Ulcers and diet changes

[jklein4800]

My tb gelding is being treated for ulcers again. The first time he was treated, I made some changes to his diet (added alfalfa pellets, decreased grain, increased hay). We moved barns after 1 month of sucralfate, and then kept him on sucralfate for another month at the new barn.
His diet has been:
1/2-3/4 bale of timothy mix hay
1lb alfalfa pellets 2x a day
1/2 cup flax seed pm
1 1/2 qt strategy healthy edge 2x a day
1 scoop probiotic pm

I’d like to wean him off the Strategy HE, increase the alfalfa pellets and start introducing beet pulp. He’s a semi hard keeper, so I was also thinking about a ration balancer if he needs it. He’s in moderate work 4-5 days a week.

My question is: can I start introducing the beet pulp/increase the alfalfa while he’s being treated? I just don’t want to upset his stomach with anything.

[islgrl]

I don’t know why you couldn’t do that. My horse gets BP & Alfalfa all the time, even when being treated for ulcers.

[SuckerForHorses]

1. what did you use to “treat” the ulcers? sucralfate?

2. if he is a semi-hard keeper, why would you reduce a calorie dense grain and replace with a ration balancer? even with adding alfalfa, if he is a hard keeper, alfalfa and ration balancer alone could quite likely not be enough calories.

I would make sure he has some type of forage in front of him at all times, and switch to something like Triple Crown Senior. Add alfalfa and/or beet pulp as necessary to that. Keep the flax and probiotic.

[jklein4800]

Yes, we used the sucralfate to treat the ulcers.

I’m thinking about the ration balancer only because I want his grain to be kept at a minimum while still getting the full nutrients from the grain

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

[QUOTE=jklein4800;7702943]
Yes, we used the sucralfate to treat the ulcers.

I’m thinking about the ration balancer only because I want his grain to be kept at a minimum while still getting the full nutrients from the grain[/QUOTE]

So your horse needs a lot higher fat and lower protein and something easier to digest than a pellet or raw grain. I’d suggest looking into a high fat extruded grain. My mare is on Blue Seal’s Sentinel Performance LS and between than and removing her from a situation where she couldn’t have hay in front of her all the time (she is now on a slow feeding hay net when in and a grass pasture at night) she has both gained weight desperately needed and gone from being unable to articulate any single gait to being able to make some big leaps and bounds in her training in 3 months. I no longer have to feed her a 3rd meal or worry about her losing her bananas over little things. I don’t think I actually treated her when I moved, I pretty much plopped her out in a field with a nice quiet dominant mare and let her eat.

It’s about making things that need to be digested in the fore gut (like grain) easy to digest (extruded grains are basically predigested and break up easily and quickly in the fore gut to reduce the risk of ulceration in the hind gut from too much undigested grain). The hind gut needs forage like hay, alfalfa cubes/pellets, and beet pulp to keep it working properly and works through fermentation thus excess acid and undigested pellets ulcerate it. The fore gut ulcerates through too much acid as the horse’s stomach is designed to continually create acid for a grazing based diet.

Here are some different brands of extruded feeds with high fat:
Sentinel Performance LS
Sentinel LifeTime
ProElite HF
Envision

[quarterhorse4me]

If you are thinking about adding beet pulp, it seems like you could just switch to a senior feed, preferably TC Senior, which is high in beet pulp anyway. You might also try the Cocosoya or some other oil for a few extra calories.

I switched my horse when she was first being treated trying to get a more ulcer friendly balance with no problem. Good Luck!

[Flash44]

Ditto the posters who say put good quality hay or grass in front of the horse at all times. And if he is a hard keeper, it should NOT be in a slow feed net! And a flax-based fat supplement will help as well with weight gain (avoid vegetable oil based supps). But the most important is forage - you’d be surprised at how well they gain when they get good forage in front of them all the time. Is the timothy mixed with orchard grass? I’d consider maybe an alfalfa mix if you can get it, or at least doubling the alfalfa pellets you are feeding. I think you are underfeeding your horse, unless he is getting good pasture for 8-12 hours a day in addition to what you are feeding. And I really like TC Senior for weight gain - I get skinny TBs in sometimes and that is my go-to feed. I also make sure they have hay/grass in front of them all the time, and they start to lose that skeletal look pretty quick.

[SLW]

[QUOTE=jklein4800;7702653]
My question is: can I start introducing the beet pulp/increase the alfalfa while he’s being treated? I just don’t want to upset his stomach with anything.[/QUOTE]

Increasing beet pulp/alfalfa and eliminating/reducing the Strategy while being treated for ulcers should not upset his stomach.