Equine Stomach Ulcers, Diagnosis Continued

So, I lied. Well, I didn't lie, I was just incorrect in my outline. I was supposed to talk about whether or not to scope in the last post and then I forgot. Apologies. There are two ways that you can diagnose ulcers clinically. First, you can have the horse "scoped", which is a procedure in which the vet runs a 3 meter long endoscope through the nose, and then into the stomach, and examines the lining of the stomach. Second, you can treat the horse for ulcers for a short amount of time, and if you note improvement in the behavior, then assume there are ulcers and continue treatment.

Personally, I think the scope is a valuable tool, in certain circumstances. If the horse is colicing on a regular basis and waiting it out isn't wise, if the behavior is genuinely dangerous, or if there is another situation where you absolutely need to know. Also, if your horse is insured and you plan to file a claim, and thus money is somewhat less of a concern, it's great to be able to re-scope after treatment so that you can see if they have been cleared up or not. (Note: if you do choose to file a claim, remember that the insurance company will then put an exclusion on the stomach, so colic surgery will not be covered until you can get the exclusion off the policy) If the horse's health is at stake, if YOUR health is at stake, if you just really need to know, the scope is the way to go. However, if you are considering that your horse has ulcers because of behavioral issues that are more minor, you might consider treating the horse for a few days to see if there is a response. I have found that within 3 days of full-dose gastrogard, I can see a significant improvement, but some horses take longer. Of course, you can take the combination approach and treat the horse for a few days, and then decide based on the improvement or lack thereof if you want to scope.

If you do choose to scope, the procedure is as follows: the horse will have to fast prior to the procedure, generally about 12 hours, but different vets like different amounts of time. Be sure to follow your vet's recommendation on this. You can either sweep all the shavings out of the stall or leave the bedding in and put a muzzle on. I favor the muzzle approach not only because it means less sweeping and shoveling for me, but also because after that amount of time with food, most horses are grumpy and the muzzle means they can't bite. I have the bucket-style muzzle, I think most of them will work. You will also have to withold water from the horse starting 4 hours prior to the scope. The fasting, I think, is the major downside to doing this- having an empty stomach is very stressful to the horse and will exacerbate any ulcers that are there. There's certainly that trade off to consider.

Ulcers Part 2- Diagnosis

I remember the first time I thought my horse might have stomach ulcers. I was perched on top of a stepstool, brandishing my clippers at Lego, who at that time was alternately trying to bite, kick, and body slam me against the wall of the wash rack. I located two strong men, who held up a leg to try to keep him still, twitched him, and ran a chain through his mouth, so that I wouldn't get hurt...again. As I was trying to get at the left ear, always his least favorite, the man holding the twitch and the chain mused, "I wonder if his stomach bothers him..." In my time owning the horse, he had hurt me so often that it was a running joke in the barn that when I rode him, the midget toss began. The spook, spin, and tear off bucking got me every single time, and the horrible behavior on the ground just kept getting more aggressive. I was trying to sell the bastard, but I thought I would give him one chance, so I booked an appointment to have him scoped. Now, that was the first time I treated him for ulcers. I probably went through it ten more times after that, and I became the go-to 'ulcer person' in my barn of 80 something horses, so I learned to look for the more subtle signs. It's far better to catch them early than to wait until the horse is turning himself inside out because of the pain.

Now, here comes the part that is completely unvalidated by any kind of study, but most horsemen will agree- not every horse is bothered by stomach ulcers. Studies do show that the vast majority of performance horses have stomach ulcers, as do many foals, but not every horse shows discomfort. For some, they are just there, and they don't cause them pain or poor digestion to any degree that we can tell. You can, of course, treat these horses, but the horse does need stomach acid for efficient digestion. Over treating an ulcer means not enough stomach acid, so the food doesn't get broken down, and it ferments in the hind gut and causes an ulcer there. So, if your horse is not showing symptoms, but a scope shows an ulcer, consider just turning a blind eye to the endoscope screen and look at a happy healthy horse instead.

However, if you are reading this page, chances are that your horse isn't one who has an ulcer that does not bother him. (Note, for purposes of this series, I am assuming a male horse, they affect mares just as often) I tend to think of symptoms of ulcers as being split into two categories: Behavioral and Physical. Behavioral problems tend to stem from the pain of the acid on the raw stomach lining, whereas physical problems come from the decreased digestive efficiency.

Behavioral problems run a whole span from a reluctance to go forward under saddle to bolting. Trying to make a list of them is impossible, but when a horse is in pain, they will generally show it in some way. I will say that horses tend to react differently to ulcer pain than they would to pain from a lameness or a cut or something of that nature, so consider it a separate matter. If your horse's behavior on the ground or under saddle suddenly takes a turn for the worse, consider that they may have an ulcer. Often, symptoms are worse when they are being ridden because stress causes an increase in acid production, which means pain. Any other situation that is stressful will have the same effect, so trailering, showing, visits from the vet or farrier, etc. all can be times when the pain is more severe. All of that said, there are certain behaviors that are particularly indicative of an ulcer:

• Grinding Teeth
• Girthiness- I think it is the combination of something on their stomach and the anticipation of being ridden that causes them to object to the girth when their stomach hurts.
• Cribbing during or after feeding
• Objection to grooming over the stomach
• Poor Appetite

The physical signs, however, are much more clear cut, and thus they don't require an excessively wordy explanation on my part.

• Hard Keeper
• Dull Coat
• Frequent Colic, often mild

Will treating your horse for stomach ulcers turn a rank horse into an angel? It's unlikely. Will the elimination of pain eliminate the behaviors that are caused by pain? Yes. It's impossible for us to know which bad behaviors are caused by pain and which are just bad behaviors until we eliminate the pain, but doing so can make a difference in horses who are hurting and acting out. As for the physical symptoms, I have noticed huge differences in the amount of food horses need to eat to maintain condition pre and post treatment. If you have a very hard keeper who never looks good no matter what you do, he's probably not utilizing his food well, and an ulcer is a very likely reason.

Equine Stomach Ulcers, Part 1

Hello everyone. Sorry about the silence- my big bay horse is done with his show career, and the process of moving him out to the back 40 and cleaning my show tack and putting it away in the trailer has not had me in a writing mood. However, I know that stomach ulcers are a scary thing for a horse owner to deal with, and having been there and done that, I thought it might be nice to share what I do know with the public. And so my writer's block vanishes.

Now, to get this out of the way: I am not a vet. I never have been one, I don't have an animal science degree, I did not even stay at a Holiday Inn last night, so please take any commentary of mine with a big grain of salt. Possibly dig out the rock salt that you bought for making ice cream- you know you're never doing that again. Making ice cream is just not a good plan, in my opinion. It always turns out with this weird texture that is like if you threw a milkshake in the freezer. Anyways, that is beside the point. I have no qualifications to dispense advice, consider me the nutty guy on the street corner who claims to have lost a leg in Vietnam, just for the love of god do not sue me. That is all.

I hope for my series to include:

• Diagnosis- What are the signs of ulcers? Should you scope? What does the scope report mean?
• Medicines- Why is Gastrogard so expensive? How long do I have to give it? Does it really work? What else is out there? Does THAT work?
• Management Changes- What can I do to keep this from coming back? How on earth can I give my show horse a less stressful existence?
• Supplements- What is in them and do they work?
• Why the heck do you know all of this?
• What worked for you?

I would love nothing more than to get some questions from the peanut gallery on this one. My big bay horse had recurrent ulcers, and I spent a whole lot of my life hunting down information and trying to treat them, so if I don't know the answer to your question, I can probably direct you to someone who does.

"It's a penis free blog"

I just said that to my best friend, john david. I told him to check out my newest post on the dirty things I keep in my mouth, but then had to clarify that this is a penis free blog. I would put up a poll to see if we should keep it that way, but thankfully the only penises that I deal with on a regular basis involve excalibur and some rubber gloves. Or not. Depends on the horse. Goodness gracious, I am quite the hunter princess. Braiding my own horses and now glove free sheath cleaning. So, I guess it's not a penis free blog. It just has a "must be this long to be featured" requirement.

Best. Thing. Ever.

Hello Friends! Well, maybe not the best thing. I never thought I would be grateful for standing up on that old rickety stepladder that every barn has with 30 pounds of fluids in my left hand and a rope in my right. And, of course, a needle cap in my mouth, because that's how these things go. I am really, really bad about holding things in my mouth. Not anything gross like a hoof pick, but braiding yarn and needle caps are generally put there for safe keeping which isn't really all that sanitary. Anyways, another horse whose owner was out of the town was colicing, and we ended up having to run a catheter and hang IV fluids off the rafters. Worked like a charm! Much happier horse today. Current retail obsession is a good old fashioned witney square but it is looking increasingly less likely that I will have a clipped horse, so buying a blanket seems like a great way to totally jinx myself.

Hunter Braiding

While I understand that a true hunter princess would never deign to braid her own horse, by popular request, I took a couple photos while braiding. Sophie, my lovely little TB mare, is the model for this shoot. Ideally, when you are braiding, you will have painstakingly pulled the mane over the course of 3 weeks so that the ends are perfectly tapered. This makes it much easier and holds the knots better. Sophie is kind of my little redneck pony who lives in the back 40 and she doesn't much agree with things like clipping and pulling, even with a good healthy dose of acepromazine, so I just took a dull clipper blade and thinned out the ends. You want the mane about 6" long, longer if it's thicker, since when the hair wraps around itself in the braid it will shorten up more, and shorter if it is thinner.

So, to begin, section off a piece of mane about an inch wide. You want the braid to end up slightly thinner than your pinky finger, and of course you will have to take a larger section if you have a thin mane and a smaller one if it's a very thick mane. Use your comb to part the mane, perpendicular to the crest. Crooked parts are ICKY. Also, start at the poll, so when you have an awkward amount of mane left and don't know how many braids to put in, it will be at the withers where no one cares. Dampen the section with a little water or quic braid. Quic braid is good stuff but I don't always have it handy. Personally, I like the mane just damp. Some people like it soaking wet, some like dry, some like hair gel. Whatever makes your skirt fly up, you just have to experiment. Use the comb to keep the extra hair out of your way.

Divide your piece of mane into 3 sections, and begin braiding.

The tighter you can keep the braid, the better. This is particularly important at the top!

I usually go down 5 crosses when I add in the yarn. Adding yarn requires 2 hands, so I don't have a photo for you. Basically, you want the yarn folded in half, and draped across your pointer finger with half hanging on each side. Grab the braid like you are just going to continue braiding. The middle of the yarn should be underneath of the braid now that you are holding it. Cross over the piece from the left, pinch. Then take the half of the yarn that is not in your right hand, and jam it up in that piece. If you are braiding with colored yarn, do this down further so that the flecks aren't visible and you just see the color in the knots.

Generally, 10 crosses is a good number to finish with, and then you tie off with an overhand knot. The period stopping to photograph made this braid kind of unattractive. Ignore that. OK, thanks. This knot had to be rolled down a bit so it was neater and all the hair was in one tail rather than two. Do not worry about the tail! We will tuck it in and it will be invisible. Tricky.

Take your latch hook, and run it under the braid. Take care to have it in the middle of the braid, and run it from ALL the way on the other side of the crest. You want the metal piece to be right on the skin the whole way, it will make the knots work better. Then you put the yarn in the hook portion of the latch hook, and pull it through to the other side of the crest.

Pull on the yarn until the overhead knot which you used to tie off the end of the braid is snug against the crest. Now keep pulling. You're going to feel this nice little give, which means the knot is now buied deep within the underside of the braid. This is good! See how the tail points downwards instead of all out to the side? Yep. That's what you want.

Tie one knot underneath of the braid. Use the surgeon knot for all of these, it holds the tension better. It's just like a normal half hitch but you loop it around twice. You know like if you were beginning to tie your shoe? You twist the one lace around the other? Do that twice. This knot needs to be snug up against the crest.

Now you are going to tie the same knot again. This one you are going to pull tight on the top of the braid, and it is going to create the bump. Count down three crosses on the left side, assuming you begin the braid crossing the right piece over. If you start braiding the other way, then count down on the right. Put the knot up to the crease directly below that third bump. Then push the braid up against the crest, and pull the knot tight.

Now tie twice underneath of the braid to secure. Exhale. You finished one. Rinse and repeat.