Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is highly prevalent in performance horses and causes chronic pain, with welfare implications around recognition, treatment, and prevention through management changes.
Horses with EGUS experience chronic gastric pain that affects behaviour, performance, and quality of life. The pain is typically underrecognised because horses rarely vocalise and continue working despite discomfort. Stabling, infrequent forage access, and intensive exercise schedules are the primary risk factors. Without management change, omeprazole treatment leads to rapid recurrence. Horses kept on continuous forage access with reduced starch diets show dramatically lower ulcer prevalence and improved welfare outcomes.