Symptoms your horse might show

Every horse reacts differently, and some horses have horrendous ulcers and do not show many signs. Other horses might show all the signs or other more unusual signs. Signs that we associate with gastric ulcers are all fairly nonspecific, meaning it is impossible to know for sure if any horse has gastric ulcers (or how bad) just by evaluating clinical signs. The signs could in some cases also be caused by other health issues, and if we think this is the case, we will discuss that with you. Recording of the clinical signs is very useful to evaluate any improvement in the horse if we did find gastric ulcers and are treating them.

Some commonly mentioned clinical signs of gastric ulcers include:

· Poor appetite overall and/or starting but not finishing meals.

· Poor body condition

· Poor coat condition

· Diarrhoea in foals, not adults

· Recurrent colic

· Changes in demeanour or behaviour (vices, sensitivity when grooming, girthing, rugging etc)

· Poor performance – there can be many causes for poor performance, and there have not been many good studies into the relation between poor performance and gastric ulcers, but it has been shown that gastric disease can reduce the stride length in racehorses and impair performance. 

Diagnosing gastric ulcers and relevance of different types

As described above, it is not possible to diagnose gastric ulcers or their severity by evaluating the clinical signs a horse may show. The only way to find out more is by gastroscopy (video endoscopy of the stomach) – this way we can look into the horse’s stomach and can see if there are any ulcers, and if so what type (squamous or glandular) are present. 

Over the years, some other tests have been promoted but when compared to gastroscopy have been found to be unreliable. Also, lab tests would not differentiate between squamous and glandular ulcers. Because the two areas of the stomach lining are very different in the way they can be protected from ulceration, and the ulcers develop for different reasons, the treatment plan for any horse with gastric ulcers is also adjusted for the horse, based on our findings on gastroscopy.