Ulcer in Horses

Ulcer is a common disease among horses and foals. Around 50% Horses in their lifetime show the sign of ulcer. Racing horse has higher developed ulcer chances much higher they may develop from moderate to severe ulcers.

Factors of ulcers

• Fasting (not eating) – Horses have the habit of grazing; they eat in many small meals at frequent interval of time. There stomach is empty and stomach has a damaging effect on horses.
• Amount of Exercises: As their physical activity increases, there is a change in feeding habit. High amount of physical exercise increase the time for stomach to empty, so large amounts of acid can remain in an empty stomach for a long period of time. Stress also decreases the amount of blood flow to the stomach making lining of the stomach more vulnerable to injury.

Signs of ulcers in horses

• Avoid walking
• Shows violent behaviors on wearing saddle pads or horse rugs.
• Diarrhea
• Lying on the back
• Weight loss

Treatment of Ulcers in Horses

The treatment of ulcers involves

• Decrease acid production.
• Buffer the acid that is produced.
• Protect the lining of the stomach from the effects of the acid.

For these we use

• Proton pump inhibitors: They inhibit the production of acid by the stomach.
• Protect ants: These drugs block acid from coming into contact with the stomach lining.
• Increasing the amount of roughage in the diet.
• Increasing amount of pasture in horses in diet.
• Decreasing the amount of grain. Use supplements to complete the need of vitamins in horse body.

It takes a long time for ulcer to heal. Always follow your veterinarian's treatment recommendations. Never stop the treatment and medicine in between; else your horse will never heal.

Selection and proper fitting of right saddle on your horse

Selection of right kind of saddle for your horse is vital as it affects the back of horse and rider position on horse. An unfit saddle can lead to broken horse back. No equestrian rider would like to see his horse in discomfort. Therefore, all experience riders go for a horse saddle which is comfortable to their horse. Now how do you know that which saddle is fit for your horse and which is not.

The solution is to go to there are companies who measure your horse back length and determine which horse saddles are suitable for your horse back.

After purchasing a correct saddle, we have to place it carefully on horse back. Place the saddle on horse back. Next step is to slide it along the back of horse till the lowest point of saddle meets the lowest point of horse back.

One sign to check whether the saddle is correctly placed is to that it horse saddle would not be pressed on the shoulder of horse, but will be placed on the natural grooves of it.