Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) affects the majority of performance horses and many leisure horses. It causes chronic pain that significantly impacts quality of life.
Gastric ulcers cause chronic abdominal pain that significantly affects horse wellbeing. The high prevalence in performance horses suggests that modern management practices — infrequent feeding, stall confinement, and high-intensity work — systematically create conditions that cause ulcers. Horses showing behavioral changes under saddle, reluctance to be groomed, or poor performance may be expressing pain from gastric ulcers rather than behavioral problems. Feeding management changes — ad libitum forage, reduced starch, pre-exercise forage — prevent ulcer development and are more effective long-term than medication alone.