Question
My vet believes my mare has hindgut ulcers. How should I manage her diet to help prevent ulcer flare-ups? She is in a regular training program, and her diet consists of alfalfa hay and pelleted concentrate. What product and dietary program do you suggest for supporting complete digestive health?
Answer
Kentucky Equine Research offers few different approaches to digestive health, depending on the situation and the support needed.
EquiShure is our time-released hindgut buffer, designed to act on the cecum and colon by minimizing the effects of subclinical hindgut acidosis and supporting a stable microbial environment. Through proprietary encapsulation technology to protect it through the foregut, it is the only product on the market to reach the hindgut with demonstrated efficacy, proven to protect the pH of the hindgut when challenged. While it was developed to prevent metabolic problems associated with overconsumption of sugar-rich grasses that trigger hindgut acidosis, it has shown significant benefits in a variety of conditions. EquiShure supports hindgut function by buffering the hindgut and stabilizing the microbial population to optimize fiber digestion. Importantly, the level of supplementation can be titrated based on the level of hindgut disruption to provide the best support.
ReSolvin EQ is a new product we developed that includes anti-inflammatory fatty acids EPA and DHA as well as another anti-inflammatory fatty acid GLA. These three fatty acids are known to have synergistic effects that benefit numerous inflammatory conditions in humans. Our research showed strong evidence of prevention and resolution of squamous gastric ulcers in racehorses on ReSolvin EQ. This is thought to be due to the production of anti-inflammatory eicosanoids (largely PGE1) through the omega pathway. Misoprostol, which is sometimes used in the treatment of gastric and colonic ulcers brought about by the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, is a synthetic prostaglandin related structurally to naturally occurring prostaglandin E1 (PGE1). Although horses in our study did not suffer from glandular gastric ulcers, it stands to reason that ReSolvin EQ would benefit the glandular portion of the stomach as well. Additionally, ReSolvin EQ includes effective levels of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA and all the beneficial anti-inflammatory benefits associated with them.
We provide a free ration evaluation service if you are interested in discussing your mare’s diet in more detail. Please fill out our online ration evaluation form with as much detail as possible. As you can imagine, the accuracy of the evaluation is dependent on the completeness of the information provided, so be as specific as possible. For ulcer management cases, it is important to include other information, such as how often you feed and how much you feed, which gives us an idea of how long your mare may go without forage. It may also be helpful to have an idea of her training schedule relative to feeding.
