4
exercises for better posture
THE SOCIAL LIVES OF HORSES
Back Health!
How to develop a
FOLLOWING SEAT How to ďŹ nesse your
fencing
SPECIAL REPORT:
Why gastric ulcers are more complex than we thought
MUST-KNOW TIPS for you and your horse The truth about
YUCCA
RIDER BIOMECHANICS
VOLUME 13 ISSUE 5
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October/November 2018
EquineWellnessMagazine.com
Display until November 26 , 2018
Conte 30 FEATURES
18
10 EQUINE GASTRIC ULCERS
26 HERBAL LINIMENTS
44 YUCCA AND EQUINE AND POULTICES FOR YOUR HEALTH This desert-dwelling plant has remarkable medicinal properties. HORSE’S BACK Topical liniments
For horse caretakers and their veterinarians, gastric ulcers are all too familiar, yet not very well understood. Recent research has revealed they’re more complicated than they seem.
and poultices can make an inexpensive and healthy contribution to your horse’s back health.
Learn how Yucca schidigera may be beneficial for your horse.
14 HOW TO DEVELOP A
30 THE SOCIAL LIVES OF
GROUND POLES! Ground poles are often underutilized, but these versatile tools can play a major role in turning your horse into an athlete.
FOLLOWING SEAT
Use these exercises to become mindful of your body’s movements and to better co-ordinate with your horse’s motion when riding.
HORSES Herd dynamics are
18 THE FACTS OF FLAX –
34 PRACTICES FOR POSTURE
THE VALUE OF FLAXSEED IN YOUR HORSE’S DIET Flaxseed
is healthy for humans, but did you know it offers the same benefits to your horse?
20 RIDING IN PERFECT
HARMONY – THE BIOMECHANICS BETWEEN HORSE AND RIDER
How can horses support their own weight, let alone ours? Discover the important role that biomechanics play in the rider/horse relationship.
4
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fascinating to observe. Read about herd hierarchy and how you can find your own place within your equine family.
– BACK EXERCISES FOR RIDERS Understanding the factors that
contribute to back pain, and learning exercises and strategies to prevent problems, may save you “down the road”.
40 EQUINE LEAKY GUT
SYNDROME – PART 3 In the third part of this article we examine the role of the intestinal microbiome and how probiotics and prebiotics help maintain barrier function and improve your horse’s health.
46 DUST OFF THOSE
50 THE STORY OF KATE
This sweet true tale was the winner of the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition’s first-ever short story contest.
58 EQUINE FENCING
OPTIONS Planning and constructing a grazing or work space for your horse? Here are some guidelines to help you finesse your fencing.
nts
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40 COLUMNS
DEPARTMENTS
8 Neighborhood news
6 Editorial
33 Herb blurb
25 Product picks
38 Natural horsemanship
43 Heads up
54 Saddle fit
53 Business profile: LiteCure
56 To the rescue
57 Equine Wellness resource guide
60 Acupressure at-a-glance
61 Events
62 Green Acres
64 Marketplace
66 Rider Fitness
65 Classifieds
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Gastric
ulcers By Natalie Cooper, DVM and Patrick Warczak Jr.
What do we really know about equine gastric ulcers? For horse caretakers and their veterinarians, gastric ulcers are all too familiar, yet not very well understood. Recent research has revealed they’re more complicated than they seem.
G
astric ulcers are very common, especially among performance horses. As riders and trainers, we know that gastric ulcers — and gut health in general — significantly impact our horses’ training and performance, behavior and attitude, and overall health and well-being. So it is in our best interests to learn as much as possible about equine gastric ulcers.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF EQUINE GASTRIC ULCERS For years, it was widely believed that stomach acid, which is constantly present in the horse’s stomach, causes gastric ulcers. More recently, the scientific community has learned that this perspective may be too simplistic. The horse’s stomach is divided into two regions. The lower two-thirds is known as the “glandular” region (after the glands that exist there to secrete acid and enzymes for digestion). The glandular region of the stomach is coated with a thick layer of mucus that protects it from stomach acid. The upper one-third, called the “squamous” region, is less protected. The two sections of the stomach are divided by a visible line called the margo plicatus, and it’s here that ulcers are often found. Although ulcers are more common in the upper squamous portion of the stomach, they do also appear in the lower glandular region. Research published in the last few years proves that ulcers in these two regions are different and reflect different disease processes. In light of this, an article published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Sykes, et al, 2015) proposed different nomenclature — Equine Squamous Gastric Disease (ESGD) and Equine Glandular Gastric Disease (EGGD) — to recognize them as two distinct and different conditions. While we lack a complete understanding of the true cause of gastric ulcers in horses, it is widely accepted that horses used in performance face a significantly higher risk of developing the condition. Research shows that competition and training aren’t 10
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necessarily factors in the development of ulcers. Horses that travel and are kept in stalls, and are intermittently fed diets rich in grain and/or with limited access to forage, are more likely to suffer from gastric ulcers.
DIAGNOSING GASTRIC ULCERS In practice, many horse caretakers and their veterinarians rely on clinical signs or symptoms for diagnosing gastric ulcers. These include poor appetite, dull coat, wind-sucking or cribbing, lack of energy and/or decreased performance, irritability, listlessness or other changes in attitude, and poor body condition. The problem with using symptoms to guide a diagnosis is their vague nature; many can be associated with other conditions. Some horses show no clear symptoms at all. Further, there is no distinction between the clinical signs for squamous and glandular gastric ulcers. The only sure way to diagnose gastric ulcers is to visually identify them, which Changes veterinarians can do through the use to your feed and of a 3m gastric endoscope. Though management program gastroscopy is fairly reliable, it’s may benefit your horse’s certainly not perfect. It’s also digestive health and somewhat invasive, requiring up minimize ulcer risk. to 12 hours of fasting, a withdrawal of water for four hours, and sedation during the procedure.
What are gastric ulcers…really? Gastric ulcers are simply lesions (damaged areas) on the inside surface of the stomach. Technically speaking, this condition is more accurately described as “Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome” or EGUS. The key word is “syndrome”— in this case, a set of health issues that cause stomach lesions. Put another way, ulcers themselves are really a symptom of an underlying pathology. It’s this underlying disease that remains more of a mystery.
TREATMENT FOR GASTRIC ULCERS Determining the best course of treatment for horses with ulcers depends on a clear diagnosis. Recent research shows that squamous ulceration and glandular ulcers require entirely different treatment approaches. • For squamous ulcers, the generally accepted therapy is to suppress acid production in the stomach. In conventional medicine, this is accomplished through the use of pharmaceuticals, including proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole, or H2 antihistamines like ranitidine or cimetidine. Omeprazole, in the form marketed commercially as GastroGard®, is the only product approved by both Health Canada and the FDA in the United States for treating equine gastric ulcers. Continued on page 12.
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