Feeding the ex-racehorse with gastric ulcers
Due to a lower forage intake and high workload during training, many racehorses may suffer from gastric ulcers at some stage of their life.
Any form of stress, such as moving yards can upset the normal gastric balance. Signs can include mild colic, poor performance, bad behaviour, reluctance to be girthed and crib biting. If you feel that your new horse may be suffering from ulcers, it is advisable to contact your vet.
Reducing the risk of ulcers can be achieved via nutritional management, Saracen's top tips are:
- Allow the horse to be a horse. Have a regime that promotes access to grass and conserved forages as much as possible, in the ideal world this would be on an ad-lib basis.
- Recent guidelines suggest that in order to maintain physiological and psychological health a minimum of grass / conserved forage should be fed at 1.5% DM basis of BW per day. This even applies to elite competition horses.
- Good doers or horses that are resting or in light work may benefit from a reduced DE content forage source, or a low-calorie forage replacer to ensure that are receiving the correct quantity of forage without the calories.
- Avoid periods of more than 6 hours with no feed
- Restrict cereal and starch intake and ideally feed less than 2 g/Kg BW starch per day and less than 1g / Kg BW per meal.
- Add some ‘soft’ chaff to each meal (100-150g per 100g BW)
- Feed small multiple feeds
- Feed a small fibre meal e.g. alfalfa prior to exercise as alfalfa is high in calcium, which acts as a natural buffer on stomach acid. In addition, feeding some chaff before you ride helps to provide a ‘fibre mat’ in the stomach reducing the risk of gastric ulcers caused by acid splash during exercise.
- NEVER restrict water availability EVEN when out at grass
- Try to avoid stressful situations but when you know that it is unavoidable try to ensure access to forage and chaff and consider supplements that can help to maintain a normal gastric environment such as KER Rite Trac™ or discuss strategic use of gastric ulcer medication with your vet.
- If your horse requires more calories in the ration to support body condition consider 'topping up' the ration with EQUI-JEWEL®, a high fat, rice bran supplement which boosts the calorie content of the ration without excessive cereal intake and without increasing the meal size
Feeds such as RE-LEVE®-MIX & CUBES, SUPER FIBRE CUBES, SHAPE-UP™ and COMPETITION FIT BALANCER are all suitable feeds for the management of horses with EGUS.
RE-LEVE®-MIX is a cereal-free, high-energy, high calorie mix designed for horses that react to a cereal based diet. It is suitable for horses at every level and can be used to provide additional calories for weight gain or for additional energy for horses in harder levels of work. Soya hulls, alfalfa pellets and beet pulp supply ‘super-fibres’ and oil as the energy sources, ensuring starch levels are kept to a minimum.
COMPETITION-FIT BALANCER contains the optimum inclusion of a live yeast as well as Acid Buf, a marine derived buffering agent which through feeding trials has been proven to help support an optimum pH in both the stomach and hindgut environment, as well as supporting the healing process of both squamous and glandular ulcers. The use of a live yeast has also been shown to help support feed and forage digestibility, as well as maintaining a stable hindgut microflora population during times of stress. Competition-Fit Balancer is flavoured with spearmint and natural mint herb to keep tempting the appetites of fussy eaters.
Saracen Horse Feeds are the sole UK distributor for a product developed by Kentucky Equine Research (KER) to support the digestive tract during these times of stress and help to maintain a normal gastric environment. Formulated by the Scientists at KER, KERx RiteTrac™ is a proprietary blend of ingredients with fast-acting antacids, buffers and coating agents to help optimise pH in the stomach, as well as the inclusion of a hindgut buffer to aid digestion
RiteTrac™ contains ingredients that quickly and effectively protect the sensitive stomach lining, preventing the damage caused by the continuous production of gastric acid. The antacids contained in RiteTrac™ rapidly neutralise the acid secreted in the stomach, providing a more pH-neutral environment between meals. Available as a powder in 3kg and 6kg tubs, RiteTrac™ can be simply added to feed at a rate of 120 g/day – 60 g in the morning and 60 g in the evening.
NEED MORE GUIDANCE?
For a detailed, personalised feeding plan for your ex-racehorse, please complete our simple and free Feed Advice form. Alternatively, if you would prefer to speak to one of our qualified nutritionists for some immediate advice, please call our feed advice line on 01622 718 487.
Feed Advice Form
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