It has been a strange couple of weeks

OwnedbyChanter

OwnedbyChanter

With out my boys life would be bland
Apr 16, 2009
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Raininghamshire
I am not sure how it all started but I am hoping we are over the worst of it now.

Some of you may remember me posting about Gingers new dressage moves that were not taught, required or asked for. That and his strange behaviour out hacking basically going from a lovely dream horse to a nightmare and at times very scary dangerous beast.

It all started just before Christmas and after advice from NR it was put down to change of yard, bad weather (losing the roof of the barn), not eating hay and not being exercised as much due to the weather (flood lights broken, lunge pit flooded) turn out reduced due to field being a mud pit. So total nightmare.

Anyway his behaviour had changed and he was just not happy. I have had his saddles checked and the physio again in the last three weeks and still he is not happy cribbing, grumpy, even windsucking at times and bucking when ridden. I am convinced he has ulcers.

After talking to my vets he gave me a number for a company called Equine Science who does an alternative to Gastroaid which is not chemical based as I am very concerned with using only natural ingredients as nature intends. The item they suggest is Gastroplus it is recommended by vets and has received amazing reviews it does the same job as Gastroaid in the same time frame and once the ulcers have gone you then move on to a preventative treatment like ulcer guard. They say you can see a change in one week. He started it on Friday.

Well I think we have finally turned a corner. I rode last night walk, trot and canter with another horse in the school and he was back to his old self.

I am very hot on his routine, keeping it as stress free as I can, he is on ab lib hay all day and night, Fast Fibre and Chaff only, Chaff ½ hour before exercise as well. Everything in his box is covered with anti-crib as well. If this does not work I am out of ideas as to what is wrong with him.

Fingers crossed for me please
 
That's good that it seems to be doing the trick. What did your vet think about ulcers in general? Did he think he actually had them? Did he suggest scoping to confirm? Just being nosey as our vets are generally quick to order "tests" before commiting to suggestions.
 
Just wanted to add: I think it is good that you have tried something like the natural / herbal supplements before putting him through being scoped. I had Storm done last year and it was not nice for her at all.
 
The vets are excellent and gave me some good pointers. I am not keen on scoping unless it is urgent and life threatening as I saw something very bad last year.

A friends horse had sand colic and they scoped her the scope damaged some nerves (I think) and she looked like she had a stroke, one side of her face fell she could not eat and went down hill from there she was PTS in the end. very sad.

If you read the vet certificate scoping is not as safe as led to believe and I really don't want to put him through that yet.

Obviously if after this treatment he is still not right I will have him scoped but the problem with that as well is if the uclers are in the hind gut the scope will not see it and they still treat the same with Guastroaid. Which you can only get from the vet!!!
 
That's a shame about your friends horse. Last year (against my better judgement) when Stormy was ill we had her scoped to check for infection further down, but looking back it didn't achieve anything and made her more unwell than she already was for a couple of days. But then again, I had to rule stuff out.
Very glad to hear you've found something that seems to be working - sounds good.
 
June was scoped about 18 months ago for strangles to have her pouches flushed and she was a poorly girl afterwards :( I hope ginger is feeling better and back to his normal self soon
 
Not that I hope Ginger has ulcers but I really hope that this does the trick and you have got to the bottom of his problem. It is so annoying when you know something is wrong but just can't work out what. I'll keep my fingers crossed that he continues to improve, it certainly sounds good so far!:happy:
 
Oh OBC I really feel for you as the Ginger one's behaviour sounds like Poppy's, and I still haven't got to the bottom of that. Like you, I think ulcers is a possibility. Unlike you though, I don't have the reassurance of knowing that Ginger was a good boy to start off with so this isn't dyed-in-the-wool behaviour for him. I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, if you need a cheering up drink, happy to buy you one! ;)
 
squidsin said:
Oh OBC I really feel for you as the Ginger one's behaviour sounds like Poppy's, and I still haven't got to the bottom of that. Like you, I think ulcers is a possibility. Unlike you though, I don't have the reassurance of knowing that Ginger was a good boy to start off with so this isn't dyed-in-the-wool behaviour for him. I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, if you need a cheering up drink, happy to buy you one! ;)
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Humm never thought about uscler for poppy. You can do a test which is cheap and will give you an idea. The stuff Ginger is on is expensive for one month course but cheaper than the vet route. For me it is worth a try.

I read so much stuff over the last month or so I was willing to give anything a go.

A meet and dribk would be good. Are you still riding?
 
OwnedbyChanter said:
Humm never thought about uscler for poppy. You can do a test which is cheap and will give you an idea. The stuff Ginger is on is expensive for one month course but cheaper than the vet route. For me it is worth a try.

I read so much stuff over the last month or so I was willing to give anything a go.

A meet and dribk would be good. Are you still riding?
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Riding other people's horses and having lessons every couple of weeks, yes, but Poppy is still not in ridden work. I am planning on restarting her in late spring/summer. I think it could easily be ulcers in her hind gut, given that liver condition and the fact she dropped tons of weight and still isn't fat despite eating like, well, like a horse! She never stops eating yet she's only 490 kgs which is quite slight for a 15.1 cob. Got no plans for next week if you're about? I'll text you!
 
Fingers crossed that this sorts him out.

If it does prove to be ulcers, would you like me to ask my horse herbalist friend if there's anything reasonably priced that you can keep him on to help manage them going forward?
 
I'm glad you're seeing an improvement & I hope it continues :biggrin:

Jim's given me far too much experience of ulcers & reading through your post I was thinking ulcers too. I must admit that I've never had any real success with the natural route, but I know a lot of people seem to. He needs GastroGuard & Antepsin - my bank account needs a miracle! He had a really bad spell a few months ago & we were really worried we'd lose him, that was when we put him back on GastroGuard & added Antepsin - for 48 hours I was up with him dosing him every 2 hours just to keep him off the floor & if there had been no improvement he would have been pts because he couldn't carry on like that. We were lucky, very lucky.

If Ginger's improvement doesn't last please consider scoping & GastroGuard because ulcers can become life threatening. I know you've seen scopings go wrong, but that's not the norm. I've seen a few & in every case there's been no problem & the horse has had enough sedation that it's been completely unbothered by the procedure. I don't have a lot of faith in the faecel test because I've heard of several cases where it's come back negative & a subsequent scoipe has shown ulcers (Jim was one). You can always go back to natural treatments to prevent & recurrance.
 
carthorse said:
I'm glad you're seeing an improvement & I hope it continues :biggrin:

Jim's given me far too much experience of ulcers & reading through your post I was thinking ulcers too. I must admit that I've never had any real success with the natural route, but I know a lot of people seem to. He needs GastroGuard & Antepsin - my bank account needs a miracle! He had a really bad spell a few months ago & we were really worried we'd lose him, that was when we put him back on GastroGuard & added Antepsin - for 48 hours I was up with him dosing him every 2 hours just to keep him off the floor & if there had been no improvement he would have been pts because he couldn't carry on like that. We were lucky, very lucky.

If Ginger's improvement doesn't last please consider scoping & GastroGuard because ulcers can become life threatening. I know you've seen scopings go wrong, but that's not the norm. I've seen a few & in every case there's been no problem & the horse has had enough sedation that it's been completely unbothered by the procedure. I don't have a lot of faith in the faecel test because I've heard of several cases where it's come back negative & a subsequent scoipe has shown ulcers (Jim was one). You can always go back to natural treatments to prevent & recurrance.
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Carthorse - I understand what you are saying and I did say that after this months treatment if he is no better he will be scoped and treated by the vet way. The stuff I am using is highly recommended by the vet and meant to get rid of ulcers then you start a maintence programme for this I intend to use settlex by feedmark for 2 months then go down to guastrogard for the rest of his life if all better. I will have an idea by Friday.

The problem I am having at the moment it he does not like the hay so instead of cribbing or eating he is eating his bed (bedsosoft). He is not allowed hayleg as it has to much sugar in.
 
OwnedbyChanter said:
Carthorse - I understand what you are saying and I did say that after this months treatment if he is no better he will be scoped and treated by the vet way. The stuff I am using is highly recommended by the vet and meant to get rid of ulcers then you start a maintence programme for this I intend to use settlex by feedmark for 2 months then go down to guastrogard for the rest of his life if all better. I will have an idea by Friday.

The problem I am having at the moment it he does not like the hay so instead of cribbing or eating he is eating his bed (bedsosoft). He is not allowed hayleg as it has to much sugar in.
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Poppy didn't like the last batch of hay from Widmer. Her field mate didn't mind though so she ate it! I have the number of a couple of local farmers who supply hay if you want it?
 
squidsin said:
Poppy didn't like the last batch of hay from Widmer. Her field mate didn't mind though so she ate it! I have the number of a couple of local farmers who supply hay if you want it?
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Yes please.

clare123 said:
ObC, I'm starting to suspect ulcers in my boy too...I've looked at Equine Science website but no prices.. how much is it approx for the one month of Gastro Plus?
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It is expensive £218 for 30 days. The lady on the phone was really good asked loads of questions etc. I read a fab website the other day which was really interesting will see if I can find it again.

http://www.lunatunesfreestyles.com/horse_ulcers.htm
 
Compared to GastroGuard £218 for 30 days is cheap! I'd strongly recommend anyone considering scoping & treating with GastroGuard to get their horse insured for vet's fees as it's around £200 a week for a 575kg horse & vets general recommend a minimum 4 week course.

OBC will he eat the hay if it's steamed or soaked? It may be worth a try. Or look at the Marksway HorseHages, they're lower in sugar than a lot of hay is & maybe some mixed in thoroughly with his hay would tempt him to eat.
 
carthorse said:
Compared to GastroGuard £218 for 30 days is cheap! I'd strongly recommend anyone considering scoping & treating with GastroGuard to get their horse insured for vet's fees as it's around £200 a week for a 575kg horse & vets general recommend a minimum 4 week course.

OBC will he eat the hay if it's steamed or soaked? It may be worth a try. Or look at the Marksway HorseHages, they're lower in sugar than a lot of hay is & maybe some mixed in thoroughly with his hay would tempt him to eat.
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Carthorse went to yard this morning and again no hay touched I was close to tears. will look up horsehages now and see if anyone sells it near me.

I rode again last night for 45mins he did not buck or out his ears back once and was also better to girth up. He is lack lustre but thats because he is not eating that much. I am putting hay out in the field as well some of it gets eaten but thats by Chanter.
 
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