Hind Gut Acidosis in OTTB Mare

[HeelsDown09]

My mare started acting off a couple weeks ago. She was sensitive near her flanks when being groomed and it progressed to head tossing and ear pinning. Under saddle she became unwilling to move off my leg and got to the point where she will stop a threaten to rear, clearly in pain. I stopped trying to ride her for now.

My vet was out last Wednesday and did a fecal test along with an exam. He came to the conclusion that she is suffering from hind gut acidosis and started her on Sulfacrete 2x a day for 45 days. She has been on it for a week so far. She is better when being groomed and did not pin her ears at all, so I tried riding her tonight and she is still not having it if my leg touches her. It honestly is worse than before, but still clearly a pain issue not an behavior issue. Anyone have an idea of how long it will take to start helping her?

What do others suggest to help prevent these ulcers from coming back in the future? I have heard great things about Succeed, but unfortunately I won’t be able to afford it long term. I am thinking starting her on EquiShure and/or SmartDigest Ultra. My trainer also mentioned Aloe juice.

The mare is a 4 year old that came off the track in July. She had a couple months of down time and started undersaddle in September. So far we have just been doing W/T. She gets turned out most days unless the weather is really bad. She is fed Tribute Kalm Ultra and Essential K with plenty of hay. I am considering switching her to Kalm n EZ to lower the NSC content of her grain intake. Unfortunately she can not be taken off the grain as she is a harder keeper and needs to gain weight.

[ClassyJumper]

How long after her sucralfate did you ride? It is only effective 6-8 hours, so I would try to ride an hour or two after it was given. Honestly, hind gut is really hard to treat/manage (I have found). I think the way they are fed at the track really messes with their hind gut bacteria. I understand its hard to change grain at boarding barns but soaked bp/alfalfa pellets is really your best bet. Soaking her hay would also help in the short term. Every horse is different but Redmond’s Daily Gold is the only thing I found to help my mare, don’t start it until after she is done the sucralfate though.

[ClassyJumper]

Another forest though the trees thing; once her hind gut is fuctioning she is going to get a lot more calories/nutrition from what you are feeding her, you might find that she isn’t as much of a hard keeper. Rice bran/oil is a good way to add calories without the grains that are hard on the hind gut.

[awaywego]

Yikes, I feel like I could have written this post - about my mare. (She even eats Tribute Kalm n EZ) She started getting spooky and progressively worse to ride starting at the beginning of September - and also increasingly nasty about being touched. I took her to get scoped, certain that she had ulcers - she doesn’t (but did jog LAME so I felt like an idiot ). We are now treating her with sucralfate for potential hind gut issues. Also awaiting Lyme results as on scoping, it was discovered that she now has a heart murmur as well - which she did not previously have - as well as the mystery lameness.

I can’t decide if I would prefer to deal with hind gut ulcers or Lyme Maybe if I’m very lucky she will have both I would very much like to have my previously sweet mare back! If the Lyme test is negative then I guess we’ll assume it’s hind gut as well so I’m interested to hear the recommendations as well for maintenance/prevention.

[EverElite]

Another one who could’ve written this post. I went through this two years ago, and just threw the kitchen sink at the problem so I can’t tell you which treatment had the most success, but the protocol I used was: 1) equishure (which I will always have on hand if I feel another flare-up is coming, or if I’m treating stomach ulcers, I’ll just automatically add it in to get ahead of any hindgut issues the omeprazole may cause); 2) psyllium powder; 3) corn oil; and 4) pulling stemmy forage and switching to hay pellets.

#4 was the most painful part, but I think it made a huge difference. The boarding barn at that time fed really stemmy 3-way oat, so I think letting the hindgut rest was a HUGE help. If she was fed a finer grass-type hay, I don’t know if the switch would have been as necessary.

Good luck. It’s a frustrating problem.

[HeelsDown09]

She got fed around 4 and I tried to ride her at 6 and she had been getting it 2x a day for a week and a couple days at this point. The barn does offer beet pulp and alfalfa pellets. I tried giving her those in the past and she just picks at them

[HeelsDown09]

My girl hasn’t had any other signs of an issue besides the grumpiness being groomed which is minor and then the absolute refusal to move off my leg and threating to rear if I touch her with my leg.

My retired gelding has Lymes. It was horrible to try and figure out the issue and it lead to his early retirement.

[Sakey]

Hi! What is hind gut acidosis?

[stb]

I have a gelding with chronic hind gut issues - especially when he goes off grass and onto a diet of entirely hay. We recently had a flare and like EverElite, I pretty much threw the kitchen sink at him in an effort to stop his diarrhea. I put him on Equishure and daily psyllium at pretty much the same time. Not sure which was more helpful but he did show improvement quickly. I also changed hay. I had been feeding a first cut orchard which was beautiful but a bit stemmy. I changed to a second cut Timothy with much more leaf than stem. This, I think, was the biggest factor.

In the past I have questioned whether this horse has an intolerance to orchard hay. Some orchards are worse than others and I can’t figure out why. Timothy seems to be a safer bet for this horse - figures, since it is real hard to come by here in the Coastal south.

Good Luck. This is a real frustrating problem to deal with. It is such a guessing game. Also, washing a poopy tail and rear end every day is officially no fun at all.