A horse owners experience of identifying potential ulcers

Date Posted: 03/08/2023

From the horse’s (owners) mouth….

“It was early March and after a frosty and snowy winter of somewhat limited turnout (he had made it out every day but sometimes for limited time) my horse’s interest in his work had started to dwindle. He’d always been happy in his work, but he wasn’t going forward and seemed to be a bit stuffy. He’d also started being a bit spooky which wasn’t in his nature. He’d started being a bit grumpy when girthing up – particularly on his right side.

The yard owner spoke with me one day as she’d noticed he was lying down in the field much more, and we both commented how sometimes when he was being lead in or out he would shoot forward as if something had bothered him. He’d also started dunking his hay in his water.

He was clipped and his coat was starting to come through – so not the best time of year to review his coat condition, but his coat looked ok.

Putting all this together, we decided to get the vet in and he had gastroscopy. This showed he had grade 2 ulceration and grade 3 near the pylorus (aka gastric ulcers, both non-glandular and glandular).

He started on a course of omeprazole treatment and was rescoped after 6 weeks; there were still some symptoms and the gastroscope showed some signs of ulceration so he had a further few weeks treatment and then scoped again and we were finally given the all clear.

During this time his work had started to improve. Once the ulcers had all cleared he stopped dunking his hay in his water, and he wasn’t lying down in the field anymore. We also noticed that he started pooing bigger poos. It wasn’t something we’d noticed before, but realised his poo’s had shrunk in size while he had ulcers. I was back to filling a full wheelbarrow each day from the paddock, instead of ¾ of a wheelbarrow!

With some ongoing management changes he continued to be clear of ulcer symptoms.”

If any of these symptoms sound familiar to you why not sign up to our Gastroscopy clinic on Friday 10^th March. With over 50% saving off the standard price, a Gastroscopy Clinic is well worth the time and investment to rule out, or confirm ulcers in your horse.