Gastric ulcers affect the majority of performance horses and many pleasure horses, causing pain that responds well to treatment but requires management changes to prevent recurrence.
Gastric ulcers cause persistent abdominal pain in horses that manifests as poor performance, altered behavior, reduced appetite, and behavioral changes including girthiness, reluctance to work, and aggression during tacking up. The welfare harm of untreated gastric ulcers in performance horses is significant and widespread - the majority of racehorses are in pain from ulcers during their working lives. Treatment is highly effective, but without management changes addressing the underlying causes (high starch diet, restricted forage, exercise on empty stomach, stabling), recurrence rates are very high. Prevention through management changes - maintaining forage access, feeding before exercise, reducing starch - is more sustainable than repeated treatment cycles.