Feeding for ulcers

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Sid these days!
Apr 30, 2010
21,975
10,066
113
63
Surrey Hills
Mattie my companion horse is the same age as Ziggy but looks 10 years older. He's an Arab and raced in France for 5 years until he was 8. He is a very sensitive horse and a worrier, and he windsocks. He's a picky, slow, fussy eater and recently it's become difficult to keep weight on him.

My RI thinks he might have ulcers and I can see that the evidence points that way, although he lives out with constant access to grass etc. But he's not insured (or insurable) and I can't afford to embark on a course of vet treatment, scoping etc at present. I wonder if there are any feeds which help horses with ulcers? He loves his mash in the morning, it's the only thing he eats with appetite, and I'd buy him any food which helped him be more comfortable and a bit fatter.

It doesn't help that he lives with Ziggy, who is the ultimate good doer. All suggestions gratefully received.
 
Does he enjoy grass nuts? Anything high fibre and as little and often as possible will help but i do understand the hardship of a fussy eater. Thinderbrooks do a herbal muesli, my friend is using it for her very fussy shetland to get fibre into him with some chew aswell with great success but their herbal chaff is also what i use and thus far horses and sheep have loved that as well. Grass nuts tend to be my go too for extra weight gain in fibre form for a non lami risk horse purely as its often what they do best on, grass :) i always soak mine and i find adding warm water can be really helpful for a fussy feeder. Micronised linseed is great for weight gain as well and is a healthy source of oils.
 
Alfa is one of the go to's for ulcer neddies, high fibre, good mj/kg for weight and I think its the higher calcium that neutralises the acids :) oat flour is meant to be good too esp for the hind gut (which scoping and vet treatments don't reach) and you only need half a cup added to normal feed and its not strong flavored so pretty easy to get in them :)
 
Thanks @mystiquemalaika , he likes anything sloppy (except linseed oil) and yes he loves a warm mash, I have two bog old milk containers I use to carry warm water over when it gets chilly. Could you tell me what you mean by grass nuts? He eats a mix of Veteran Vitality, Coolstance Copra (coconut fibre, high in calories from oil) and Agrobs Weisencobs at present. The Weisencobs are dried compacted meadow grass and flowers. Is that the sort of thing you meant?

And @Jessey , Alfa what? I'll happily get him a packet!

I believe that probiotics are really helpful for ulcer sufferers and I'll contact my naturopath friend for some gut support herbs. I'll let you all know what they are!
 
How are his teeth? Just wondering if he finds chewing difficult - not sure how old he is, but he sounds to have aged quite quickly.

When I was training Raf for the Derby I was very keen to feed him for ulcer prevention in case he was affected by all the stress and the lack of food while he was actually training and travelling (he has a net but doesn't really eat while we're on the move). I got him some Alpha A to take with us in the waggon, the theory being that he'd have a bucket when we arrived at our destination before we started work - it's supposed to form a 'mat' over the acid in the stomach and prevent splashing the acid about. However Raf had other ideas and refused to eat it after a little while. He does love dried grass though (Readigrass), which is probably too high in sugar for him really, but at least he eats it and he's looking really good at the moment (has a bit of bottom for the first time in his 11 years).

I hate the whole ulcer issue. When Raf went off his food the vet suggested scoping for ulcers as the next step if he didn't start eating again. Raf is insured, but excluded for anything to do with his digestive tract, plus I understand that scoping doesn't pick up ulcers in the hind gut so you may not be any further forward once you have gone through the process, so was hoping to avoid it. Luckily he did start eating, but it's always at the back of my mind that we will have to scope if he has any more symptoms in the future.
 
Anything alfa, chop/chaff like Dengie alfalfa or you can get alfa hay if you're lucky and they make alfa nuts that can be soaked to a mash, simple systems do a big range
 
I think Global Herbs do something called Gastro guard? Not sure if that is a preventative tho? It's just a tub supplement, I've seen it but don't know how much it is.
 
Two of our current competition TBs are windsuckers and like yours not insurable. We feed British horsefeeds Fibre Beet and Saracens Releve supplemented with NAF gastriaid which seems to reduce the windsucking/cribbing. When competing we feed sloppy mix of fibrebeet on arrval and between each phase to minimise acid splash.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lauren123 and OwnedbyChanter
I think it's often a case of finding what works for the individual. While alfalfa is usually cited as the go to feed there are horses that it doesn't work for or even makes worse and there has been research to support this. Yes it's definitely worth a try, but if it doesn't help or he gets more picky about his feed, stops eating up, loses more weight or looks worse don't feel you should carry on feeding it. Likewise supplements, what works well for one may be less effective for another - I found Equine America's UlserGard helped a lot and so did Gaviscon liquid if he was looking uncomfortable.

I know you say you can't afford to start a course of vet treatment at the moment, but it is possible to do a test on droppings that while it won't tell severity should give you a fair idea if they're actually present. It isn't 100% effective but if it comes back clear it might mean you should be looking elsewhere & stop you wasting time trying to treat for ulcers when you want to be getting weight on going into winter.
 
carthorse said:
it is possible to do a test on droppings that while it won't tell severity should give you a fair idea if they're actually present. It isn't 100% effective but if it comes back clear it might mean you should be looking elsewhere & stop you wasting time trying to treat for ulcers when you want to be getting weight on going into winter.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, I've never heard of a droppings test before.
 
@Jane&Ziggy i mean just grass nuts, simple systems do 2 varieties, blue bag and red bag. The grass is cut at different times of the year , red bag is for horses needing more calories or energy depending on how you feed it. I use emerald green personally and have always found them to work well. The taste is simple so they often work for fussy "hard feed" eaters :)
 
@Jane&Ziggy I have an incline that my old lad may have ulcers, I haven’t had him scoped yet. For the first time we are girthy, very slow eater, unhappy when transitioning from trot to canter and his coat appearing dull.
I feel this may be a combination of a lot of things, we have had an unsettled year from spring onwards. We have moved yards twice (April&July), I came off in June with a nasty compound fracture and moved him from
Scotland to the North east (North Tyneside) we don’t know a soul from the horsey community around here so hello anyone from this way.
I had a part sharer riding him out when I was unable to ride - I started riding again in September, hacking atleast twice a week. Poor Rio has tried to cope with these changes and I think this may have brought on ulcers. New yard/grazing/rider/routine/field mates/enviroment.
He lives out 24/7 one hard feed a day and as lib haylage in field. I had his back checked this was absolutely fine, teeth were done in Feb, checked tack over all okay.
Down the ulcer path I went. So.... after hours of reading up on forums etc I stumbled across thunderbrook feed. It’s a no nonsense feed company with all natural ingredients no molasses beet pulp etc. They have a product called ulca x a pre biotic for the hind gut packed with goodies for his digestive system. We started that 10 days ago as a supplement and we are now slowly introducing one of their concentrated balance feeds with over 100 antioxidants ‘base mix’ and a healthy herbal chaff. I used to feed him ready mash extra conditioning cubes and molasses chaff, this I think may not have helped with ulcers. His coat condition has improved he is still showing girthy signs, this may be habit however we are still getting some ready mash extra in our feed so once we are fully over to thunderbrook feed I will let you know our findings. A slow process but for all the right reasons, I am hoping to have him fully on the feed in the next couple of weeks. I am so pleased to have found this feed and from others experiences the results have been promising so I have all fingers and toes crossed! What did you settle for and any good?
 
Thanks so much @Jessingaround , it's really interesting to hear about your boy.

Mattie had a naturopath inspection and self selection of herbs (a friend of mine's business is this so I can have advice free) and she doesn't think he has ulcers, but lower gut and liver/kidney weakness. He is getting to eat his Veteran Vitality, Agrobs organic high protein grass nuts and Coolstance Copra - a very high calorie bucket! - with two handful of the herbs he selected for himself including mint and dandelion root among many others, plus a strong probiotic.

He isn't looking any better but he isn't looking worse either, which is ok given that it's got really cold here. I am also giving him access to fresh long foggage every day, because tearing at long grass makes him feel better than practically anything else, it seems. He will only eat hay as a last resort.

I'll be very interested to hear how Rio gets on with your feeding programme.
 
I had always treated Sox like he had EGUS. So high fibre, small fibre feed before working. People thought I was mad feeding before working but as it' fibre not cereals it's okay. Turns out Sox didn't have EGUS but a severe digestive problem. But it's under control by high fibre high oil diet
 
I'm switching Ginny onto Pink Mash.

http://keyflowfeeds.com/horse-feeds/pink-mash/

She is tonnes less girthy on alfa A molasses free, micronised linseed, Protexin and speedibeet and Pink Mash with an alfa based chop is all of those things together in 1 feed. I have a friend with a pony who had ulcers who did brilliantly on it. It contains Protexin which is a Pre/Probiotic gut balancer in amounts similar to when it is fed as a supplement. It does not have vits and mins added so I feed a broad spectrum balancer too. She was eating mud (big mouthfuls of it)when she arrived so poor things was very deficient I think.
 
Sorry re-read thread more carefully and it sounds like you have Mattie's feed sorted!
 
KP nut said:
I'm switching Ginny onto Pink Mash.

http://keyflowfeeds.com/horse-feeds/pink-mash/

She is tonnes less girthy on alfa A molasses free, micronised linseed, Protexin and speedibeet and Pink Mash with an alfa based chop is all of those things together in 1 feed. I have a friend with a pony who had ulcers who did brilliantly on it. It contains Protexin which is a Pre/Probiotic gut balancer in amounts similar to when it is fed as a supplement. It does not have vits and mins added so I feed a broad spectrum balancer too. She was eating mud (big mouthfuls of it)when she arrived so poor things was very deficient I think.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that - I have just ordered a sample. As it's low starch/sugar it sounds ideal for Raf. My problem will be getting him to eat it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KP nut
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back