Digestion - gastric ulcers
Recent work has shown that a significantly higher number of horses and foals than previously thought suffer from gastric ulcers:
*more than 90% of racing horses;
*almost 60% of horses in other sports;
*60% of foals, especially during the first months of life;
*in addition, you should know that 50% of horses with ulcers show no visible symptoms.
This is why more and more of our customers are giving GastriAid for prevention, particularly to young horses, who are starting to work and compete.
As a maintenance dose, GastriAid can be administered continuously, without interruption.
Gastric ulcers are considered a major problem, especially in sports. The signs are not always specific; the horse may be tired, it may lose weight and performance will be reduced.
Empty stomach
The stomach produces acid constantly, 24 hours a day. When eating, the horse secretes saliva which contains a high level of sodium bicarbonate, which partly neutralizes stomach acid. Between meals, when the horse has nothing to chew, there is no longer enough saliva to neutralize the acidity which can increase and attack the gastric mucosa. Phenomenon which can intensify during work. The horse is visibly in pain, particularly during jumping efforts, and is not recovering properly. When the horse is in the meadow and grazes all day, the acidity is gradually neutralized. These horses almost never have ulcers.
Causes
Among the causes of gastric ulcer we will find:
* stress related to training and competitions;
* food excesses; too concentrated food: stimulating gastric acidity;
* irregular meals, intervals between meals too long and lack of good quality self-service hay;
* all causes of stress in general, which have a negative effect on the protective mucous layer of the stomach;
* life in confinement, in a box;
* without forgetting the reduced appetite in the event of illness and the harmful effects of treatments with NSAIDs and chemical dewormers.
Symptoms and solutions
The symptoms are often vague: capricious appetite, sad condition and coat, frequent yawning, hyper salivation, foul breath, stiffness, eardrums, sometimes colic, irritability when bleeding.
In these cases, think of gastric ulcers. The diagnosis will be confirmed by the veterinarian, if necessary using an endoscopy. A number of products help neutralize acidity and promote good gastric digestion. But above all we will take care to provide the horse with favorable conditions:
* food distributed regularly;
* abundant and quality fodder: the horse chews hay much more than any other food and then produces much more saliva (see also digestion - in general);
* grazing as much as possible;
* avoid long and frequent transportation;
* ensure rest periods without competition;
* resumption of training in a gradual and calm manner, avoiding any cause of stress;
* monitoring of the animal which will easily be subject to recurrences.
Recent research suggests that many horses begin a leaning tic or a tic with aerophagia because they suffer from stomach acid. Through the tic process, they stimulate the production of saliva which has a soothing effect. If your horse begins to exhibit a tic, give him Thrive or GastriAid before he becomes dependent on his endorphins (the tic also leads to the production of endorphins). Iodamine Equine contains a high percentage of eleuthero (ginseng leaf), which results in a healing and preventive action on gastric ulcers in horses and foals.
Foals
In newborns whose diet does not yet contain fiber, the digestive mucous membranes are very thin: these are easily attacked by the production of gastric acid which begins between 1 to 2 weeks of age.
Most foals do not show any signs and, after 60 days, the symptoms have disappeared. In some foals the signs are clearly visible: capricious appetite, excessive salivation, they often lie on their back, their hair is prickly, dull, they have bloating of the abdomen and poor growth. Colic and diarrhea are sometimes observed. In this case you can use Biotics .