Holistic ulcer medications?

[Fharoah]

My horse had two recent colics and we felt ulcers were a possible cause even though he didn’t have obvious clinical signs. So my horse has been on gastrogard for the past 3 weeks and seems to be doing really well. However barn owner (family) is really pressuring me to use a holistic vet and not use drugs on her farm. She wants me to get a holistic vet and I was about to book one just to make her happy. My horse is happy where he’s living he has large soft stall, large turnout and additional full property turnout with his girl friend whom follows him like a puppy dog. I will not move him as I believe he’s happy where he is and I can’t find anything nicer where I am located so him so want to keep things peaceful. Anyways I Refuse to stop the gastrogard until the eight weeks is up as he just seems really good on it, but to make property owner happy I am hoping to come up with some holistic maintenance which is safe and helpful.

Any ideas greatly appreciated!

[jn4jenny]

I understand that sometimes when you board with family, compromises must be made…but go into with your eyes open, understanding that pleasing your family-BO may have financial consequences. Some horses do fine on natural maintenance regimes. Others won’t, and then you’ll have to pay for more ulcer treatment.

But these are pretty commonly used for ulcer prevention, including in commercial blends like SmartGut: slippery elm, marshmallow root, licorice root, oat flour (for hindgut ulcers), and papaya juice. If you search the forums for those ingredients, you’ll land on the right threads for dosages and sources. Management changes can make a big difference too, meaning more free-choice forage overall, more turnout time, adding some alfalfa to the diet (<–it buffers stomach acid), etc.

Signed, someone whose friend and barnmate once went off the deep end with researching natural ulcer treatments, which is how I learned all of this.

[Marla_100]

^^^^ This is all excellent advice. I’d be insisting in the tradeoff of no drugs
that your horse has Free Choice Forage 24/7 whether it be hay or grass. This will prevent backsliding once he’s off the GG. 24/7 turnout is really best for this type horse if you can arrange it otherwise hay in the stall at all times.

Maybe also a magnesium supplement, as that’s just a basic mineral that’s soothing to the tummy.

Call Smartpak and ask for suggestions on their herbal supplements like SmartGut or SmartDigest. Mostly herbs.

I’d really be looking at the management aspect also. What type of concentrate or grain, type of hay,etc; How much turnout.

Good Luck, I realize this is a tough situation for you to be in, but you need to be your horse’s advocate and do what’s best for him.

[Fharoah]

Thank you my horse has free choice hay pretty much 24/7 when not eating grass. He was not thin and my vets didn’t even think he had clinicial signs of ulcers it was just when she had put the oil tube she could smell strong acid so thought ulcers were possible as he’d had a surgery a year and a half earlier. He was not thin and didn’t really look like an ulcer case though so I had nearly taken him to the surgeon for scooping but hesitated as the surgeon wanted food withheld for 18 hours. My horse is pretty obsessed with food so I didn’t have it in me to fast him for 18 hours so i just started treating. I will be giving him gastrogard every morning for eight weeks no matter what I refuse stop the treatment. But hopefully eight weeks. I plan to follow up with alfalfa/ Timothy blend and maybe a Maitnence supplement. However if ever worried about ulcers in the future I will gastroscope before as I just like to know.

[tarynls]

My vet has suggested (and had positive results with horses that had ulcer symptoms but scoped clean) with Stomach Soother -it’s a papaya based liquid supplement.

You could also try aloe vera juice - it’s found in any Walgreens or CVS pharmacy by the antacid products. Picky eaters generally won’t eat the aloe vera, if you try that you may have to give it via syringe.

The Stomach Soother is expensive, IMO - about $30 for a quart. The aloe vera juice is about $10 for a half gallon container.

Good luck!!

[Frizzle]

You could try Uckele’s G.U.T., which contains aloe, many of the stomach-soothing herbs, probiotics, etc. Then you can just give one supplement and keep things simple.

[Ghazzu]

Turnout and green grass.

[Brigitte]

I’ve had no problem with picky eaters not liking the aloe vera juice. Walmart’s gallon run about $7.00. My OTTB gets 4 oz twice a day with soaked beet pulp/flax.

[Fharoah]

Thanks I think my horse would have no problem eating aloe juice he will eat just about anything.

[pony_baloney]

[QUOTE=Frizzle;8066195]
You could try Uckele’s G.U.T., which contains aloe, many of the stomach-soothing herbs, probiotics, etc. Then you can just give one supplement and keep things simple.[/QUOTE]

This is working well for my horse with mild ulcer symptoms.

[Foxtrot_s]

My horse loved aloe vera - it has anecdotal recommendations but they use a lot of it at the track.

Start with smaller amounts anyway.

Don’t forget to taper the GG.

[Fharoah]

[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;8066906]
My horse loved aloe vera - it has anecdotal recommendations but they use a lot of it at the track.

Start with smaller amounts anyway.

Don’t forget to taper the GG.[/QUOTE]

Ya I am doing a full tube for 30 days, then half tube for 4 weeks, then 1/4 tube for another four weeks. I was even wondering if I should do 1 tube 4 week, 3/4 4 weeks, 1/2 4 weeks, 1/4 weeks but that would be really stretching my budget. What I may do is wait a few months after stopping the treatment and do a gastrogscope. I am using gastrogard against the wishes of the property owner which I do not feel good about at all however i’ve become ulcer paranoid and surgeon seemed to suggest that if he had been on gastrogard even for a week prior to the scoping we could yield a false negative why I would have to wait a while after the treatment to confirm.

[Fharoah]

does anybody know if these ingredients would be helpful? http://www.basic-nutrition.com/ulcerex-herbal-formula/

[2enduraceriders]

[QUOTE=Fharoah;8069741]
does anybody know if these ingredients would be helpful? http://www.basic-nutrition.com/ulcerex-herbal-formula/[/QUOTE]

It is missing the one ingredient that has made a huge improvement for two of my horses, dried cabbage.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

I had nice results with Jade Lady

[Fharoah]

[QUOTE=2enduraceriders;8069774]
It is missing the one ingredient that has made a huge improvement for two of my horses, dried cabbage.[/QUOTE]

Dried cabbage seems like a good idea.

[Frizzle]

The ingredient in cabbage that is “anti-ulcer” is l-glutamine. You would probably be better off feeding a supplement that contains l-glutamine, because it’s going to have a higher concentration of the active ingredient than the cabbage. :yes: It would most likely be very tedious constantly having to buy huge amounts of dried cabbage, assuming that your horse will even eat it.

[2enduraceriders]

[QUOTE=Frizzle;8071676]
The ingredient in cabbage that is “anti-ulcer” is l-glutamine. You would probably be better off feeding a supplement that contains l-glutamine, because it’s going to have a higher concentration of the active ingredient than the cabbage. :yes: It would most likely be very tedious constantly having to buy huge amounts of dried cabbage, assuming that your horse will even eat it.[/QUOTE]

All I can go by is the results on my horses. I will keep drying and feeding cabbage.

[ladymcts]

I know this isn’t what you’re asking for, but how’s the horse’s worming situation? I too am in a boarding situation where the barn owner is requesting\insisting on natural approaches. While I’d love to believe it CAN be done, in our particular situation, the worms are getting out of control. My own two are getting chemical dewormers as needed in response to fecal checks (one boy keeps coming clean the other keeps coming positive). But others on the farm have been pooping out visible worms.

If you have a similar situation where yours is either not under control because you’ve been using natural, or you think yours is under control but others are not, your horse’s gut could be compromised as a result. I’ve heard more of colic in response to deworming after a heavy load, but it seems to me just from a purely speculative point that worms attacking the horse’s insides can’t be good for it either.

[anmoro]

First of all, if the BO wants you to get a holistic veterinarian, I would agree, under the condition they pay the bill.

I would trust your gut and stick with the GG. Make sure after the allotted time, you wean your horse off of it. Otherwise, you run the risk of major withdrawals and the horse getting worse.

I use a supplement called Opti-zyme and that has kept my geldings ulcers at bay.
Ulcers are a bear to deal with. I tried the aloe Vera juice and did not have the results I hoped for. I like the supplement I use plus I feed 4 lbs of alfalfa pellets per day. That helps quite a bit.