When to do Ulcer treatments

[jazz8899]

I have a horse prone to ulcers. I already know this, had him scoped etc, and I’ve done a treatment (ulcergard) and cleared it up.

Two weeks ago my guy started showing signs of ulcers again. I’d brush his belly and he’d kick, do the grumpy face and look uncomfortable. The same as before. I was going to show my friend yesterday what he does as a sign and lo and behold he’s fine. No kicking. No flinching. Very placid unbothered face. Today is the same.

My question for others with this experience do you just bite the bullet and buy a month of ulcergard when they are looking fine? Does anyone just randomly do 2 weeks just incase? Is that even worth it if it’s minor or do you find you usually have to do the whole month regardless?

[jherold]

I keep mine on an oz of u guard pellets twice a day unless she is on pasture so has forage 24/7. When she’s on the dry lot I try to keep hay on front of her using small hole haynets but balancing that with weight gain is difficult.

Mine also had epm that made her hypersensitive to grooming including the girth area. I just make a mental note when she’s crabby. If it’s just one day and the next she’s normal, I don’t worry about it. She was crabby about being groomed yesterday but we also had a big jump in temperatures. Today she was fine. Changes in weather can make anyone crabby

[Pico_Banana]

I think it can be easy to fall into the trap of “oh, he’s acting ulcery, I’ll just give him some UlcerGard.” I did this myself one time and when I looked back at my calendar, she was in Nexium more often than not for almost two years.

So, I would suggest one of two things. Either rescope to see if he actually has ulcers or try a different treatment that is better for long term use. Sucralfate can just be a powder added to their grain if necessary. Or try something like Egusin or the Ben Sykes recommended product whose name is escaping me right now. I.e.m try to treat the underlying cause.

Also, and I know this can be really difficult, but look really hard at his lifestyle and see if there’s anything you can do to improve it. I fully recognize this is not always possible, but this is usually the key to getting out of a chronic ulcer cycle.

[luvmyhackney]

@Pico_Banana

Egusin

Has been life changing for my anxious horse that gets ulcers at the drop of a hat. Did 3 rounds of 21 and then dropped to the maintenance version for 21 days and been off for 3 weeks now with no issues.

I also give him alfalfa prior to any work now vs grass hay.

He’s a cool cucumber now.

[luvmyhackney]

@Pico_Banana

Ben Sykes recommended

Protek GI I think.

[awaywego]

My mare has been ridden sporadically (ha) this winter and has been pretty good each time despite some pretty challenging circumstances. I got on her over the weekend, hoping that we are back to work for good now and she was so much worse both days than she was all winter - and I realized that it coincided with running out of sucralfate just about 2 weeks ago, and she just started back on it on Friday. (She also gets Outlast 2x/day and alfalfa daily - and turnout daily with a friend - I really don’t know what else I can do in terms of management.)

Apologies for the hijack but I’m not sure if I should do a week+ of the generic Abler omeprazole tubes that I have on hand in case she started to get ulcery in that 2 week period. Any thoughts?

[jazz8899]

He is in full work and I think with less forage (because of winter) he is probably more prone at this time. He does get alfalfa pellets and alfalfa hay twice a day with TC omega blend because he needs the extra weight. Out 24/7. He has orchard grass hay around feeding. I think with this guy if in work and competing we will always slowly be heading toward ulcers just because of the stress etc.

Do you know if Protek GI is a long term supplement or just for the weaning off of Ulcergard period? I think I am going to look into sucralfate. Thank you!

[jazz8899]

Did you do a dose of omeprazol prior to clear anything up or did you just jump straight to Egusin?

[luvmyhackney]

Straight to Egusin. There is a vet study out there about it takes more than 21 days.

My main reason for choosing it is my horse wouldn’t eat all the powdered option but no issues with pellets.

[FitToBeTied]

Our vet said if you suspect ulcers treat them. We have OTTB’s which have a 90% chance of ulcers coming off the track. So we treat and keep them on it since they are competition/fox hunters. We use Abler Pharma Omeprezole and Sucralfate.

[FromTheGalaxy]

As someone with a very ulcer prone horse, I keep mine on a daily gut supplement (right now using U7 from Finishline and liking it a lot. I prefer the liquid and you are supposed to syringe to them twice a day, so that could be difficult for someone who boards, but I really like how it is working for my mare so far). She also gets a full tube of omeprazole any time she travels. I have found that the recommended 1/4 tube for prevention just does not do the trick for her. If I feel she is getting particularly ulcery (she will go off her feed) I will treat for however many weeks it takes for her to start eating regularly again.
I use the Abler omeprazole paste as it is considerably cheaper than the name brand, and I think I buy around 100-150 tubes per year. That amount of the name brand is just not financially feasible for me.