Equine gastric ulcer syndrome affects an estimated 60-90% of performance horses and is directly linked to modern management practices that conflict with the evolutionary feeding physiology of horses.
Equine gastric ulcers are a welfare epidemic created by management practices — restricted feeding, stabling, high concentrate diets, and intensive training — that systematically contradict horse digestive physiology. A horse that eats for 2 hours twice daily instead of grazing for 16 hours has 12 hours during which gastric acid has no roughage to buffer, causing mucosal damage. This is not an unavoidable consequence of keeping horses in performance contexts but a predictable result of choices about feeding management that can be changed. Ad libitum hay access, reduced concentrate feeding, and maximised turnout time address the root causes of ulcers more effectively and durably than pharmaceutical treatment alone.