Feeding a horse with ulcers can be tricky. “We use products like Platinum Gastric Support that are able to offer the horse Saccharomyces c. boulardii and dried Lactobacillus delbrueckii and its vital fermentation products, giving them the support they need in the stomach in particular, as well as with the fermentation component in the hindgut and the cecum specifically.”, A critical component to a whole-horse approach goes well beyond treatment and is seen in its preventive power. “Two forms of ESGD exist,” explains Dr. Belgrave further. Length of treatment is important. “The medications we use to treat EGUS try to alter and control the environment in the stomach so that the equine body can heal those ulcerations on its own.” These therapeutics can include both proton pump inhibitors and H2‐receptor antagonists. The challenge is unearthing them and piecing them together.”, While the stomach is again the overwhelming focus, it’s important to remember that the small intestine, colon and cecum come into play as well. “Everything’s related. They may get up and slowly finish their meal, sometimes eating their grain at a slower rate than their hay due to the influx of acid that it causes. “Continued research to better understand EGUS, EGGD in particular, and how to prevent and treat it more effectively is needed,” says Dr. Belgrave, hopefully. This video from Nutrena provides tips on how to feed a horse that is suspected to have ulcers. Then, there is the glandular mucosa, where acidic pumps are predominantly located and where acid is being produced. “If you’re going to introduce stressors on that gastrointestinal tract that naturally come with training and competition, you have to find a way to manage them,” insists Dr. Davis. That’s the top portion of the stomach, which also contains a cardiac sphincter where the scope enters the stomach,” he explains. “Often what we’ll see, especially in these performance horses, is after they eat, they’ll get painful. A new horse will come into a barn and immediately we’ll put them on Platinum Wellness or Platinum GI, we’ll examine and correct their diet, we’ll become familiar with their stressors and we’ll get a complete picture of their health and risk factors. As Dr. Whitfield mentioned in his findings, inflammation can be a significant contributing factor to equine gastrointestinal disease, including gastric ulcers and Leaky Gut Syndrome. To spot ulcer symptoms in a horse, keep an eye out for behavioral changes, like increased irritability, nervousness, or fatigue, which can be a sign that a horse has gastric ulcers. Some of the symptoms that foals exhibit may also become apparent in adult horses. “Inflammation of the mucosal lining of the stomach is the first stage in the development of gastric ulceration. We know that an athlete devoid of a proper diet, in an unmanaged state of inflammation, can be more prone to injury and disease and less able to perform to his or her potential. We give UlcerGard when our horses compete to prevent ulcers from forming. Horses are natural grazers, evolving on a variety of grasses, barks and mineral-rich forages while grazing up to 18 hours per day. All of those things can trigger inflammation in the GI tract,” he explains. This will also happen in a follow up gastroscopy 20 to 35 days following the beginning of treatment.”. There are two sections of the horse’s stomach; the glandular portion, which secretes acid and enzymes to break down food, and the stratified squamous portion. Let’s use the example of a 500kg horse with gastric ulcers. A healthy glandular mucosa in a pylorus has a sheen to it thanks to that protective waxy barrier. While gastroscopy gives the veterinarian a window into the horse’s stomach and gastrointestinal tract, properly diagnosing then grading ulcers is still a challenge, especially given their location. Intestinal ulcers are an unfortunate fact of life for many performance horses. “The mucosal lining of the stomach consists of two regions, the squamous mucosa, which is the nonfunctional lining of the stomach, as well as the glandular mucosa, which secretes gastric acids (hydrochloric acid), pepsinogen, histamine and bicarbonate. “In that study, we looked at a number of things. I can’t determine the horse’s heart. At first glance, equine ulcers seem well understood with an established diagnostic process and tried treatment modalities. Whenever you observe these clinical signs you should suspect stomach ulcers, and immediately consult or bring your horse to a horse veterinarian. However, I do agree that horses with ulcers are just like people and need to become “gluten” free from grains. While grains and concentrates can have a detrimental effect in some cases, forage choices and grazing behavior can both positively and negatively impact a horse’s propensity for ulcers as well. “The key is recognizing the stressors for each individual horse and what exactly is causing this issue. “In the case of gastric ulcers when stomach acid becomes too acidic in nature, the question becomes not just how do we treat it, but why is this happening in the first place,” says Dr. Davis of his root-cause approach. Prevalence of ulcers in horses Studies indicate the prevalence of gastric ulcers is high: 93% of Race horses 63% of Performance horses 37% of Leisure horses (that’s a 1 in 3 chance of developing gastric ulcers!) Today’s horses are commonly stalled for a portion of their day, if not all of it, and fed meals instead of having continual access to good quality grazing. 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