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| My mare has been acting ulcery, she has always been an ulcer prone horse as she is a cribber. She nips at me when i put the saddle on her back, and then when i go to tighten it up. Sometimes she nips at me when I bring the breastcollar across her chest. The main thing that worries me is when I trot or lope her. In a straight line, she is a perfect angel, but the second I ask her to bend her ribcage a little, the ears get pinned. I will let her work a few circles like this and she seems to relax, but when I put my foot barely on her side to ask her to bend a little bit more, she reaches around to nip at me with her ears pinned. Today, i was loping her and touched (barely) my foot into her side and she slammed on her brakes and reached around to bite me. We treated her a couple of months ago for ulcers, her saddle fits perfectly, it's brand new and custom fit for her, she's been to my vet and has had a lameness exam done, didn't show any signs of hurting in her legs or in her body when he checked her for chiro work. The answer i got from the vet was "it's her attitude". I don't want to take that as an answer, because this problem has persisted and she never did it before. Also, today as she was loping, let out a huge fire breathing dragon like cough in the middle of our loping circles. After that she sounded a little wheezy.
Sorry for the novel, I want this horse to be sound so I can bring her back to barrels as soon as possible (she got 3 years off due to being blown up & having a baby)! Anybody have any input as to what could be going on? I'm thinking I will go get a second opinion on her, any ideas as to what to ask him to look at? |
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 Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
   
Location: Alberta | I would get a second opinion and get her vitals (heart, lungs) checked and even blood drawn perhaps...good luck. |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | Maybe ribs or ulcers again? I'm no expert. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Definitely sounds like ulcers
The wheezing sounds like something else, could be a respiratory you may want to scope her lungs to rule it out.
Edited to add just because you treat for ulcers, doesn't mean they don't come back.
I would look at lifestyle, and feeding program to prevent reoccurrences
Edited by cheryl makofka 2015-02-28 4:51 PM
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | Id ask him to palpate her as well |
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| I definitely wanted to get her treated for ulcers again when I brought her in not too long ago for this issue, but my vet didn't offer to treat her again since she had just recently been treated.... i didn't necessarily agree with him on that...
I have a feeling she could be a bleeder? Could have been the reason she blew up on barrels a few years ago. I've never actually seen blood before, but I have read about horses who are bleeders and they sound a lot like her. She tends to be very excited/hot |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| What'd you treat her with, for how long?
What did you follow up with?
What is she eating every day? Is she eating well?
Turn out time? |
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| Omeprazole and randitine, for ~4 weeks (I can't exactly remember)
After, started with 60cc of aloe vera juice in her feed for 2 weeks, now getting 30cc aloe vera juice in her feed every day.
She's also eating renew gold and stablized rice bran. 10-15 lbs of coastal hay a day plus ~10 of alfalfa fed through a slow feed hay net. She gobbles everything up. (Occasionally stops to crib after she finishes her feed before she starts the hay). She's out 24/7 except for the 1-2 hours it takes for them to finish their breakfast and dinner. |
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Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| I feel VERY strongly that she has ulcers.
Give her a full tube of UlcerGard daily for 28 days.
Start SmartGI Ultra two times daily as soon as possible.
Begin the full dose of Forco two times daily as soon as possible.
Begin giving one half tube ProBios two times daily, for ten days.
Begin giving free choice alfalfa hay. Add grass as well.
Continue free choice hay after ulcer treatment, as well as SmartGI Ultra and Forco.
Get her chiropractered by someone good about two weeks in to help her body settle. She's probably holding herself in all sorts of weird positions trying not to hurt.
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| In my experience aloe Vera doesn't do anything for the high maintenance horses.
It sounds like she is a candidate for omeprazole for the month, then a possible compounded omeprazole product daily after.
Doug on here is one who is reasonable, and there is a lady who is on here as well who has a compounded pharmacy liquid she sells
As for bleeding yes she could be, best way is to breeze her out, and have the vet on standby to scope for bleeding. This is the best way.
A horse can also blow up for many different reasons, my experience pain is the most likely cause, hock, stifle, si pain seem to be the biggest undiagnosed culprits that I have seen or heard about. Best way to diagnose for skeletal issues, is to have the horse fit, then vet check including flexion. Block, xray or ultrasound |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 805
Location: Montana | From my own personal experience with ulcers is after treatment you need to use a daily supplement like Smart GI Ultra or OxyMax. Aloe Vera juice never helped either of my horses. As for the wheezing/cough I would get her scoped and start wetting down her hay. It could just be dust since it is getting to be that time of year hay that has been stored is really dusty. I thoughts mare was having allergies with the dust last year and treated with cough free and watering down her hay which helped some. But we found she was a bleeder. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 926
| She probably has an 'attitude' because she's telling you there's something wrong. Back 'in the day' when we had problem horses, we all chalked it up to attitude, now that we know all the things that can be wrong I feel bad because they all were telling us there was something wrong but as horse owners we just didn't have the technology and knowledge to put it all together.
And, I think mares are more likely to 'tell you' than geldings, jmho. Good luck. |
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Common Sense and then some
Location: So. California | She's telling you something is wrong. Ulcers would be at the top of the check list. Have you tested her for PSSM1? Maybe a chiropractor visit is in order. What about the cinch you are using, what type? Saddle pad too thick or too thin? Are you setting the saddle too far forward?
And just out of curiousity, how do you custom fit a saddle? |
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| I haven't tested her for PSSM, she's been recently adjusted, and maybe i shouldn't have used the term "custom" but I hauled her to double j to get her fitted with a tree and then bought a saddle that was perfect for her back. They also told me what thickness pad i needed on her.
Edited by achildres 2015-03-01 1:32 PM
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