The chicken & the egg - calling on the collective experience of the coth peeps

[rcy]

@Feldspar21 interesting… do you know by chance the line of horses?

A bunch of you have recommended Misoprostol so I asked my vet… while she has both, he said her non-glandular are the ones that are worse, hence the GG protocol. And I can’t remember if I answered already, but yes, she has scoped clean on the GG/Sucralfate so we know it can work.

Another tidbit I forgot to mention - she won’t lay down to sleep, which surely can’t help the anxiety/ulcer issue. We’ve even tried shutting her in her stall with nice thick bedding.

[Feathered_Feet]

A bit out of left field, but have you tried her on regumate for the anxiety? I always thought it was for moody, nasty mares, but tried it on my spooky, anxious, but otherwise very sweet mare (regardless of where she was in her cycle) and I couldn’t believe how much more comfortable she was in her own skin. Within three days of starting it, she was much more relaxed in her body - she was so much more comfortable physically under saddle (noticeably less tension) and less reactive/spooky. It just felt like “relief” for her, I guess from a chronic physical discomfort she was living with that just hadn’t appreciated. The difference was palpable to the point where I would think it cruel to take her off of it at this point.

As I read through your posts it seems like regumate might be something easy to try if you think the anxiety might be contributing to the ulcers.

Side note - have you tried melatonin to help her sleep at night? I’ve given mine a few tabs (maybe 15 mg?) in new places to help her settle. I have no idea if it does much but it’s pretty inert stuff as far as side effects go.

[beowulf]

@rcy

Another tidbit I forgot to mention - she won’t lay down to sleep, which surely can’t help the anxiety/ulcer issue. We’ve even tried shutting her in her stall with nice thick bedding.

This would be a major red flag for me. I never made the correlation about watching how clean a horse is / a horse that didn’t lie down to sleep regularly being bad until I had one in my care that despite being GREY was always clean. His behavior kept devolving and he was eventually diagnosed with severe KS and cervical arthritis. He wasn’t lying down because it hurt too much to get up. Now it’s something I watch like a hawk in my personal horses – I own one with KS and if he doesn’t roll routinely, I know it’s time for a vet recheck for rads.

Sleeping is imperative to biological health. If you horse is not lying down to sleep something is wrong and she will not be able to heal well from anything without real REM sleep.

[rcy]

@Feathered_Feet, Regumate is actually next on our list to try! That was my vet’s thought too - for the same reasons you stated, to see if it makes her more comfortable in her own skin.

And yes, the not laying down to sleep is an issue. I can ask about if there’s something we can give her at night. She has her rolls (and buck/farts), no issues getting up/down. I’m hoping that if we can address the anxiety, she’ll be willing to nap.

[Simkie]

You might try an actual anti anxiety medication, like Prozac or Trazodone.

Willingness to go down and roll doesn’t always mean they’re physically comfortable going down to sleep.

[theresak]

@rcy

And yes, the not laying down to sleep is an issue. I can ask about if there’s something we can give her at night. She has her rolls (and buck/farts), no issues getting up/down. I’m hoping that if we can address the anxiety, she’ll be willing to nap.

I have a horse that stopped laying down in his stall at night due to several issues - stall neighbor changes, stall rest and long-acting sedation, general arthritis, and pretty bad barn/herd anxiety. I think he mostly stopped sleeping outside during turnout too. I moved him this spring to a retirement farm to live out 24/7 and he started sleeping outside even in the quarantine pasture with just 2 herd mates within the first week.

I would highly recommend trying to have her out 24/7 with a small group of horses to see if that will reset her sleep and anxiety.

[Hippolyta]

It would be a worth it to work with an (independent) equine nutritionist to develop a dietary plan for her.

[Willesdon]

Mirror in the stable so she has a companion to keep guard while she sleeps?