Comments on: Most Performance Horses Thought to Have Ulcers

By: Bianca

Bianca — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:59:50 +0000

My horse suffered with gastric ulcer…it was a terrible experience. I used a recommended natural product U-Guard (not U-gard) that I got at Big Dee’s. It worked great. I keep my mare on a preventive dose….just in case.

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:48:15 +0000

Ulcers have always worried me, I have two performance horses who travel a lot for shows and I always wonder if they might have them, great article!

By: Deb

Deb — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:03:20 +0000

We had a draft horse last summer that had ulcers. He would be fine and then have bouts where he would not eat at all. We were told to try aloe vera juice (you can buy at WalMart & some drug stores). The difference was amazing. We fed him 1/2 cup right on his grain twice a day. He went from not eating to cleaning up his grain and his appearance also improved. He did not have any more bouts of not eating at all.

By: beth

beth — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:57:03 +0000

extremely interesting!!!

By: James

James — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:40:57 +0000

I have a 15 yr old Hanovarian that was Dx’s with Ulcers. He is a dressage competition horse. My vet told me to buy Equiflora from Natren Inc. He says that the Equiflora has a special super strain of Acidophilus called NAS that no other probiotic has and that can stick to the intestinal wall to increase the ph and protective mucin layer of the intestine and crowd out the bad bacteria. Giving the ulcer time to heal safely. the bonus is that while he is on this stuff. What ever feed he eats he is able to utilize more of the nutrients. I gotta say, after 4 months of using it. It works! Im a believer. It also has another strain of probiotic too but I forget what it is. But, Im so sold on this stuff! I also like the fact the company makes their own probiotics as well as human versions too. So they just dont relabel other products and sell it as their own.

By: b

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:43:21 +0000

interesting article

By: Marie

Marie — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:00:13 +0000

Wow, wonder if my barrel and pole horse had ulcers… Scarry thought. He would get so nervous before an event, he pooped like crazy.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:57:54 +0000

My horse Diamond had a colonic ulcer and she had sudden symptoms. She did have heaves though. It can be treated because they gave us many medicines to take home and give her. They would have worked if the ulcer wasn’t so progressed. By the time we found the ulcer it was 20 inches long.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:18:44 +0000

I work as an equine nutritionist, and the idea of putting a horse on a “natural diet”, and then using the terms oats and barley in the same sentence is a contradiction. Wild horses do not seek out grain products in the wild. They desire the best quality grass, that contains the best digestible fiber and highest nutrients possible. Oats, corn and barley are all very high in starch and non-digestible fiber. My guess is that poorly digestible fiber sources in the horses feed and poor quality/stemmy hay are big culprits of these ulcers.
The recommendation of a pelleted feed makes sense to me because the components in a QUALITY pelleted feed are typically lower in starch and higher in fiber and digestibility, which more closely resembles the horses natural diet of grasses. I would suggest checking out http://www.admani.com and reading about the importance of feeding your horse like a horse. It should help you make sense of the pellet recommendation. ADM on a whole always suggests pelleted feeds. Too much starch in the diet (cereal grains and sweet feeds) can destroy fiber digesting bacteria in the digestive tract. Perhaps that too could aggravate a colonic ulcer?
I hope this makes sence and helps :0)

By: Maree

Maree — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:26:10 +0000

My horse is not a performance horse, but was recently diagonosed with colon ulcers. He has been on Gastrogard and has improved. Although I,m not sure if it is due to the Gastrogard or changing him to a pelleted feed. I am told he will have to be on a pellted feed for the rest of his life. Maybe this is something learned since this article was published. Does anyone have more current information on the subject?
P.S. It’s been just over a month since he was diagnosed and treatment started, and he is doing wonderfully! So there is hope if your horse gets the diagnosis.