Gastric Ulcers in Horses: a Widespread but Manageable Disease

Every equine practitioner appreciates the delicate nature of the equine gut. Problems related to the small intestine and large intestine are well understood and routinely treated. What may be surprising to many is how often the stomach is affected. Specifically, the incidence of gastric ulcers is extremely high, particularly in performance horses. This article will review why horses suffer from gastric ulcers and provide guidelines for their treatment and prevention. Many studies since the mid-1980s have documented that gastric ulcers are commonplace in racehorses. An early postmortem study in Hong Kong (Hammond et al., 1986) of 195 Thoroughbred racehorses showed that 80% of the horses in active training had ulcers. The incidence of ulcers in horses retired from racing for one month or longer was 52%. Murray et al. (1989) examined the stomachs of 187 horses ranging in age from one to 24 years. Eighty-seven horses had clinical problems including chronic, recurrent colic, poor body condition or chronic diarrhea. One hundred horses had no clinical signs of gastrointestinal problems.