ulcers

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I am at a loss, Our horse has ulcers, been treated with omoguard and gastrizole. We are in australia.
Both didn't make  a difference.
I have taken him off all hard food and he is just on grass hay, I wanted to see if that made a difference, it did he has lost weight. When he was a on hard feed he would just maintain his weight never putting much on.
We are giving him tuffrock GI with lucerne hay and his grass hay.
He needs something else to put weight on but don't know what.
I have read and read lots of articles on ulcers, one will say bran is good another says it's not, and lots of other discrepencies.
since we are in Australia we won't have the same premixed feeds as you. I don't know what else to do for this horse

ANSWER: Hi Matt,

Thanks for your question.  Ulcers can be a complex that is hard to remedy at times.  For the most part, ulcers are a management issue.  The horse's stomach was designed to have food in it all the time..without much of that being starch.  If the horse goes prolonged periods of time ( more than 4 hours) without food in their stomach, the digestive enzymes in the stomach begin to eat through the stomach wall an create ulcers.  High starch diets may also promote ulcer formation as they promote the production and secretion of the more acidic enzymes that erode the stomach lining.  Generally if you fix these conditions, you can eliminate ulcers.

However, having said all of that, there are a less frequent set of circumstances where ulcers may develop and persist despite perfect management...which makes it very difficult to control the ulcers no matter what.  This is actually more of a syndrome that creates the ulcers and the explanation of all what happens is lengthy and involved...but in short it stems from some dysfunction in the hindgut.  If you fix that hindgut dysfunction you can stop the ulcers...and I see this as being the case where good management and medications have failed to work.  So you may just have to take my word for it.  I make up my own supplement to deal with these horses...and unfortunately it's not something I can get to you where you are.  What I would suggest is that you try Alltech's LifeForce Formula for the course of 60 days and see if you find significant improvement.  Sometimes a few months will help, and sometimes it becomes a lifelong requirement.  I believe you can buy it online from Alltech, but you may also be able to get it from your local Alltech representative as I believe they are represented in Australia.  

You will want to avoid starch based feeds at least in the interim to trying the LifeForce Formula.  If you don't have access to a high fat/high fiber based feed (which would be my first choice of feed for him), at least see if you can source some beet pulp and add that to his diet.

I hope that helps, and please let me know how it works out.

Thanks, Corlena

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thankyou for that info, but what is in a high fat/fibre low starch diet. What else do I give him besides lucerne.

I can get beet puplp but I am confused because it's not something that they can chew, its sloppy isn't it?

Answer
Hi Mat,

Because of your horse's weight issue I was suggesting that you source some feed in addition to the lucerne to help with weight gain.  Because starch-based feeds can further irritate ulcers, I was suggesting a grain that uses quality fiber sources and vegetable fat in its ingredient base.  I'm not sure if that's a possibility for you, or what if any premixed horse feed you have available.  If you do have a feed company that you work with let me know and I can review their grain choices and make a more specific selection.  In the absence of (or even in addition to) a premixed feed, you can feed beet pulp to help your horse with weight gain.  True, it is generally fed wet and there is little chewing associated with eating it, but it is a fiber based energy feed that won't irritate existing ulcer conditions.  The benefit of feeding it is that it will help your horse gain some of his weight back in a very safe manner.  The real important part to remember here is that you are going to have to put an end to the cause of the ulcers, so it's real important that you try the LifeForce Formula...everything else is a patch to a bigger problem.

Thanks, Corlena