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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 415
    Location: The Lone Star State | Suggestions please, my horse has ulcers again, im on another 30 day round of gastroguard. she went from winning a race to the bottom dropping out. I went too long without getting her hocks injected and she probably got sore which made her ulcers flare. My vet suggested I take her off her grain for now to reset her tummy (nutrena proforce) her blood work is good. Im trying to get to the root of the problem with her being a high strung anxious mare so Im looking into changing her diet. Is renew gold a ration balancer? If i were only feeding alfalfa would it be good to just ad that? I have read that some ration balancers should not be fed with alfalfa. Im alittle confused about it all. This mare is so talented when she feels good and her ulcers are at bay but we keep circling around to this. I do run her on lasix and guanabenz and always give her electrolytes but there has to be a feed program that will keep her looking good but not bouncing off the walls. She is a complicated mare as they usually are but this is ridiculous and I have to trying something different so im doing a deep dive into nutrition. |
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  Keeper of the King Snake
Posts: 7461
        Location: Dubach, LA | If all she gets is alfalfa hay, that's some of your problem. It puts the calcium out of whack, causing orthopedic issues, while not filling their tummies, which in turn causes ulcers. If she's not turned out, turn her out. Keep her on pasture and/or grass hay. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5239
   
| RG is a way better option. Its molasses free and fed at a very small feed rate. 1 pound a day. Ration balancers still have all the bagged feed junk like molasses, wheat mids, soy etc. Despite pretty bags and good advertising, nutrena feeds are NOT low sugar and starch. I stopped feeding commercial bagged feeds and all ios well. |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12667
      
| I love the results I've had with rg. I switched to rg 4 or 5 years ago and I haven't had any stomach or weight issues since. I feed mine with an equal volumn of beet pulp shreds, and alfalfa hay. I have very little quality grass so that's it for my crew. I'm especially happy with having switched before starting with my ADHD mare since I'm sure a sugar food would make her unbearable. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 236
   Location: Colorado | I, too, have a super nice, athletic horse who was chronically plagued by ulcers. Along with the meds prescribed to him by the vet, he gets fed free choice grass hay (timothy, brome, bermuda mix) in a hay chix slow feed bag. Usually has to be replaced every other day. Twice a day he also gets 2 lbs alfalfa pellets and 3/4 lbs of Renew Gold. My vet also recommended the supplement MagRestore to help with the ulcers, and I've seen great results with it. I do have to treat him almost daily with omeprazole powder (basically anytime he's stressed he needs it). With ulcers, a varied forage based diet seems to be the best (based on the research papers I've found), and the Renew Gold helps with the fats they would be lacking from strictly forage alone. Hope this helps! Good luck with your horse OP! |
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