Ottb that doesn't like hay

[Laurierace]

[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8517975]
Ulcerguard may help prevent ulcers, but it does not make ulcers that are already present go away. So the horse has not really been treated for ulcers.

TBs can be finicky and take a while to settle into a new routine, especially those who have been on the track. I lay up tbs, and find that 30-60 days is the norm, and some settle better than others.[/QUOTE]
Sure it does. One full tube of ulcergard is exactly the same as one full tube of gastrogard. The question is was it given in a large enough dose for a long enough period of time then tapered?

[blue_amp_blond]

Here is my experience. 9yr old OTTB. Had been off the track for years. Came to me thin. Would pick at his hay never really consuming much.

Fast forward…scoped, ulcers, 6 weeks of gastroguard, 4 1/2 months of ranidine after that.

Definately saw improvement after the first couple of weeks on gg but stil not eating as much as I would like. Offered both orchard hay and alfalfa.

Added alfalfa pellets, rice bran and chia seeds (with added water) in a bucket 3x a day.

BLOOM! He gained weight, calmed down, and started eating all of his hay.

He likes to dunk his hay, will not eat well if both hays are in same bin, so I hang a bucket next to a hay bag of orchard for dunking and alfalfa goes in hay bin.

Got all that? Lol.

To this day he still gets the same routine. Take what you can from all that. He probably a tad fatter than he should be.

Highlights- treat longer for ulcers, alfalfa, rice bran and chia seeds.

Good luck. He use to worry me so much, I know how stressful it can be.

[Palm_Beach]

[QUOTE=Laurierace;8518028]
Sure it does. One full tube of ulcergard is exactly the same as one full tube of gastrogard. The question is was it given in a large enough dose for a long enough period of time then tapered?[/QUOTE]

Right, and were the people who were administering the Ulcerguard understanding that they were NOT to follow the directions on the label? OP wrote “treated with ulcerguard,” not “treated with omeprazole for existing ulcers.” If OP is boarding her horse, it would be better for the horse to have a product administered according to the directions on the label to avoid confusion among the staff. I’ve always found that feeding and medication instructions need to be explicitly clear if I’m not doing it myself. Even if I am doing it myself, I always have written instructions in front of me since that is the best way for me to avoid mistakes, as well as remember the day/time the medication began.

[Xanthoria]

[QUOTE=jstov96327;8517348]
Funny! I put his net up super high again last night (can’t hurt to keep trying) and it was almost empty![/QUOTE]

Go to the track and see how they do it - here at least hay nets are hung high in the stall door to one side so horses snack away as they watch the world go by. The horses also WORK which is a great appetite stimulant and calmative

I also recommend MagRestore - my skinny TB got 3 doses/day till the day he died and it was a godsend in calming him enough to eat.

[nu2u]

Yup found location of the bag was key for my guy too

[SuzieQNutter]

2 horses who have come here did not eat their hay and I thought they didn’t like it. They would take a few mouthfuls and then wander off.

We have plenty of grass and they preferred to eat that.

About 5 years apart with them coming here.

The same thing happened to both. I took them to my horse chiropractor. He said their jaw was out and it hurt them to chew. He put them back in and both horses now eat hay.

The second one was only 4 weeks ago.

He was much more enthusiastic about taking a carrot from Hubby this morning. Last month he was very ‘dainty’ with hand feeding. He is normal about it now.

[HealingHeart]

Timothy can vary cutting tipo cutting. I like the second cutting or 3rd if they get it. It’s not to straw like. It maybe that wrong batch. Any other options in your area? We’re was he/she born? Native grass hay similar to that region

[allons-y]

I think your horse sneaks over to my barn to not eat also, he’s out in the pasture right now! I truly believe its an ADHD thing. If anything is going on, sightseeing is much better than eating. OR if NOTHING is going on, he stops eating to worry about that!!??!!!.

I have finally learned to do this: Tons of food and hay in his stall, he’s locked in for one hour am and pm mealtime. The whole trick is that I leave fatty fatty Pone Pone loose. He’ll stand in the aisle, keeping him company, stealing bites of hay, and big dummy skinny boy will keep eating. Pone could go out open aisle gate, but he stays to glare and eat dropped hay.

I swear the OTTB feels ‘safe’ knowing little wild man is keeping watch while he eats. Locking Pone Pone in his stall also DOES NOT WORK. Then they just both fret and OTTB wont eat anything.

Pone Pone is perfectly ‘housebroken’ and never goes in the aisle. He’s an evil Pone, but honestly helps me keep weight on the giant worry wart.

[bfeintn]

I have one very OCD compulsive being the key part TB. He is my hardest to keep weight on. He recently went through a period where he wouldn’t eat his grain. Scoped. No ulcers. Did teeth (not bad) didn’t help. Tried a billion different types of grain and added different forages to keep weight loss at a minimum. Pulled all off all supplements early on. Tried different feeding locations. He lives alone so I even tried letting him have the grain in his bucket for 12 hours to see if he would finish it. Moved the bucket, inside, outside, small turnout, big turnout. The thing that got him back to literally eating better than he ever has in his entire life? Sweet Potato. He gets one sweet potato a day. It sounds insane. My vet is partners with a vet who does a lot of eastern medicine alongside the western medicine. He was talking to her about the benefits of sweet potato on a horses hindgut so we though we would give it a try. It has been amazing! I know yours is a hay problem and not a grain one - but try a sweet potato.