Gastric Endoscopy is not fun & i'm not here to sugar coat it. You have to starve your beloved companion for over 12 hrs with not even a drop of hay. When you see your horse that morning it will bring hangry to a whole new level. You may notice teeth grinding because with not eating that long the acid begins burning your horses GI tract extra good. After your horse has been starved you have to then sedate them because who is actually going to stand a foreign object being shoved so far into your nostrils that it makes it to your stomach? Once the endoscope is in place the real picture of what's going on is finally revealed. Now the endoscope only goes so far & it does not include anything past the stomach & we all know how long a horses entrie GI tract is, but it gives you a great indication of how things are without the guess work. With the scope you are able to get a diagnosis. You are able to get a grade on the ulcers. You are actually able to come up with a legitimate treatment plan & not one you "think" will work. The cheapest part of treating ulcers is the scope. The expensive part comes afterwards & why are you willing to throw your money around not knowing what your dealing with? Think of all the time & money you could have saved by just scoping & following a good treatment plan you work out with your vet? Let me guess oh well I'm trying this new supplement or doing the ulcergard like this.....when in reality the only thing your actually doing is prolonging things, not fixing the problem or treating properly & in the interim wasting your money, time, & horses comfort. STOP! Get the proper diagnosis you may be lucky & not even have an ulcer issue & can redirect your plan to something else. Just a reminder scoping is for gastric ulcers NOT colonic ulcers so if your lucky to not have a gastric ulcer problem don't forget the GI tract is veryyyyy long so don't forget the possibility of colonic ulceration as well. So do your horse, yourself, & your wallet a favor & just get a real diagnosis. Treating blindly will not work it may by you time, but you will always have a reoccurring problem.
Another reason to not throw random tubes of ulcergard at your horse is you don't know what your attempting to treat! Sure the label says this, but does your horses stomach? While I do feel Gastrogard is a great treatment medication, I do not think it is something to play around with. It has long term side effects & you can cause an even bigger problem if you don't know what your horse actually needs to heal. I have tried a lot of supplements from Aloe to high end products ect. & sure they bought Ben time, but after so long it's not enough. I would never play the guessing game again. This is why I am writing what I am. Maybe someone can read this & heed a warning. Ulcergard is like playing with fire it's great & very useful but you better watch you don't get burned because when used improperly your asking for trouble & more than you bargained for. So please again get a proper diagnosis on your horses grade of ulcers & follow your vets instructions.
After scoping & treating properly you need to do some detective work as to WHY your horse got ulcers in the first place. They don't just automatically hang out in your horses GI tract for the fun of it. Ulcers are almost always a secondary condition to a primary cause. Sometimes you won't always find that exact cause. Honestly I'm not sure I actually found Ben's. What I do know is you need to take a good hard look at your riding & management currently. Grain is your enemy (some are better than others though) & especially in overload talk about a burning stomach ache! Access to hay & alfalfa 24/7 is your best friend especially in the form of a nibblenet! Stall keeping is not your friend either ok your horse gets 8 hrs outside a day but what about the other 16 hrs.... oohhh you didn't think of it that way well i'm sure your over 1,000 pound horse might.....? Showing, training, trailering, NSAIDS, illness, herd changes, not enough turnout, not enough hay, pain from anywhere, high grain diets loaded with fillers & gmos & who knows what else are all reasons your horse can & will have ulcers. Ulcers can form in as little as 5 days (I dare you to google it if you question it) that's pretty damn short if you ask me!
Ok you did the scope, the correct treatment plan, & made some great changes in your horses management which is all great! So does that mean that while your horse is being treated you can just continue on as if nothing is wrong because you put a band aid on it temporarily right so it's ok right? WRONG! Give your horse a break! I don't mean forever but while your undergoing treatment yes! What you are doing or where doing was not working clearly. Ulcers are an injury not one you can see to the naked eye (hence the scope!) but they are an injury to the GI tract they can bleed & everything!!!!! They do not heal overnight though with te proper meds you can see an almost immediate difference but this does not mean its ok to saddle up & go for a ride. As with any injury time is your friend. Sorry it may ruin your immediate show plans or lesson plans but in the long wrong your horse & wallet will thank you. By treating everything proper the first time around you will save money, time, your horse, & give you a better shot at remaining ulcer free!
So this boils it all down to scope, proper treatment for your horse (not your friends) , make some big changes, & some R&R! Take that down time to spend quality time with your horse. Form a strong relationship on the ground & when you get back in the saddle you will have a stronger team in the end!
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