Question
My mare is 364 days pregnant. She has a history of being finicky about her forage, and she shows a definite preference for premium-quality alfalfa, even though her waistline demands a good-quality grass. Over the past couple of weeks, she’s been dunking her grass hay in water. This is new behavior for her. I’ve been told this could be a sign of gastric ulcers. True?
Answer
Hay dunking is not always a sign of gastric ulcers. When a horse starts suddenly like your mare did, it could very well be a sign of stomach discomfort. Some horses, on the other hand, just prefer to dip their hay, and it doesn’t have anything to do with whether they have ulcers or not. The other odd behavior that I have seen with ulcers is eating dirt (known also as geophagia), one form of pica.
The best way to determine if a horse has gastric ulceration is through endoscopy, though this might not be an option for a mare in late gestation. A veterinarian will serve as your best advisor in this situation. Due to the expense involved in endoscopy, some horsemen that suspect gastric ulceration will initiate prescription-strength omeprazole treatment without endoscopy. Again, consultation with a veterinarian is best, as the leading omeprazole product has not been tested on mares in late gestation or lactation. With this in mind, some people have reported success when aloe vera is fed to horses thought to have gastric ulcers.
Even if treatment is begun after weaning, once the ulcers are cleared with omeprazole, the mare can be maintained on a product like RiteTrac, which contains antacids and coating agents for stomach health and a hindgut buffer for support of the cecum and colon environments. Australian horse owners should look for these digestive-support products.
For your mare, hay-dunking may be a way to soften the hay if it is stemmier than she prefers. Have you had her teeth examined by a veterinarian or dental professional? There may be a reason she prefers soft-textured forages, such as a painful sore or injury to her gumline or a diseased tooth.
