We’ve seen a few grumpy ponies in the last couple of weeks and it’s led us to a few discussions about ulcers. The good news? There is a scope day coming up at the end of October! So, if you think your horse is displaying any of these sign’s now’s the time to get your name on the list for this clinic. Here is a bit more information on the topic.
Ulcers can cause pain which is often more apparent when tacking up, especially when you tighten the girth. They can start showing signs of evasion and aggression and this can lead to behavioral issues down the line. They also can be prone to mild recurrant colic signs, be reluctant to eat, lose weight, develop a dull coat and generally underperform.
Research on ulcers is always ongoing and it is only fairly recently that researchers have identified two different types of ulcers that occur in horses, one in the glandular part of the stomach which is diet related, and one in the pyloric part of the stomach which is not diet related. We are still not sure what causes this second type of ulcer which can make it harder to manage. So, if you have a horse with ulcer signs but you don’t think their diet is high risk for ulcers, it’s still worth checking for!
If your horse’s ulcers are diet related, they’ve generally been on a high starch/low fibre diet. So generally lots of hard feed and not enough grass or hay. Lots of racehorses develop ulcers while in training for this reason.
We use a gastroscope to diagnose ulcers in horses. This involves fasting the horse for 16 hours overnight beforehand to make sure their stomach is as empty as possible, then we give them a small bit of sedation and pass the gastroscope into their stomach, where we carefully look around for any signs of active or healing ulcers. The treatment and management of ulcers can be expensive and take time so we really prefer to diagnose before we begin treatment.
In the meantime, if you think your horse may have ulcers there are a few things you can do to help:
Feed plenty of fibre. Hay is actually better than grass as it bulk up more so supplementing a grass fed horse with hay may help.
Giving a small fibre-based feed 45 minutes - 1 hour before exercising may help soak up acid in the stomach during exercise, when movement can cause the acid to splash about in the stomach and cause damage.
Make sure any hard feed that you give is also high fibre low starch. Grain free brands are generally suitable.
Recent research suggests that making sure your horse has a couple of days off with no exercise a week seems to help. It also suggests that riding for prolonged periods increases the risk of ulcers, probably because as time goes on the horse’s stomach becomes emptier.