Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is one of the most prevalent and most preventable welfare conditions in horses, with management changes offering dramatic welfare improvements.
Gastric ulcers cause chronic abdominal pain that affects horses' behavior, training compliance, body condition, and quality of life. The insidious nature of the condition — horses rarely show obvious signs of abdominal pain — means many horses suffer significantly without owners recognizing the cause. Prevention through appropriate management is highly effective: ad-lib hay or continuous forage access eliminates the primary trigger of acid accumulation in an empty stomach. For horses already affected, omeprazole treatment produces dramatic improvement. The welfare case for appropriate feeding management — treating forage access as a welfare necessity rather than a luxury — is overwhelming.