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 Member
Posts: 29
Location: Minnesota | I need some advise. I have an 8 year old Off the track quarter horse. I bought him a few months ago. He is the first horse I have bought that I have not trained so I am still learning to adjust to fact that I don't know his whole history. The lady I bought him from gave me a 9 pound bag of Animal Element Detox. He has shown signs of being an Ulcer horse and lost a lot of weight in the first month that I had him. He is just now starting to gain that weight back but it is a slow process. When I first got him I had him on full pasture grass with a 14% pelleted feed and the Animal Element twice a day. Now I have him on full pasture grass, two flakes of alfalfa/grass mix, a 14% pellet, alfalfa pellets, Aloe juice, apple cider vinegar and the Animal Element twice a day. Where do I go from here? I've never dealt with ulcers before but someone recommended Forco for ulcers. Is there a significant difference between AE and Forco? Can I give him something to clear any ulcers he may have and then use the AE or Forco as a preventative? I've heard that once horses are started on ulcer meds they need to be on them for life. How much truth is there to that? |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
   
Location: In the Hills of Texas | My horse had ulcers and I had him on THE GastroPlus and once I added FORCO I was able to just give the GastroPlus when I hauled, ran him or when he was under stress. |
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 Special Somebody
Posts: 3951
Location: Finally horseback again.... | I love the results I get with Forco!! |
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 Goat Giver
Posts: 23166
| I am not sure a better supplement exists than Forco. If I could pick one thing to feed a horse, I'd choose it. |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | I love FORCO too. Goes great with THE supplements. |
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 It Goes On
Posts: 2262
Location: Muskogee, OK | It's very interesting to see the trends come and go.... A year or so ago almost every person on here was on the Animal Element bandwagon. It seems to be fizzing out and now everyone is on this FORCO train.
Honestly, the most important thing is what you are feeding your horse. Sure you can mix in all of these additives but it all comes back to the basics. Feed good quality hay and grain and that is all you need.
If it were my horse I would treat him for Ulcers (Gastrogard) and then adjust his diet as needed. It sounds like you have a pretty good diet already started-- Alfalfa is good for ulcer prone horses as well as pasture grass. It's not going to hurt to try him on FORCO and see how he does---if he responds with the amazing transformation that you hear people raving about after feeding their horses FORCO, then great! But I think a lot of the time it really helps to just take it back to the basics. Good luck! |
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Blessed 
Location: Here | Forco |
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 A Lady with Fight
Posts: 2701
Location: NC | AE doesn't impress me. I tried it. Didn't see any difference.
I like Forco. It has the good pro & pre-biotics that are good for the entire GI tract of the horse.
Neither of these supplements are made to treat/prevent ulcers. AE doesn't do much of anything for ulcers, in my opinion. Forco helps the GI tract stay healthy and helps the horse utilize feed better.
Now, I will say you need to find a good quality high fat feed that doesn't have a ton of crap ingredients. You need low starch, but don't just read that on the bag & assume it's actually low starch. You'll need to do some research. I personally love Triple Crown. Their Complete is great for an ulcer prone horse that still needs the energy for training/hauling. It's 12% fat, so you're not feeding as much as other feeds. Stay FAR away from anything that contains CORN in any form, whole, cracked, steamed, etc. You want 20% or less Non-Structural Carbohydrate (NSC) content for an ulcer prone horse.
Constant turnout and constant forage is the best medicine for an ulcer prone horse, along with keeping them on a low starch feed.
I honestly LOVE THE products. You can get a custom formula for YOUR particular horse and it's wonderful stuff. I've seen it work in front of my eyes. We got a mare in that was showing textbook ulcer symptoms. A few months on THE with ulcer prevent and she was a whole lot better.
You don't have to feed ulcer meds (Omeprazole, etc) forever. But you do have to be vigilant as far as maintenance goes. The more effort you put into preventing flare ups from coming back, the less you'll spend on treating them when they do. Turnout, constant forage, and as much turnout as possible are your best friends. Forco is a good thing to feed an ulcer prone horse as a preventative. I've had luck with the THE Muscle Mass with the ulcer prevent additive along with Forco. They seem to compliment each other well. |
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| I started my 5 yo on Ulcercure OTC and Forco a month ago. I am so pleased with the results! I actually think he is TOO fat now. I tried AE a few years ago and saw no results. Forco is amazing IMO. I haven't heard anyone say it hasn't benefited them.
My sister has a retired mare that would colic probably 4x a year. She tried everything from Gastrogard to other ulcer products on the market with no luck. The mare has been on Forco for a year now and hasn't coliced since. Gonna go knock on some wood now, ha! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 383
| I have a horse ott and he has always been a hard keeper , ulcers etc. you name it I have dealt with it IMO the track is very hard on a lot of horses- I tried several things and finally started the ae detox and within 6 weeks I seen a huge difference in mental, topline, feet, focus he was so much better - like a different horse I have been on it every since- I tried the forco really didn't see anything in my horse( but every horse is different) personally I absolutely love ae products -I do also use succeed for ulcers just because he was such a hard case- I think the 2 products work awesome together - if the old owner used ae products then maybe you could call them and see if they had already tried other stuff and found that's what worked best for your new horse. |
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I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | I've been using THE products since 2005 and FORCO since 2006 and they work so there is no need to change or try something else. |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | barrelracingchick16 - 2014-08-20 7:16 PM
  It's very interesting to see the trends come and go.... A year or so ago almost every person on here was on the Animal Element bandwagon. It seems to be fizzing out and now everyone is on this FORCO train.
   Honestly, the most important thing is what you are feeding your horse. Sure you can mix in all of these additives but it all comes back to the basics.  Feed good quality hay and grain and that is all you need.
   If it were my horse I would treat him for Ulcers (Gastrogard) and then adjust his diet as needed. It sounds like you have a pretty good diet already started-- Alfalfa is good for ulcer prone horses as well as pasture grass.  It's not going to hurt to try him on FORCO and see how he does---if he responds with the amazing transformation that you hear people raving about after feeding their horses FORCO, then great!  But I think a lot of the time it really helps to just take it back to the basics. Good luck!
I was just thinking the other day about how when I first started posting here, which was probably about 4 years ago, every other post was about Animal Element and the board was flooded with before/after pics. Personally I tried it and wasn't impressed.
I've never used FORCO so I can't give the OP an opinion on that. For my ulcer horse I treated her with UlcerCureOTC and then started her on SmartGut Ultra (by SmarkPak) and she just gets Haystack Special Blend pellets (they're basically just a blend of beet pulp, alfalfa, timothy, and rice bran; she had been on Purina grains her whole life and I just wanted to get her off overly processed grains). She's gained a ton of weight and eats like a total piggy now. |
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 Whack and Roll
Posts: 6342
Location: NE Texas | Did you buy your horse right after he came off the track? Please do yourself a favor and start your horse on Forco. It is absolutely a game changer for horses. For ulcers I would add Ranitidine powder from your vet or the THE Gastroplus. With any change in your feeding program, it's going to take a minimum of 30 days to really see the changes start to take place. My advice would be to buy the big bucket of Forco pellets and enough THE or Ranitidine to treat your horse for 30 days and take him off of everything else.
If your horse is just coming off the track, be prepared for him to look alot worse before he looks better depending upon what he was running on at the race track. The track isn't hard on them, trainers are hard on them....unfortunately. I have one that it has taken almost 8 months for her to really come back, but she's looking great now. No substitute for good ol father time. |
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Special Somebody
Posts: 3951
Location: Finally horseback again.... | I commented earlier on liking Forco, but I think I need to add a little.
What people see at the first with using Forco is the bloom and weight gain.
But what has made the most dramatic difference in mine is the amount of feed needed to keep them in awesome condition.
My horses look really good, have calmer dispositions, really soft, shiney coats, they are definitely more focused and relaxed and I have gotten this with less than 2/3 the amount I used to feed!!
My feed bill has dropped dramatically since I started it a year ogo and I have horses from 3 year olds to 26 years on it. All of them look great, especially the 26 year old stallion.
as far as what I feed...
They get 1/2 scoop of Safechoice twice daily, 1 scoop of Forco in the evenings and 1/2 flake of alfalfa in the evenings and they are turned out on pasture.
Everyone who sees my babies thinks that I over feed them, but in truth they just get everything out of their feed with good dental care, deworming and Forco.
( you can ask Herbie.... LOL.. She has a couple of my fat kids to ride )
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| 15 days Gastrogard. 10 days ProBios. Begin Forco and SmartGut Ultra. Game changer. |
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Member
Posts: 29
Location: Minnesota | He has been off the track for 4 years now. I was told he had a lot of bad luck, was very strong and hard to handle on the track. The girl I bought him from said they ran him in a ring bit. She said that's one of the harsher bits they use. I don't know much about that but I know he is sensitive and strong.
Will the Ranitidine or THE Gastroplus completely clear up the ulcers so eventually I can just use the forco as a preventative? |
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Location: South Dakota | kimose - 2014-08-21 5:23 PM He has been off the track for 4 years now. I was told he had a lot of bad luck, was very strong and hard to handle on the track. The girl I bought him from said they ran him in a ring bit. She said that's one of the harsher bits they use. I don't know much about that but I know he is sensitive and strong. Will the Ranitidine or THE Gastroplus completely clear up the ulcers so eventually I can just use the forco as a preventative?
My young mare had a ulcer issue...I treated her with a 30 day Gastroguard regiman, and then she has been on Forco since then, and has had no problems and is looking great. |
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I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | kimose - 2014-08-21 5:23 PM He has been off the track for 4 years now. I was told he had a lot of bad luck, was very strong and hard to handle on the track. The girl I bought him from said they ran him in a ring bit. She said that's one of the harsher bits they use. I don't know much about that but I know he is sensitive and strong. Will the Ranitidine or THE Gastroplus completely clear up the ulcers so eventually I can just use the forco as a preventative?
It depends on the horse as to why he got ulcers in the first place. My one gelding was a silent worrier and when I hauled him and ran him without any GastroPlus he would start up an ulcer. The first sign was going off of his feed. I gave him FORCO everyday and dosed him with GastroPlus before I put him in the trailer and everyday I was away from home.
My friend had a horse that got ulcers after going through antibiotics. She treated him with GastroPlus for 2 months and hasn't had a problem since.
You need to figure out what is causing his problem. Some horses can't handle being stalled all the time.
FORCO was designed to do one thing..it addresses the digestive system.
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Location: Texas | Forco contact ain't seen nothin yet on fb |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | Forco is all I would use. Been using it for at 9 years and probably longer so it is not just a fad thing for me. Will be contacting NTO soon since I have a new horse. |
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