Is she quidding (spitting out wads of hay)? Have a 27 year-old gelding that quit eating brome hay. Had full x-rays from Vet University, scope of ear canals and stomach, two dental floats etc. Vet suspects a tooth is going bad, but not showing on x-ray yet. Switched to orchard grass and a small amount alfalfa since the hay is less coarse and easier to chew. He also gets 3 pounds of equine senior a day. It does take him quite awhile to eat the hay, but seems to be able to chow down on the senior easily as less grinding is needed.

She may have a tooth that is getting ready to abcess, tongue problem, ulcer, TMG joint pain and the list goes on. I found it was cheaper to go to a vet school than having my vet guess... which cost me Close to $3,000 versus a full body make-up for $500. Have you had the vet out to look at her and take blood profile etc during her off times?

I also found chiropractic care along the jaw and neck muscles helped greatly with the quidding problem.

Before purchasing gastro-guard you will want to have your mare scoped. The medication is extremely expensive and would be a waste of money if ulcers were not your mare's issue.

What about just trying zantac or something OTC? Couldn't hurt ? What would be the dosege of pills for zantac?If it helps then I would know it was ulcers.

My old girl did this.  Have you lived in the same area since you got her?

I'm just asking because my vets think my mares eating problems were allergy related.  She would act exactly as your mare is when we lived in Tx, but  hasn't done it since we moved to NM and my vet from Tx couldn't understand why she wouldn't eat.  She was emaciated when we got her (5yrs ago) and most starved horses I've encountered will eat anything.  My Tx vet was driving through here the other day and called and asked if he could stop by and see my mare and when he got here the first thing he noticed was her eyes/nose weren't watery like they always were back home and she had more energy.  He said horses are nose breathers and if they are having allergy problems they can't breathe properly and don't feel well and won't eat.  He thinks that is what her problem was since she hasn't missed a meal since the first month we were here.   I have her teeth checked/floated every 6 months and when we were trying to find the problem all her blood work would come back normal.  Since moving to the desert we have had NO problems with her appitite/weight.  She's still not fat, and will only eat the leaves and finest stems from the alfalfa, but she will lick the bottom of her feed tub for that last bit of Sr feed and hasn't lost any weight this winter like she did in S. Tx. 

There is a website called PonyMeds.com where we ordered omeprazole from. It was the pill form of the active ingredient in Gastro Guard. Gastro Guard is available over the counter but is between $30- $40 per day and our vet told us the horse should be on it for at least a month. I crushed it in a pill crusher to give it to our horse. I think a month's supply was $85, which is a lot more resonable than $1200.  Omeprazole is the same drug as Prilosec. The active ingredient in Zantac is Ranitidine.

Ulcers can be caused by many different things. If your horse is stressed because she has had a change in routine that could cause them. Changes in feed can also contribute. Research is now showing that as much as 90% of all track horses have ulcers in some form. Some horses can have them and not show symtoms depending on severity. I saw one mare on the track last year that was chewing at her gaskins and hocks to the point that they were raw and bloody. The trainer thought it was a skin condition but when they scoped her she had one of the worst ulcers that particular vet had ever seen. They took her out of training and put her on ulcer medication and the chewing stopped.

I've worked as a feed salesperson for the last 10 years and we've been taught that feeding hay throughout the day helps as well as high fat feed. I tend to feed a high quality orchard grass but only feed 1 lb per day of ration balancer as my horses all keep well that way. We also have fairly good pasture. Research has also show recently that alfalfa can help with ulcers because it tends to be higher in calcium than other types of hay. Horses that are turned out regularly and are grazing tend not to ulcerate as often because they are always grazing and always have something in their stomach for stomach acid to eat as opposed to the acid eating stomach lining when the stomach empties.

I would not make any changes without first consulting a vet. Most vets will sell you a couple of tubes of Gastro Guard, have you give it to the horse before feeding, and if they eat more normally there is a strong possibility of an ulcer. You can have the horse scoped but not all vets have the equipment so you may have to haul to a teaching university or hopsital to have it done. I was recently told cost here was about $200. I was also told that scoping is not neccessarily conclusive.

If the horse is "100% healthy", why are you worrying?

Just wondering