horse suddenly won't eat grain

[NBChoice]

Sigh… yes it is me again. Another thread about my 14 year old asb gelding.
If anyone recalls in my last thread I said Dennis was getting poll injections because he has a bony spur. So he had that done a week ago. (It did not improve his head tossing/canter problems btw :() 4 days ago he just completely stopped eating his grain. He absolutely won’t touch it. He used to love his grain. There have been no changes made to it, the grain itself looks/smells just fine, and the other 3 horses are still eating it.

When we feed him he won’t even smell it. He just stands by his stall door and waits for his hay.

We have tried a very small amount of a different type of grain just to see if he had an interest in it. He took a few bites and then left it for his hay again.

We have upped his hay intake for the time being, until the vet comes and we figure out what is going on. But… what do you think could be causing his sudden disinterest in grain? He has always been very food motivated and ready for meals.

[NBChoice]

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?364239-Worried-about-my-horse-long

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?413294-Where-do-I-even-start-long

Here are the old threads about him if anyone wants more background info.

[beowulf]

He didn’t have time off for injection? Have you checked his teeth? I’d offer him a dfferent grain immediately. Maybe hay stretcher. Have you contacted your vet? Hope Dennis feels better soon.

[NBChoice]

He did have 5 days off. Vet said three, then immediately go back to light work. I chose to wait five days.
Sorry, forgot to mention his teeth. Teeth were floated both in february and again in august to rule out problems when being ridden. The vet is coming on thursday morning. I work nights and this week I’m working mon, tues, wed. Thursday was my first available time to have the vet out.

[csaper58]

Several posts have suggested your horse has ulcers and it really does seem like that is quite probable. has he been scoped? Or treated with Omeprazole?

[SuckerForHorses]

[QUOTE=csaper58;7203455]
Several posts have suggested your horse has ulcers and it really does seem like that is quite probable. has he been scoped? Or treated with Omeprazole?[/QUOTE]

^^^^!!!

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

Yup, ulcers, my mare stopped eating when she was ulcery. I’d get him on GG ASAP

[Auburn]

The reason that a horse stops eating when he has ulcers is because when the grain enters the stomach, it irritates the ulcers, causing them to bleed, which causes pain.

I, too, would consider that he has ulcers.

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

I forgot to say my vet said there are only 2 reasons a horse stops eating: colic or ulcers and if it’s not colic it’s ulcers. (Granted he had recently floated my mare’s teeth so that was not an issue either).

Try feeding some beet pulp and alfalfa cubes with the grain. Of course along with the GG treatment.

[SuckerForHorses]

[QUOTE=yourcolorfuladdiction;7203632]
I forgot to say my vet said there are only 2 reasons a horse stops eating: colic or ulcers and if it’s not colic it’s ulcers. …[/QUOTE]

A symptom of ulcers can be chronic colic behaviors.

[MysticOakRanch]

I would also guess ulcers - you can scope, or just try UG (or some other form of Omeprazole) - if he’s got ulcers, you’ll know within a week or so. I noticed there are some less expensive brands now - and a friend had it compounded for much less!

[SuckerForHorses]

[QUOTE=MysticOakRanch;7203645]
I would also guess ulcers - you can scope, or just try UG (or some other form of Omeprazole) - if he’s got ulcers, you’ll know within a week or so.[/QUOTE]

Maybe. My mare was thought to have ulcers, I gave her 1 tube of GastroGard daily for 8 days with no improvement whatsoever so my vet kept insisting it couldn’t be ulcers or she would’ve been better. I scoped her; and she definitely had ulcers. www.photobucket.com/ulcers

So, not every horse will just improve with a few days of GG.

[NBChoice]

I did previously treat for ulcers and saw no improvement at all. It is worth a try again though since he won’t eat grain.

[morganpony86]

Whenever any of my 3 horses stop eating their grain, they get an emergency trip to the hospital for a colic workup. That is a classic colic symptom of my horses.

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

[QUOTE=NBChoice;7203705]
I did previously treat for ulcers and saw no improvement at all. It is worth a try again though since he won’t eat grain.[/QUOTE]

Can I ask what kind of treatment you did. The only treatment PROVEN and APPROVED effective to treat ulcers is Gastrogard. You would have to do a FULL treatment to see improvement or SCOPE your horse to make sure he has ulcers (which I’m betting he does).

You should also adjust how you feed your horse adding forage to meal time with Alfalfa cubes or pellets and beet pulp so that the grain isn’t painful to eat.

[mlb722]

Many horses need atleast a month of UG to really see a difference. At one tube per day. If there’s no difference after that point, you might consider hindgut ulcers and try sucrafalate.

It does absolutely sound like ulcers of some sort.

[stargzng386]

Just a note on the injections. You can’t fully tell if they have helped until two weeks after injecting. My vet said 3 days off then light work for a week then normal riding for a week and then make my judgement on if injections helped.

[rcloisonne]

[QUOTE=Auburn;7203624]
The reason that a horse stops eating when he has ulcers is because when the grain enters the stomach, it irritates the ulcers, causing them to bleed, which causes pain.[/QUOTE]
Not really. When grain enters the stomach, the stomach sends a message to the brain that it needs to increase acid production to digest the grain which the brain in turn “approves” (this is a very simplified explanation). Increased acid production is what irritates the ulcers, not the grain itself. Increased acid production is also why high grain diets contribute to the development of gastic ulcers in the first place.

[Marla_100]

^^^^^ this ! Also all the “old time” horsemen always said feed hay first, then grain. Had something to do w/ certain amino acids generated by the hay digestion and these were necessary to be in the stomach to properly digest the grain.

[Chall]

I’d would not discard any of the ulcer advice but I would also try bringing some boiling water and making his grain a hot soup. Maybe has a smell deficiency (he’s getting shots to the head area correct) and soupy grain doesn’t require as much jaw action. I would stand by while he eats if he is a food bolter just to make sure he doesn’t choke eating it too quickly.