One Year Ulcer Free

I can hardly believe it myself but it's been a full year of Ben being ulcer free. I never knew what to expect when he was so sick. Those were easily some of the darkest times for us. I always had my suspicion of ulcers but never knew they could wreck so much havoc, that they could get that out of control. I was always very on top of Ben & aware of the ulcer possibility. Medication is what healed them, but change is what keeps them away. You can throw a round a ulcer medications at a horse hundreds of times, but until you are willing to step it up & make the needed changes to actually fix the problem. Ulcers are a vicious cycle that grabs hold of you & spins you in this circle until you hit the bottom. Stop the cycle make the changes. As I've said many times ulcers are almost always a secondary cause to a primary condition. The primary cause can be a wide range of things such as the type of grain you feed, feeding too much grain, not providing hay 24/7, not enough turnout, pain, training, lessons, shows, trailering, or changing field mates the list is endless. Just because you don't think it's stressful does not mean your horse feels the same way. Listen to your horse their voice is a lot louder than you believe. An ulcer horse is not always what they appear to be on the outside. They may look the perfection of health on the outside but on the inside tells a whole different story. Ben was at his heaviest when he had ulcers wrecking through his GI tract. A few simple things to remember are turnout is a major part of your horses physical & mental well being so the more the better! Grain is not your horses friend ever & is only to be used when 20-30 lbs of hay a day is not enough to sustain their weight. When you do use grain small frequent meals are a must & choose your grain very wisely. Hay is so very important to your horse. Like the saying goes forage first! Your horse should never run out of hay. It should be available 24/7 & in slow feeder nets ideally. If your horse is overweight do not limit the hay cut back the grain. Reevaluate your routines & if they are meshing with your horse. Preventative care is great so be sure to make sure your saddle fits, your horse is not out of place chiropractic wise & I'm sure they could use a nice massage to keep those muscles feeling & performing their best. Treat your horse like a horse first & things will naturally begin to align. 

Ben has been doing very well lately. He is fully enjoying his retirement spending his days however he chooses. His weight is finally at a good place as is his maintenance routine. I have made changes since my last blog post. Ben is still getting his healthy whole food diet Crypto Aero at 6 lbs a day split 3 ways & doing wonderfully on that inside & out. He still receives his Astrid's Oil now at the maintenance dose of 20 mls a day. I have added a vitamin & mineral supplement for seniors with no added iron that has also been a great addition. His vitamin E is kept at higher levels of 4,000 IUs a day & that keeps his muscles up & his cns happy! I've put him back on his Smartflex Senior herb free joint support, chia seeds have come back at 4 oz a day (love those seeds!), & he receives 3/4 a cup whole flaxseed twice a day. Hay wise he is on just alfalfa hay because it seems to keep his weight the best & make his stomach happy. He has as much as he wants to eat available 24/7 in nibblenets. He is also staying on the Assure Guard Gold for stomach, hindgut & sand support. The above has been a fabulous combo for him & I do not plan on making any changes unless an issue arises. I have trialed many different programs & after over a year since him being sick I have finally figured what works best for him. He continues to live out 24/7 which has been amazing for his overall wellness inside & out the change in him is so obvious. I have people tell me all the time now how happy Ben looks. It's nice to hear that for a change. He still gets his 4 week massages, toe trims, & chiro/acupuncture every 5 months. He just had his vaccines & routine check over where everything was just as it should be. 

I hope people have found this blog helpful to them & maybe even made some much needed changes for your own horse. I am no expert but know what Ben has gone through & what helped turn him around for the better. Don't keep falling into the circle that sucks you in break free & take those steps to make the changes. It's so easy to get caught up in cycle of just treating the symptoms instead of actually fixing the route of the problem. You keep playing with fire & you will get burned. Take it from my experience ulcers are a big deal.