We treated my new horse for stomach and hindgut ulcers with a round of ulcerguard and succeed as recommended by vet. He responded really well so far, he is less crabby and his poop is no longer soft and yellow and he has a lot less leaking down the legs. He is also girthy and doesn’t like tacking up or blanketing, I haven’t noticed a difference in that yet but that could also be a PTSD thing. But I was wondering if there is something cheaper that has stomach and hindgut support I can keep him on for a preventative. He is a sensitive horse who can get anxious about minor things so I’d like to keep him on something preventative. The plan is to stop the ulcerguard first and keep him on succeed, if he’s still fine then want to switch him to a more economical preventative option. If he only responds well to succeed I will keep him on it but at over $100 for a month of succeed (and he gets other supplements as well) I thought its worth at least looking for cheaper alternatives for long term. I was looking at the GUT and Smart GI supplements, and someone at the barn recommended U Guard but I don’t think that has hindgut support. I am new to horse owning and most supplement ingredients still go right over my head so I am grateful for any insight!
I’ve had success with hindgut issues using oat flour or oat bran as a replacement for Succeed. It contains the beta glucan that is supposed to be the “key” ingredient in Succeed. You can buy it in most “natural” grocery stores or on Amazon. Most of the SmartGI supplements are good but pretty expensive. GUT is good, but you get more of the same ingredients with Excel from DePaolo, so I’d go with that instead of GUT. That said, there is some really promising research (probably more than is available for most supplements) and anecdotal success associated with Gut-X from 100X Equine and it is reasonably affordable if you can buy it on sale. I am trying it on my horse who is recovering from ulcers.
We use omeprazole and sulcralfate from Abler pharma. https://abler.com/ We’ve been using them for years. We had one horse that had severe ulcers ten years ago. When he coliced last year we had him scoped again and he was clean. The colic was due to a food issue.
We keep the TB’s that fox hunt on it.
Assure Guard Gold is similar to Succeed, but it also contains psyllium, which helps with inflammation in the GI system. About the same cost, maybe a hair more.
Once his gut calmed down, I went from Succeed to one of the Smartpak supplements, then I decided to try him on Outlast. He is doing well on Outlast, and a probiotic ( Vermont Blends Pro).
My horse is on Assure Guard Gold, and it is costing me $250 a month at the standard dosage for a 1200 lb. horse. It has added psyllium (very specially formulated psyllium), but I haven’t been able to get a definitive answer on whether psyllium brings water into the hind gut and is really good for the horse in this way, or if it is more of a sand clear remedy. My horse doesn’t have a sand problem in his current living situation, so it is an awfully expensive psyllium additive if he doesn’t gain any value from it. However, this product is all the rage in our sandy area, and that’s probably because it works. It is quite the amazing supplement, very palatable. However, trying Smartpak‘s Smart GI ultra pellets as I was hoping it more closely mimics Succeed and is about half the price. We needed something once we transition him off of the misoprostol and will probably continue GI support the rest of his life (worrier).
Wow, didn’t realize Smart GI Ultra and Succeed are about the same price.
@SporthorseFun I have a 1350 lb. horse and once he was stabilized, the Arenus nutritionist suggested I lower his dose to 3/4 of their scoop twice per day. The 16 lb. tub lasts 2 months for him at this rate.
I agree with you though! It works!
