Ulcers

STEVE: Gastric ulcers in a horse are real, real common. Duodenal ulcers are in the thoroughbred race horse primarily but we have seen them in other species as well. Typically, they will show you a unthriftiness, their coat doesn’t look good, they don’t put weight on, they’re uncomfortable. Sometimes they’ll eat, sometimes they won’t eat. Certain events will set it off. Change in environment, shipping. Anything that can create an increased level of stress in horses that are predisposed to ulcers or horses that have pre-existing ulcer conditions can exacerbate and/or irritate this problem and make it a lot more prominent. We tend to see it a lot more in fillies, in my opinion, than we do colts, but I have seen plenty of colts that show ulcers as well. Very treatable in today’s world. We have very, very good luck using omeprazole or gastrogard. It’s fairly expensive, unfortunately, but great results and it does decrease acid production. Modification of diet and/or the way we feed our horses and the frequency with which we feed them will make a huge difference in this problem in the long run, once you have the initial gastric ulcer problem remedied or taken care of.

ALEX: And a lot of it, too, is stable management, because if a horse is in a stall for a large part of the day, if they can get out, be turned out, be on pasture, that’s going to help the situation a lot, too.

STEVE: Yeah, no doubt about it. Definitely changing that pattern to where they’re not sitting and looking at the same walls 23 out of 24 hours a day. And getting them out, and giving them more Dr. Green, Mother Nature makes a huge difference in their overall attitude and their overall digestive tract as a rule.

ALEX: So it’s also a stress situation.

STEVE: Oh, no doubt. Stress is probably the number one cause of gastric ulcers in a horse.

ALEX: Talk about Re-Borne and using Re-Borne to treat ulcers.

STEVE: Well, we have a lot of luck…the outfits that I work with that use utilize Re-Borne on their race horses routinely have great success and have backed away and in some cases eliminated the use of GastroGard products and things of this nature. And it’s certainly a lot more cost effective. So it makes it a lot more easy to use and with great results without the headache or expense of having the GastroGard and the financial burden that goes along with utilizing that product.

ALEX: Sure.