Gastric Ulceration in Horses – What Can We Do?

 If strictly considering finances, there are two things to consider:

1. Is the expense for treatment worth the expected improvement in this horse?

2. Is a gastroscopy worth the cost or shall I just treat the horse?

For moral reasons, we support treatment of horses that are found to have gastric ulcers and our medication prices reflect this.

If the horse is used as a children’s or family horse then the clinical signs in itself might be making the horse less suitable for the intended use, and most people would choose to treat their horse even though any financial loss from clinical signs would be difficult to quantify. For performance horses, it has been shown that the presence of gastric ulcers is linked to shortened stride length and can cause a reluctance to jump. We would need data of a large set of performance horses to truly work out the improvement in financial performance/winnings, and if we do in future have enough data then we will share this with all our clients.

Over the years, some people have suggested just treating their horses with omeprazole if clinical signs suggest gastric ulcers might be an issue. However, as we have seen the clinical signs can be vague and non-specific, and although unlikely causing any harm, the treatment may not help the horse if done inconsistently, if the horse has no significant gastric ulcers, or if ulcers in the glandular region of the stomach lining are the most relevant ones. This is one reason that most insurances will not pay for the treatment of gastric ulcers without having had a gastroscopy done first. On balance treating each horse with the correct drugs and not treating horses that do not require it will be cheaper than skipping the gastroscopy altogether.