys his haynet on the road, walks off quietly and stands tied to the trailer until it’s time to do his job.
Had a big trailer tire blow out last summer, tire delaminated and ripped off the fender of the trailer, and he stood there. And stood quietly on the trailer for 45 minutes while I wrangled help and changed the tire. Never pawed, never fussed, just worked on his hay net.
The thing that triggered the ulcers for his previous owner was stall rest. (Blew a big abscess and was on stall rest for 30 days.) To this day, he prefers being fed in the open on a fence feeder, or in a stall that’s open to his paddock.
He also has a very strong adverse reaction to ring work. Which I also share, so we get along famously on that point.
He’s …quirky. But the loveliest horse on the planet when his tummy is happy.
Based on what I’m reading on this thread, once spring grass is really pumping, I may add the Purina OutLast back to his ration and start weaning off the omep again.
Random stranger on the internet with more annoying input 
:
The aversion to ringwork makes me think pain that he is stoicly hiding very well and you’d probably never pinpoint with all the diagnostics in the world.
That, or allergy (which could be causing said pain).
Not annoying, a good point, but I don’t know how I would test for/rule it out.
I suspect his reaction to ring work is plain ol’ ring sourness from being drilled in the ring.
He is a VERY happy horse going cross country, and he’s quite happy doing flat work in an open field, including 20 m circles and figures.
Also, in the two trials we’ve had weaning him off ulcer meds, the change in behavior was quite dramatic, both when he wasn’t feeling good and then when he was again.
He is a very special snowflake. But I feel the need to mention again, the loveliest of horses when his tummy doesn’t hurt.
Eh. Short of doing a gastric scope, you really don’t know if your horses are ulcer free or not.
I’m currently treating my mare for grade 3 squamous and pyloric ulcers. She’s glossy coated, normal poops, not gassy, zero sensitivity, no grouchiness, not an ounce of girthy attitude, etc. She just seemed “different” in a way I couldn’t put my finger on and I wanted to rule out her stomach before looking into other things.
Everyone was surprised at the state of her stomach including the vet. She has an incredibly low pressure life without any risk factors for ulcers.
I completely understand and believe you! I’m not trying to make you feel “bad” about the situation; sometimes I think these conversations turn into shaming. I think you are doing the absolute best for him.
I’m definitely not proposing anything like “stop riding him” even if it is a pain thing. I just threw it out there as food for thought. I have seen a surprising number of horses (even very high level horses) who have physical issues that don’t bother them jumping, but become irritated by the repetition of ringwork.
It’s probably the kind of thing you’ll never figure out if you went hunting for a problem. Yet you may have an “a-ha!” moment about it some day if something leads to the puzzle pieces falling into place.
Even allergy testing isn’t conclusive; do you know how many horses I’ve met who are allergic to life? How do you even manage that if that’s your result?
My piggy boy never had a problem eating, he did slow way down on his water intake. He also zoned out. He was scoped and had horrible ulcers. The vet clinic took pics to use in an ulcer presentation. So now I am extra aware that he is more sensitive than I thought, and I will give omeprazole before stressful situations and try to steer clear of nsaids unless they are very necessary. He is on Gut-X once a day.
I heard this from somebody else yesterday and I’m extremely interested in the results. I have a horse who is (skin-wise, anyway) allergic to every-damn-thing. He is also ulcer prone. It makes me wonder if there is a connection.
Total spinoff, but for folks who say they or their horses hate dressage or arena work…As a dressage trainer, if I had a dollar for everytime I’ve heard this from a rider, I’d be rich 
It’s the rider’s responsibility to make the job we want our horses to do happy! If we hate or don’t understand the point of flatwork, our horse will feel the same because they’re a reflection of us. I love dressage work and all the horses I ride do too, whether that’s their primary discipline or not. There’s 1 particular client at my barn who says to this day her 19 yr old horse hates flatting indoors. No he doesn’t - he hates who his rider is when inside - she’s a nervous wreck. His owner also says he hates horses getting too close. That he’ll pin his ears or threaten to kick. Actually it’s the rider who’s nervous. He’s never flicked an ear at other horses when I’m riding. I give him fun and stimulating exercises. Praise/stroke him, take walk breaks and there’s no need to drill him. He nickers to me on our “work days” and these are his hardest days vs with his owner. He loves to show off certain moves, like extended trot, so I make sure he gets to do a couple and make a fuss.
I’m not saying that there aren’t some horses that for physical reasons or past rough treatment can’t handle the stress of high level flatwork. But in the 25+ years I’ve been teaching (mainly Training - 3rd level), I’m hard pressed to remember one that doesn’t enjoy good gymnastic dressage.
@Lusoluv… Yeah, I can testify to that comment. My young horse gets bored doing flatwork, and then he gets distracted and can act silly. But I know that he’s a playful/inquisitive type of horse, so I started adding in “games” to our work. Things like…try and get him to put his feet on opposite sides of a ground pole. Or get him to touch fill with his nose. Nothing strenuous at all. Man, this type of stuff made a huge difference to his attitude in the ring.
@Lusoluv I totally agree. A lot of people say “my horse hates flatwork” but there’s usually a reason. That reason can be physical, or it can be the rider in any number of ways.
Yes, I agree. And there’s a way to make flatwork interesting and pleasant for the horse. Doesn’t have to be a grind.
However, that was not this horse’s experience. I don’t want to say/reveal too much more as it would be identifying.
I can tell you that this horse goes from cheerful and happily walking out on a long rein to tense, tail clamped down hard and teeth grinding inside a ring.
Take him in a field and you can ride on the aids, get lovely lateral work, flying changes, any kind of flatwork you want. He has very specific negative associations with the ring based on his previous experience.
He’s a special snowflake.
IME most people who say their horse “hates” the ring or flatwork, are the ones who don’t like it and make it booooooring. Predictable circles and laps around the ring and maybe some weird serpentines thrown in are enough to make all but the most saintly school horses barf.
Ehh… I have a horse who really does not like flat work. He doesn’t believe in giving any effort unless there’s something to jump.
Which is funny, because I love doing flatwork on him. He’s super flexible so his collected and extended work feels amazing to ride. But, despite how much I would have loved to enter him into dressage competition after dressage competition, he doesn’t enjoy the work. The few times I’ve entered him into one he scored in the 80’s. But it doesn’t matter, his heart isn’t in it and I respect that for him.
Instead we do a lot of cross training out of the arena and I do dressage movements in between the jumps.
I don’t know about anyone else in this thread, but from what I understand in the case of @McGurk and their horse, the horse came with this issue and it was noticed on the rare occasion that McGurk tried to do ring work, since that is a very rare thing for them.
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