the Sage By Nature blog

When someone suggested last summer that Sage had ulcers, and probably had had them from the time she was a foal, it at once made a whole lot of sense yet was also entirely confusing. Everything I had come across up to that point said that ulcers happened in high performance horses, not pleasure horses. Sage had never even seen a show let alone been asked to perform in one! And none of the vets who had ever looked at her even suggested ulcers as causing her gut pain and diarrhea.

Yet, finally, it is becoming known with new research – thanks to the drug company that makes the ulcer drug being promoted to treat horses – that ulcers are NOT just a condition of the show horse but can happen to any horse. Being a horse can be very stressful! They are herd and prey animals that need to graze throughout the day. We have removed the threat of cougars and wolves eating them, but we disrupt their herds, move their friends, feed them only twice a day, shut them in box stalls, etc.. While I am not a big fan of the pharmaceutical companies anymore, when I was working for one of them for over five years I saw what a huge impact they had on expanding the markets and numbers of new patients with their studies, their marketing efforts, and their financial strength. So I am glad to put a link here to Merial’s website for the drug they are promoting for treating equine gastric ulcers (originally developed for humans and known by the name as Prilosec) – not to promote them or their drug but to help broaden awareness of equine ulcers and their prevalence. It is in their best interests to widen awareness and treatment of equine ulcers, and this will ultimately help the horse. Check out the information released from the study that was conducted by Merial and recently published in the September 1st issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA). The summary article is very interesting and helps to support the concept that it is not just performance horses that are affected by ulcers. Also, I am finally seeing more reference to diarrhea as a symptom of ulcers, as it is written in the study summary on the Ulcergard website, http://www.ulcergard.com/:

“Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) causes painful stomach
ulceration with signs such as poor attitude, decreased appetite, weight
loss, recurrent colic, sub-optimal performance, diarrhea and dull coat.”

I recently got sidetracked from treating Sage from ulcers because, ironically, I was working with a holistic veterinarian who did not have that focus for Sage. I do believe we made some headway with homeopathy for her overall general health, but I am going back to assuming that she has gastric ulcers and for now will start her back on a product for healing the ulcers (from Advanced Biological Concepts). For more info on how to naturally treat a horse for ulcers – and why NOT to use drugs for this – check out my website or click here to go directly to the articles on ulcers by Dr. Madalyn Ward. Sage is a very sensitive horse, especially to changes in her environment such as changes to horses around her; that is not so easy when I must board her and am at the mercy of the boarding facility for much of her environment (like many of you reading this). However, I have finally figured out a lot of this puzzle, and so I do what I can to support her in the best way that I know how. Naturally.