Ulcers.

[ITonyah]

We strongly suspect dds horse has a very sore tummy. Grumpy when girthed, nappy refusing to go forward. Stopping at jumps usually when she puts her leg on.

I will call my vet tomorrow, but I've never had a horse with ulcers.

Scope, or go straight for Gastrogard? He's insured, would it be worth claiming?

I would scope. Then if ulcers are present I would tread appropriately, rescope and then put on an ulcer friendly diet

Yes to insurance gastroguard is hellish expensive!
Scope first to see if actually ulcers , how bad and fore or hind gut
You may also need to use sucralfate
Rescoping will give confidence they are gone as they might not if there is an underlying issue that needs identification

They are incredibly common. Most horses have them according to our equine vet. But yes I'd bet a girth hurts like fk.

A lot of its to do with stabling because a horse should be grazing pretty much permanently which doesn't happen for most. It's also stress.

This will probably sound familiar:

www.succeed-equine.com/succeed-blog/2016/03/29/complete-guide-gastric-ulcers-horses/

You need to make lots of changes if it is ulcers otherwise you'll treat it and they will probably return.

Things like changing their feed to one that is ulcer friendly and largely chaff based, permanent supplement eg acid ease, making sure they have access to grazing/ hay 24/7 etc.

I would scope - my horse had similar symptoms but scoped absolutely clear. His issues turned out to be back/tack related, which I thought we had ruled out.

Hi. It’s really, really important to get your vet involved. Do not give Omeprazole without definitely knowing if the horse has ulcers as Omeprazole can also cause hind-gut issues (stops acid production but then you have partially digested food entering the hind gut so you must support the good bacteria otherwise you’ll end up with inflammation). Scoping will tell you what type they are (either glandular or non-glandular, as the treatment is slightly different) and b) and then you need to find out what’s caused them in the first place (because if you don’t know the cause, they’re likely to come back even after the course of Omeprazole).

PM me if you wish - I’ve had a pony with ulcers for 5 years (had strangles with previous owner as a youngster, and it was the antibiotics and bute that set caused them - Grade 3 pyloric - the hardest type to manage). Even a change of grass, change of season, worming, herd companion change and travel sets them off again. I’ve spent literally thousands in scopes, treatment and supplements and in all those 5 years she’s been turned out daily, given as-lib hay, fed Thunderbrooks chaff, low sugar diet, no grain, no soya.

She’s now on another course of Omeorazole (I buy it from Abler in the USA as obviously my insurance no longer covers ulcers) along with a trial of Science Supplements GastroKind at a loaded dose. This is the only supplement that will work whilst treating with Omeprazole - it’s actually worked this time. She’s been on Sucralfate permanently from October last year. (I get this from the vet - it’s expensive though).