anti acid , windsuckers

[ggabby]

anyone tryed the anti acid treatment with windsucker, did it work? and how long did you give it for.?

 

[virtuallyhorses]

Before you start you should ask your vet to check for ulcers. If your horse isn't actually suffering from acid in the stomach\ulcers then there's not much point adding ant-acid to the diet - in fact you may cause other problems. Best to check it out first.

 

[CarolineR]

Yes I've tried it, but my boy only cribs after/during eating, not as a habitual thing.

It made no difference to him, he still cribbed when eating, but that because he's a big greedy boy who bolts his food and then gets a tummy ache and his throat hurts him.

I know his throat hurts because if i gently rub his throat when he is eating he cribs a lot less.

There is also a big difference in cribbing and windsucking.

Look at his routinue closely to see if you can decide what triggers the action, ie. does he still windsuck when turned out? Does he only do it after eating, when being groomed, when he is anticipating being ridden, when he's been stabled a long time.

There are lots of outside triggers that can cause the problem rather than medical. If he does it all the time and in all areas then I would have a talk with the vet to see if they can help, I believe that they can prescribe a stronger ant-acid if they feel it appropriate.

Alternatively you could try a more natural method, of adding camonmile and mint leaves to his feed as these will relax him and help soothe his tummy, just as it does for us, also there are no side effects and you will not do him any harm.

 

[virtuallyhorses]

Hi Caroline - for your guy have you tried making him 'soup' -just adding heaps of water to his regular feed so that he has to slow down his eating and half slurp it - like a mash but you don't heat it or wait for it to soak up the water . Might help a little with the sore throat