Equine gastric ulcer syndrome affects the majority of performance horses. Monitoring and prevention strategies reduce the significant welfare burden of this painful condition.
Gastric ulcers cause genuine, ongoing discomfort in affected horses - a burning, gnawing pain that interferes with appetite, performance, and wellbeing. The prevalence in performance horses reflects the mismatch between their management and their evolved physiology: horses are designed to trickle-feed on low-energy forage throughout the day, not to fast between large concentrate meals and work hard on empty stomachs. Prevention through management change is more sustainable than repeated treatment cycles. Horses are communicating their discomfort through behavior - girth resentment, reluctance, stereotypies - that deserves veterinary investigation.