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| SO I have learned a lot over the last 2 years with my colt off the track!!! He has ALWAYS been slick and shiny, had a " Laid Back" attitude and never showed any outward signs of stress/ulcers etc. Only time he would get nervous is at a barrel race just before he runs but never refused the gate, always LOVES to run barrels. He is just your typical off the track " All Business" type. As soon as he is done you could put a kid on him type. We have been hunting down this intermittant not wanting to turn first barrel every 3-5 runs issue. Three vets later , all said he was sound ( Which is true). He has hay 24/7, a great daily gastro product, extremely low starch/no molasses 1# a day feed and looks and feels AMAZING. Never in a million years would I have suspected a ulcer until I was talking to another barrel racer last weekend with a horse the same way. I did some research and it said 65% of horses with ulcers show no outward signs. SOOOO, as a test I picked up some ulcerguard and just started giving it daily at the 1/4 tube dose not even a treatment dose. Of course I saw no behavioral changes cause he had none to begin with BUT his PERFORMANCE is showing out of this world improvement. He is absolutely a different horse at a barrel race. He is calm, relaxed, warm ups are nice and smooth loping and long trotting. He used to get chargy but I assumed it was " Race horse" mode and up until couple months ago he always ran a perfect pattern. He used to come into the arena on the muscle ( Fine) but now he walks in with his head down, relaxed. and a horse that I once was unsure would turn the first barrel , has to be PUSHED by it!! He wants to TURN so bad now I can come from a mile away and he will inhale the barrels. total 180 in a week.
Here is my question.... My vet says some horses are just internal worry warts and need to be on a daily dose of ranitidine or omeprazole for life. She recommended the 1/4 tube ulcerguard daily or Ranitidine 2x daily. She said I could "Try" and use it just before races and hauling but based on his improvement he might be the kind of horse that just needs it daily. He used to get runny poop just at barrel races but the Depaolo Excel fixed that!! Manure is totally normal at races now, that had nothing to do with gastroguard. He still had runny poop at races with Curost Stomach.
DO any of you have any of your horses on DAILY acid suppression medication??? I don't want to cause other problems from its use daily. My vet is convinced that at the lower dose digestion will not be effected and there are no long term issues with its use. Just wanted some feedback. Only product I have not tried is THE and I might do that as it really seems to have evidence of CURING them.
Ideas??? I just LOVE the way he is working right now and want to keep it this way!  |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
 
Location: Kansas | T.H.E
But I use smartdigest from smartpaks.
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Expert
Posts: 2531
Location: WI | I use MVP Gastroplex every day and omep/ranitidine paste (full dose) day before and every day I'm on the road. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| My understanding is that when we exercise our horses on empty stomachs, the acid in the lower part splashes up on to the upper part which has a thinner lining and they can get stomach pain/upset that turns into ulcers that way. So, what you are describing makes perfect sense to me and may explain why we can feed them prevent products and still come up with ulcers. I have been thinking ever since your first post about trying gastrogaurd or something that coats the stomach before riding my worrier. Cox labs makes a product that looks like Peptobismal that I was told to feed my horse when a vet felt like he had digestive upset but not full blown ulcers. She told me to give it before hauling and exercising him. I quit riding for a while right after that and I hadn't thought of this till your post. I am going to order that product since it is cheaper and I have used it successfully before.
I will still feed my prevent but I am not convinced they work for this particular part of the ulcer problem. |
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Expert
Posts: 5293
| GLP - 2016-05-06 8:04 AM
My understanding is that when we exercise our horses on empty stomachs, the acid in the lower part splashes up on to the upper part which has a thinner lining and they can get stomach pain/upset that turns into ulcers that way. So, what you are describing makes perfect sense to me and may explain why we can feed them prevent products and still come up with ulcers. I have been thinking ever since your first post about trying gastrogaurd or something that coats the stomach before riding my worrier. Cox labs makes a product that looks like Peptobismal that I was told to feed my horse when a vet felt like he had digestive upset but not full blown ulcers. She told me to give it before hauling and exercising him. I quit riding for a while right after that and I hadn't thought of this till your post. I am going to order that product since it is cheaper and I have used it successfully before.
I will still feed my prevent but I am not convinced they work for this particular part of the ulcer problem.
Absolutely it can splash, thats why I leave alfalfa/Grass mix hay in front of them IN the trailer and AT the side of the trailer the entire time I am at a race or hauling. Thats why I never ever suspected an ulcer. Literally the only time he is not eating is the 15 minutes I use to warm up ( Thats all he needs, he is a finished horse and knows his job) and the 17 -18 seconds he is running the pattern. other than that, hay 24/7. I don't think its splashing at all. My neighbors I share a fence line with are NUTS. THey have horses and just get on them and RUN them from one end of the property to the other ALLLLLL DAYYYYYYYYYYYYY until dark. Or they tie horses to trees ALLLLL DAYYYYYYYY and night to " Break" them. Won't mention nationalities here but I'm in CA and all these people who own horses think they know everything and thats how they treat their horses. My horse is just over the fence from this. Since he was from the track I always wondered if he would sit there and just worry about what he was seeing or something. Nothing I can do about it and he never " SHowed" signs it was bothering him. lol But maybe it has been all along.
OH, and he is on Curost ADAPT/CALM. Its cheap to feed and Its designed for this type of Worry.. lol Even at the max dose of 2 scoops 2x daily it must not be working as good as he needs it to.
Edited by FLITASTIC 2016-05-06 10:17 AM
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| It was my understanding that you did not want them on omeprazole for a long period of time because they do need some stomach acid for digestion. My horse is an internal worrier also. He would be running great for months then out of the blue he would want to buck. I did the omeprazole treatment then put him on the u-gard daily. I also give him a small flake of alfalfa about an hour before running him and I believe this made a big difference.
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Expert
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| LAC - 2016-05-06 8:15 AM
It was my understanding that you did not want them on omeprazole for a long period of time because they do need some stomach acid for digestion. My horse is an internal worrier also. He would be running great for months then out of the blue he would want to buck. I did the omeprazole treatment then put him on the u-gard daily. I also give him a small flake of alfalfa about an hour before running him and I believe this made a big difference.
THat was my understanding as well!! THats why I asked my vet specifically this question yesterday! LOL She said that is true for the " Full treatment" dose that actually does Suppress MOST of the acid. But she assured me that at the 1/4 tube smaller dose it would not supress acid production enough to affect digestion and it would certainly help keep new ulcers from forming...  |
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I just read the headlines
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| FLITASTIC - 2016-05-06 10:14 AM
GLP - 2016-05-06 8:04 AM
My understanding is that when we exercise our horses on empty stomachs, the acid in the lower part splashes up on to the upper part which has a thinner lining and they can get stomach pain/upset that turns into ulcers that way. So, what you are describing makes perfect sense to me and may explain why we can feed them prevent products and still come up with ulcers. I have been thinking ever since your first post about trying gastrogaurd or something that coats the stomach before riding my worrier. Cox labs makes a product that looks like Peptobismal that I was told to feed my horse when a vet felt like he had digestive upset but not full blown ulcers. She told me to give it before hauling and exercising him. I quit riding for a while right after that and I hadn't thought of this till your post. I am going to order that product since it is cheaper and I have used it successfully before.
I will still feed my prevent but I am not convinced they work for this particular part of the ulcer problem.
Absolutely it can splash, thats why I leave alfalfa/Grass mix hay in front of them IN the trailer and AT the side of the trailer the entire time I am at a race or hauling. Thats why I never ever suspected an ulcer. Literally the only time he is not eating is the 15 minutes I use to warm up ( Thats all he needs, he is a finished horse and knows his job ) and the 17 -18 seconds he is running the pattern. other than that, hay 24/7. I don't think its splashing at all. My neighbors I share a fence line with are NUTS. THey have horses and just get on them and RUN them from one end of the property to the other ALLLLLL DAYYYYYYYYYYYYY until dark. Or they tie horses to trees ALLLLL DAYYYYYYYY and night to " Break" them. Won't mention nationalities here but I'm in CA and all these people who own horses think they know everything and thats how they treat their horses. My horse is just over the fence from this. Since he was from the track I always wondered if he would sit there and just worry about what he was seeing or something. Nothing I can do about it and he never " SHowed" signs it was bothering him. lol But maybe it has been all along.
OH, and he is on Curost ADAPT/CALM. Its cheap to feed and Its designed for this type of Worry.. lol Even at the max dose of 2 scoops 2x daily it must not be working as good as he needs it to.
Lol, I do the same thing with the alfalfa hay. My friends think I am nuts to do this just hauling to the arena to ride. I understand what you are saying and I am going to start giving both my horses Gastroade when I haul them. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | I had a mare that was an internal stresser and I'll attach a link of what I used on her and it helped buckets.
http://www.abler.com/abprazole
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Expert
Posts: 5293
| Girls_Gotta_Jet - 2016-05-06 9:04 AM
I had a mare that was an internal stresser and I'll attach a link of what I used on her and it helped buckets.
http://www.abler.com/abprazole
Much appreciated! |
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Expert
Posts: 1314
Location: North Central Iowa Land of white frozen grass | Does your neighbors horses have ulcers. Maybe we as racers are over medicating ours. I want my horses tough. They never go in a stall. They need to be treated like a horse. I am not saying that you are not doing what is best for your horse. But sometimes we need to take an outsiders look at what we are doing. |
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Expert
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Location: WI | BS Hauler - 2016-05-06 2:28 PM Does your neighbors horses have ulcers. Maybe we as racers are over medicating ours. I want my horses tough. They never go in a stall. They need to be treated like a horse. I am not saying that you are not doing what is best for your horse. But sometimes we need to take an outsiders look at what we are doing.
Mine never goes in a stall at home, either. But for 3 day races you can't get around it. Hauling and competing is stressful, period. |
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Expert
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| BS Hauler - 2016-05-06 12:28 PM
Does your neighbors horses have ulcers. Maybe we as racers are over medicating ours. I want my horses tough. They never go in a stall. They need to be treated like a horse. I am not saying that you are not doing what is best for your horse. But sometimes we need to take an outsiders look at what we are doing.
And not everyone has access to pasture. Mine are not in stalls, they have lots of room, but it is NOT a pasture. I want my horses tough to, but some are just absolute woosies. LOL My Bay horse has every right to never turn a barrel again with his " Issues" but he is a tough SOB and just keeps rolling. My colt , however, is a pansy.. I dont think denying him medical care is going to " Toughen" him up any. I really don't want a ruined horse as this colt is the real deal, like me at the " American" real deal.. lol
Edited by FLITASTIC 2016-05-06 3:09 PM
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Expert
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Location: North Central Iowa Land of white frozen grass | I didn't mean that you were not taking care of your horse. If he needs it he needs it. And with a way that these performance horses are hauled and the stress that they are under it is no wonder they will get medical issues. It just amazes me how many people think that a horse should be kept in a stall and then they wonder why they have issues with them mentally and physically. |
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Expert
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| BS Hauler - 2016-05-06 3:48 PM
I didn't mean that you were not taking care of your horse. If he needs it he needs it. And with a way that these performance horses are hauled and the stress that they are under it is no wonder they will get medical issues. It just amazes me how many people think that a horse should be kept in a stall and then they wonder why they have issues with them mentally and physically.
Oh totally. I didn't take offense at all. Lol. I am not leaving him on it all the time. Just before races and during races. Happy medium. Lol |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | Three products you can try: THE, Starting Gate, and Equi-sure by Pro Earth Animal Health, I've used all three and have had them help us out. |
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Expert
Posts: 5293
| For now I think I am going to just treat another week and then keep them on the excel. Then when I haul or compete they will get gastro guard or ranitidine. I looked into equisure and don't like the corn oil it has in it and starting gate was vague on their ingredients. Also noticed on their distributor list quite a few have dropped it and don't carry it anymore. |
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