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.