My horse had ulcers bad last year. After 2 months on Ulcergard he was doing much better and for maintenance I put him on Succeed. Well…now here we are again, treating with Ulcergard - a tube a day for a month. This horse is in a 5 acre mostly dry lot field with 3 other horses, access to shelter (a barn and a run in) free access to grass hay, supplemented daily with minerals to balance the grass hay he gets and (until last week) Succeed - this horse is an occasional trail horse for my husband, no competing, no training, no stress. Yet he is getting ulcers chronically. I just started the SmartGI Ultra - have people had good luck with it, particularly if Succeed seems to have failed? Is Equishure a better one to try? UGH!!
Did you do any research into Succeed? My information was it dealt with Hind Gut Ulcers not stomache ulcers…I have had good luck w/ Sucralfate and Alfalfa…
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I had used succeed and it did absolutely nothing,to help gelding who had hindgut ulcers. Had better success with sucralfate. Tried Equishure for same gelding he wouldn’t touch the stuff. Don’t have horse i used this stuff on now. He had to be PTS early this summer. But ulcers were an ongoing issue with him. As was colic in the end it was his demise.
Succeed is for hindgut ulcers. I don’t believe it is helpful in the prevention of gastric ulcers. I don’t use an ulcer prevention specific supplement personally. My horse is on a good probiotic and that seems to help him.
If this horse has recurring ulcers, I’d probably have him scoped after this round of treatment. That will tell you if all the ulcers have healed. If not all the spots healed completely after last treatment, that could explain recurrence. Some can be really stubborn. I’ve never dealt with it personally but I’ve read on here about horses developing infected ulcers which take even longer to heal.
As far as stress, what is his living situation like? Does he get picked on by pasture mates? Maybe he isn’t getting as much access to hay as you think? In some kind of pain? If he is a chronic ulcer patient, look into the thread on treating horses with Nexium. Much more cost efficient than GG.
After trying lots of supplements (including Smartpak’s smartGI) I tried aloe Vera juice on suggestion of my horses vet that specialies in chiro/acupuncture. Two ounces a day (I did twice a day for first week per vet). Decided it was cheap enough to try. First time he didn’t have tummy sensitivity in two years when vet checked hI’m. Now he was scoped and checked to have no ulcers. And I still use ulcergard preventively for times of stress (show, etc).
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How was his ulcer status determined - scope or symptoms? Were ulcers assumed to be the problem just based on improvement with the UG?
Assuming stomach ulcers were definitively the problem, then that doesn’t mean there weren’t also hind gut issues. Omeprazole can make those worse, and while I don’t know this for sure, I imagine 60 days of omeprazole could potentially even cause some hind gut issues from the prolonged acid reduction.
Did you taper off the UG? Stopping cold turkey, especially after 60 days, can bring on some serious rebound issues.
How long between stopping the UG and starting the Succeed, and the recurrence of symptoms? What are the symptoms?
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I have a TB that used to colic from ulcers, it’s important that he is on a regular feeding schedule and isn’t being changed to different grains or different grass etc. to treat his ulcer I use U-Guard, I just order it off amazon and ever since he has been great. My trainer works primarily with thoroughbreds and gives most of them this product as well. It has worked wonders for me, I hope it can do the same for you!
Although I’m skeptical, since the Omeprazole content is the same, Merial says GastroGard is for healing ulcers, and UlcerGard is for prevention. So, are you really using UG, or are you using GG? Since they’re both $$$, it seems worth it to me to scope, treat with the manufacturer-recommended med, and then re-scope to verify that the ulcers are healed/gone.
My mare is on GG right now, and my plan for maintenance is SmartGI Ultra, 24/7 access to grass hay, and alfalfa morning and night. I’ll also do the UlcerGard thing in advance of any more stressful (e.g. stabling overnight) events.
Alfalfa
Aloe juice
G.U.T. supplement
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Succeed and SmartDigest Ultra are more for hindgut than stomach ulcers. Try ranitidine for stomach ulcer prevention.
I second G.U.T. Best bang for your buck. My ulcer prone horse has been on it for 2 years straight now without any reoccurrence of ulcers on top of other preventive measures others have already suggested.
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My horse was scoped in March, and there was a small stomach ulcer at the very back and the vet said sh thought it went into the handout but couldn’t see it. We treated with the Ulcergard (she told me they are the exact same product, just one is sold over the counter to use 1/4 tube at a time and the GG is sold via RX to be given at a full table. I started him on the Succeed while he was on the GG. She told me about it trying to help me san some $$ as I was in it 1000’s with the eye issues. I think she thought I would put the horse down because he has been such a financial drain.
Symptoms both times were cow paddy poop, sore around the girth area - and not interested in eating. He gets along well with his herdmates and eats well with them, sharing a hay pile frequently with 2 of the 4 horses. The Smart GI Ultra is for both stomach and hind gut (combo of 2 digestive supplements)… I think I will try Uckele GUT and Aloe … Thank you.
That is what I thpought also. And if he has hind gut ulcers you treat for those differently and I thought the suceed was a maint. thing.
1/4 tube isn’t a regular treatment. It is more of a preventative for stressful situations. I believe it is a tube a day for 30 days
The 2 tubes, UG and GG, contain the exact same thing. One has a label that says it’s FDA-approved for treatment at a full tube a day (for an average horse) for 30 days, the other has a label that says it’s FDA-approved for prevention at a 1/4 tube a day (for the average horse). The 2 products are identical.
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Right, but that’s how UG is sold, as 1/4 tube as prevention, while GG is sold as treatment at a full tube. They just happen to be interchangeable since the contents of each are identical.
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OP if your horse has hindgut ulcers go with sucralfate,not succeed its a waste of money.
Can you clarify if you did FULL tubes of Gastroguard for treatment? For at least 30 days? I believe that is the only thing that will heal the ulcers - at a minimum. Some horses need longer. And tapering after treatment is necessary. 1/4 tube of Gguard or Ulcerguard is not enough to HEAL them. Is he eating any grain? Or just the hay and minerals?
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While you did the scope to determine ulcers, did you do a follow up scope to actually see if they’d healed? Did your vet ultrasound to see if there was any “thickening” or other indications the ulcers were in the hind gut? Ulcers are a Beotch and the horse has to be managed carefully and sometimes treatment can go for a lot longer than 1 month (mine was over a year at FULL UG dose and he now has to live on maintenance omeprazole). Sometimes they don’t respond to just UG and antibiotics are needed (rare but again, the vets will eventually advise if nothing else is working).
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The horse was treated with a full tube for 30 days, then a week of 3/4 tube; a week of a half tube and a week of a 1/4 tube. The original diagnosis or what happened last year isn’t relevant now. This horse gets no grain and has not since we bought him 5 years ago. He gets his supplements in alfalfa pellets or low starch Triple zcrown pellets. He was fine until a few weeks ago. I did the Succeed Challenge immediately after ending the the omeprazole treatment. He has ultrasounds and also a series of x-rays. Right now I am just looking for a different solution than Succeed. He is on week 3 do omeprazole and is getting the Smart GI Ultra…which i will likely change to GUT. Thanks for the thoughts…ulcers are no fun, and this mellow Quarter horse with nothing to be stressed over seems to struggle.
