My mare has started scratching at her sides again, this is typical every spring, going on our 3rd spirng together.
I wondered if it could be ulcers which made me wonder what to look for.
Since she has dry skin, this is usual for all summer, stops once winter comes and she is on the same feed year round I doubt its ulcers. But then again, the ONE thing I am sure of with horses is there is always more to learn.
What are signs of ulcers please.
Same feed maybe, but what about hay and pasture? What changes between summer and winter? You could be looking at allergies or bug sensitivity, at least for the skin issues.
Ulcer symptoms I’ve personally experienced:
- girthiness
- lack of condition despite good feeding program
- back soreness
- negative response to grooming
- weird hind end “lameness”
- general attitude problems
- refusal to eat/disinterest in hay (I’ve heard disinterest in grain is more common but hay was the issue for me)
- gas colics
- stance issues (standing camped under I guess to protect the belly?)
- massive weight loss at shows
All of these can be symptoms of many things, but all resolved with ulcer treatment. This is across several horses.
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There are two ways to test for ulcers
One is get scoped by vet
The other is to do a month of $$$ Gastrogard and see if horse improves
Typically I think itching is a skin issue. Why do you think it’s ulcers?
The actual stomach is more under the girth. The intestines are under the sides. That’s why horses with colic may look at their sides or bite their sides
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The biggest change is the cold weather comes and the bugs go away. New hay usually comes around July/August, pasture turnout but no grass to speak of so hay year round.
As far as those symptoms go she is guilty of attitude but then again, chestnut mare, so normal.
Leaky gut is now recognized by both human and vet medicine . The symptoms are all the ulcery symptoms listed above. My guy had an itchy thing too. I put him on Stride Animal Healthy - GI Calm - specifically for leaky gut and have seen remarkable improvement in everything.
I also suspected ulcers and scoped and found none. So, for $300 and simply feeding a supplement you could see if you see improvements. I have no relationship to Stride in any way. Simply watched a number of vet presentations on the subject and decided on that product.
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She is on high alert most of her life, constantly scanning the horizon for T-rex or other horse eating monsters.
When I saw her biting/scratching at her sides it just occurred to me that I hadn’t considered ulcers. Just wanted to have more information.
She does not have any of the other symptoms 5stride listed.
interesting, so the GI Calm helped with the Itchies? Was it a year round thing for your guy or just summer?
Will check it out. Thats pretty pricey, do you have to keep feeding or does the leaky gut heal then you can discontinue the product? thanks.
Painfully pricey. I fed it for a month and wondered if it really was making the big difference I was seeing so stopped and everything went downhill again. Ordered and we’re back to the very positive difference. He was itching year round - lots of itching everywhere.
There are multiple vet presentations if you sign up here. You never receive any marketing information or annoyances that I know of and the presentations were very well done IMO.
I do plan to stop the supplement again in a few months. They say leaky gut can heal and my guy certainly had reasons to have issues. Lots of stress before I got him and a FEC of 2100. Two teeth were abscessed also.
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I should add my guy ticked most boxes of the leaky gut symptoms including shifting resting one hind leg to the other. Quite sensitive on the right rear side. Grumpy to be touched, reluctant to move.
He’s also PSSM2. But this supplement has been a game changer.
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At least you know it is doing something positive. My girl is not itchy in winter, just starting now, I have only seen a couple of flies, no mosquitos yet, also noticed one eye is goopy. I will check out the link thank you.
My horse’s ulcer symptoms have always been heightened anxiety/over reactivity to everyday stimuli that would normally not elicit a response from him.
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Is she laying in the grass? Chiggers are out here already and my ankles are severely itchy after walking my dogs with shorter socks . Spring means biting bugs, chiggers, ticks, lice, mites and sometimes allergies that can cause itching without hives.
If that is her only sign I wouldn’t think ulcers but an allergy to something Spring related?
No grass yet, never heard of chiggers, I agree some kind of spring/summer allergy.
Is it possible to test for pollen type allergies? Thinking its a reaction of some kind what is the dosage to treat her with Benadryl or similar and see if that makes a difference?
we allergy tested one of our horses who turned out to be allergic to almost everything you’d find around a barn. but the allergy shots didn’t work. his issues were more breathing related. he takes Zyrtec. way less sedating than Benadryl.
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Same. He had some of the others symptoms as well, sensitivity in flank, slightly grumpy about saddling, grooming, back soreness, the whole list practically. But the spookiness was off-the-charts insane. That’s what finally made me invest in seriously treating him. He’s a different horse now that he’s ulcer-free. The horse that was literally inconsolable and out of his mind in his pasture with the tractor just a couple of pastures over (close enough to clearly see but far away enough it shouldn’t be a threat), now has to be beeped at to get him out of the way when the same tractor is mowing his pasture. And it’s not like he’d never seen tractors before. He grew up on my farm with combines and excavators and every kind of thing you can imagine rambling by his pasture.
Ulcers made him nutty. Bless him, I know it had to be miserable to live like that.
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Be extremely grateful!
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Girthiness even with blanket
Random outbursts of energy, spook
Acting out in canter or jumping (this is when Acidity splashes in stomach)
Diarrhea
I would add teeth grinding but I found out that was due to pharyngeal collapse on my guy.
