Just a reminder

Ben has now been off Gastrogard for almost a full 3 weeks & his new supplements began a week ago. Just as a refresher the new supplements are Assure Guard & Steadfast. The things I have noticed is an increase in appetite for hay. I don't know whether he is just in love with the hay our barn has all of the sudden or he is feeling that good! Our barn has great hay quality always so that's nothing new....I'm hoping he feels that good! The Steadfast is currently at the loading dose for a full month for his joints. The other day he trotted to me for his peppermints & he looked beautifully sound floating towards me like a ballerina. He has beautiful gaits & is such a pleasure to watch. His mood has been pleasant, calm, & at ease. He has adapted so well to being out all the time & I tell myself now I should have done it a few years back when I almost did....but alas one always has reservations especially when climate isn't always the best in these parts. Nonetheless he has done so well despite our forever changing weather! He will also be switching to just his Cavalor FiberForce & taking away the Triple Crown Senior shortly. As posted before he is still receiving the Sucralfate twice a day & the Misoprostol once a day. He is entering month 4 of his treatments. I find myself looking back & thinking back to where this all began & find it baffling that ulcers have caused so much trouble. Again why I began my blogging. I wanted to raise awareness to how prevalent ulcers truly are among horses.

Just a few things as a reminder when treating a horse with ulcers. If your horse is being treated for gastric ulcers you also need to support the hindgut or you will end up with colonic ulcers. Its very important to support the entire GI tract whenever possible. Always slowly wean off Gastrogard never ever stop cold turkey the acid rebound will be worse than the ulcers you are attempting to treat. Gastrogard does not treat the entire stomach so if your doing the treat & see approach & it didn't help doesn't mean they aren't there it means (possibly, like in my case) your ulcers are in abundance & in areas the Gastrogard cant treat properly. If you have Gastric ulcers there's a good chance you have colonic ulcers. Alfalfa hay is a great acid buffer & should be added to your horses diet if possible. Don't just treat change management which includes revaluating your horses diet, living arrangements, & their job. Ulcers are usually a secondary condition to a primary cause so do your best to investigate a possible underlying issues. Research is always your best friend & so is your vet! Grain is not your friend. Make the diet as grain free as possible! Small frequent meals along with access to hay 24/7 is very important to keep those stomach acids in check & not overloading your horse with huge concentrate meals! The more turnout the better. Don't expect to have a fully healed horse in just a month its not going to happen. It takes longer than just 30 days we are on month four! Get a gastroscopy its cheaper than treating ulcers if you don't have them & if you do it gives you all the info you need for proper treatment of medications & duration. Give you horse a break! Just because your treating the symptoms does not mean they are magically healed. Ulcers are an injury to the GI tract so much that some even bleed! It takes more than a month to heal. Just because they are starting to feel better doesn't mean you jump on their back right away. Even though you don't see the ulcers on the outside doesn't mean they aren't there. You would give a break to a horse with a ligament or tendon injury wouldn't you so why should this GI injury be any different?  Listen to your horse they know more than you. Is your horse super shiny & perfect weight? Does not mean your horse doesn't have ulcers! They don't have to appear sick to be injured & a fair amount look perfectly plump on the outside! Last but not least the signs are always there sometimes subtle sometimes screaming but its our jobs to figure it out.

Where do I get all this info research & my brain.

Until next time...