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Re: [RC] burping horse - Vicki AustinAAHHHH, right up my ally. My experiance..............I have been working with horses of all diciplines / breeds / in all walks of life but until eight years ago had NEVER heard of a horse burbing. Horses cannot let anything come up right??? That is what we all "know" right? Well..............then came King, my present horse.....and for the first six years he burped. He burped when we went riding, he burped when he lay down, he burped when he got up. He layed like a puppy with his front feet out in front of him or flat on his back almost up side down "if he could" he layed down to eat, he layed down and burped after each ride, he was a finiky eater and I was like a mother hen trying to get him to like this food or that food. He was also a hard keeper so I kept food in front of him constantly. I thought he was a strange horse indeed but I was growing to love him and work with him. He did over 1000 ectra competition miles both in CTRs and in endurance the first three years I had him and then we decided to comptete in dressage and eventing for three years. In the summer of 2002, while training on the cross country course for an event I was planning on going to King fractured a splint bone. While in the hospital to have that removed the vet called me and said "Did you know King has ulcers?" Now at that time I also didn't know horses COULD get ulcers. She told me how he was laying, burping etc and said those are classic signs of mild ulcers and that he should be treated. I told her he has always acted that way and is it possible he has had ulcers for that long?? I had been treating him for "gas colic" at least a couple times a month with pro-bio and gas X tablets since I got him. My vet said it was amazing how many horses are born with them and that they live with them their whole lives if they are mild enough and care is good, and that the "gas colic" I thought I was treating him for was really bouts of pain from the ulcers making him depressed and not wanting to eat. Giving him the pro bi and gasX tabs kept it under control just enough that he could keep on keeping on. She also said that most ulcers of horses was caused not by stress as some think but by they way we feed and the amount of time they go with out feed at rides etc as the acid in their upper gut doesn't shut down just because there is no food in it. Made sense to me so I treated him with Gastroguard for eight weeks and viola....no more burping....no more laying down funny (in fact not much laying down at all) he eats now...I make sure I bring food (grain and denjie, in baggies in my saddle bag) with me on every ride to give him about every two hours or so. I have a new horse, sorta kinda. So..................you may want to try some Gastro guard (cheaper than the long scope) and if your horse stops burping than maybe he had / has ulcers. I am to undertand (via internet and vet) that about 90% of performance horses have ulcers. Some go untreated until they are so bad that they have an attack that mimics severe colic and surgery is done when it could all have been prevented with some treatment and change of feed habits. Hope this helps. Vicki --- "Erica R. DeVoti" <ponyexpress@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Has anyone ever heard of a horse that burps? (Not to be confused with "boops") :^). Last winter we had alfalfa/grass mix and my anglo arab burped quite often. My vet indicated he has never heard of a horse "burping". We are now totally on grass, and no burps to speak of this winter, though last summer he "burped" during a ride last summer (grass only)--which quite surprised everyone in the ride group! Of course, now it is winter stew time, and I am anxious it is some condition that will interfere in some way......Any thoughts? Thanks, Erica DeVoti ponyexpress@ frontier.net __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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