How do I know if my horse has a stomach pain?
Is he irritable when the girth is tightened or when my legs touch the side of him ? Is he irritated and in a bad mood while riding? Is he more tired than usually. Has he changed behaviour after moving to a new stable?Is he behaving different from when I bought him? Does he has less appetite and is his coat not shiny anymore?
If you can answer yes to some of these questions, it may be your horse has too much stomach acid.
How do I find out? Read the article and maybe get a little wiser on your horses stomach.
A few years ago, I attended a lecture with an Australian scientist working in an institute where they do research comparing wild horses with domesticated horses. They have many wild horses in Australia – the brumby wild horses – so it’s easy for them to compare.
One of the studies was about gastric ulcer. It showed that 0% of the wild horses had or had had ulcers and 80-90% of domesticated horses had or had had ulcers. Also the horses on a 24 hour pasture, which was very surprising to me. There was no sensible explanation for the phenomenon, but it goes without saying that it must necessarily be related to the way we have horse today. In many ways, we expose our horses to stress compared to wild horses, regardless of the fact that we treat our horses very well.
In my daily work with horses, I have on several occasions advised horse owners to try preventative stomach acid regulating remedies and herbs with good results.
I recommend most horse owners to use a stomach acid regulator preventative. Either as a cure once a year, or in small doses if you change the stable and thereby the herd or competitions or other events that may cause stress to the horse.
It is not always possible to see if a horse has a stomach irritation, it takes a vet and an intubation, but some simple remedies generally has a positive effect on both the horse’s mood, coat brilliance and well-being in general.
Examples of a horse with gastric ulcer symptoms may include: abdominal cramps, matted fur, irritation when tightening the girth and lack of appetite.
There are cases where there is a tension in the bag the stomach is hanging in, and this tissue can be released with manuel techniques. There might be tension blocks in the rib muscles and / or joints around the chest after an ulcer period, that can also be treated with mild techniques to release blockages.
