A horse that was keen to work just a week ago suddenly becomes fussy at the feed bowl. It leaves feed, eats hay more slowly, tenses its abdomen during grooming or turns its head away in obvious irritation. Under saddle, it seems “somehow different”. Less willing, more irritable and harder to relax.
Many owners initially put this down to the weather, a change in training, mood or mild tiredness. That is a natural reaction. The problem is that symptoms of gastric ulcers very often begin in precisely this ambiguous way.
In horses, stomach pain rarely looks the way people imagine. Rather than an obvious crisis, we more often see a series of small changes. Poorer appetite. Less tolerance of the girth. Tension during work. Reduced energy. Sometimes that is all, and sometimes that is already a great deal.
This is no whim or “naughtiness” on the horse's part. It may signal that the digestive system is struggling with the demands of everyday stable life, training, stress or feeding practices. The sooner you learn to recognise these signs, the better the chances of prompt relief for your horse and better treatment outcomes.
Introduction: Your horse has lost its appetite and seems dull. What could this mean?
It usually starts innocently. Your horse does not finish its morning ration. It no longer approaches food with the same enthusiasm. It tenses up when being saddled and is reluctant to go forwards when ridden. It stands quietly in its stable, but does not look relaxed. Many owners know this picture all too well.
When changes appear gradually, they are easy to miss. You get used to your horse being “a little more difficult lately”. That is exactly why gastric ulcers can be so insidious. They do not always produce sudden, obvious signs.
Cases where a horse has only one symptom are particularly misleading. For example, it eats hay but leaves its hard feed. Or it works correctly at the beginning of a session, then soon becomes irritable. Or it is not losing weight, but its quality of life is clearly declining.
The absence of dramatic symptoms does not mean the problem is trivial.
In practice, it is worth considering your horse's stomach whenever three things occur together: a change in appetite, a change in behaviour and reduced willingness to work. This does not automatically mean ulcers, but it does mean you should take the issue seriously.
The best initial step is to avoid blaming your horse's character. Your horse is not “pretending”. If it changes how it eats, reacts to touch or becomes reluctant to cooperate, there is usually a reason. Gastric ulcers are one of the more common reasons.
Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS): The basics every owner needs to know
It is difficult to assess ulcer symptoms accurately without understanding what happens inside the stomach. In horses, the problem usually stems not from a single “mistake”, but from a clash between their biology and everyday stable routines.
A horse's stomach works differently from a human stomach. Acid is produced almost continuously because the body is designed for frequent fibre intake in small amounts over many hours. When a horse goes without hay for long periods, receives large meals at set times or trains with an almost empty stomach, the protective balance begins to falter. The lining then has less of a “buffer”, and contact with acid becomes more irritating.
This is why ulcers can also develop in a well-cared-for horse that looks healthy and works regularly.
The most common situations that increase the risk of EGUS are:
- long gaps in access to forage,
- an irregular feeding routine,
- intensive training, especially combined with stress,
- transport, moving yards, isolation or frequent changes in routine,
- prolonged NSAID use, which may weaken the lining's natural protection.
There is another important point for you as an owner. “Ulcers” do not always mean the same thing.
ESGUS and EGGUS are not the same
This distinction helps explain many apparently contradictory symptoms. Gastric ulcer disease in horses manifests as two separate syndromes: ESGUS in the non-glandular part of the stomach and EGGUS in the glandular part, and distinguishing them is critical because their causes differ and they require different approaches to treatment and nutrition. This is emphasised in the material on equine gastric ulcers and their diagnosis.
You can organise this very simply:
| Stomach region | Type of lesions | What usually matters most |
|---|---|---|
| Non-glandular region | ESGUS | more frequent contact between this region and acidic stomach contents, with weaker natural protection |
| Glandular region | EGGUS | disruption of the lining's protective mechanisms, requiring more precise treatment and everyday management |
This helps explain why two horses with a similar loss of appetite or similar irritability can have different forms of the disease. For one, long gaps between meals and feeding mistakes may be the main issue; for the other, the mechanism of damage to the glandular region itself may matter more.
For you as a carer, this has very practical implications. A subtle behavioural change is not simply a “mood”. Sometimes it is an early sign of a particular type of stomach irritation. The sooner you connect these small signs with feeding, stress and your horse's daily schedule, the sooner you can make sensible changes, including dietary ones.
Why guessing is not enough
Symptoms can provide clues, but they do not reveal the whole picture. A horse that fusses over food, tenses when girthed and works less effectively through its hindquarters may have ulcers. It may also have another painful condition. That is why gastroscopy remains the diagnostic gold standard, allowing the location and type of lesions to be seen.
A practical rule: do not simply ask “does my horse have ulcers?”. Also ask “which part of the stomach is affected, how severe are the lesions, and what needs to change in treatment and feeding?”.
Drug treatment often relies on omeprazole, but medication alone rarely solves the problem permanently if your horse still has long periods without hay, overly concentrated meals, a stressful routine or an excessive training workload. In practice, combining diagnosis, treatment and everyday feeding management produces the best results.
This is where you can truly influence the course of the disease. Enough fibre, sensibly spaced meals, stomach-protective supplements and carefully chosen feeds supporting horses with EGUS, including options available from VETfactory, help limit irritation of the lining and reduce the risk of recurrence. This does not replace examination or treatment. It does help create conditions in which the stomach can settle.
From subtle changes to obvious pain: The full range of ulcer symptoms
The biggest difficulty with ulcers is that a horse may not look “ill” for a very long time. Up to 50% of equine gastric ulcer cases may be asymptomatic or involve only very subtle symptoms, as highlighted in the guide on gastric ulcer disease without obvious signs. This is why you need to read ulcer symptoms as a whole sequence of small changes rather than a single scene.
Quiet signs owners often dismiss
At this stage, your horse usually does not lie down in pain or look dramatically unwell. It is more a case of “something is not quite right”.
The most common subtle signs include:
- Selective appetite. Your horse nibbles, walks away from the feed bowl, returns shortly afterwards and leaves some feed.
- A changed attitude to work. It is reluctant to move forwards, becomes irritated sooner and struggles to concentrate.
- Tension during everyday handling. It becomes less patient when its abdomen is groomed, its girth is fitted or its flanks are touched.
- Dullness or irritability. One horse becomes quiet and withdrawn, while another reacts more nervously.
- Reduced comfort after meals or during training. Your horse seems fine briefly, then suddenly “switches off”.
These symptoms are often attributed to temperament. The owner says the horse is grumpy, the saddle fitter says the girth does not fit perfectly, and the trainer says the horse is testing its rider. Sometimes that is true. Often, however, stomach discomfort is the cause.
What this looks like on an ordinary day at the yard
In the morning, your horse eats more slowly than usual. At midday, nothing unusual happens. During an evening ride, it resists the aids, stiffens its back and protests at collection. The following day, it is “almost normal” again.
This fluctuating picture is very typical of ulcers. Symptoms can ebb and flow. A single observation therefore tells you little. The pattern matters.
If you notice small departures from normal for several days running, consider them together rather than separately.
A simple observation diary is a useful tool. Record:
- how much your horse eats and whether it leaves anything,
- how it reacts to girthing and grooming,
- how it works under saddle,
- whether mild colic episodes or restlessness after eating occur.
This record is very helpful for your vet, showing the whole picture rather than an isolated incident.
More advanced symptoms
When stomach lesions become more severe, the signs are harder to overlook. Owners then more often describe pain rather than “strange behaviour”.
More obvious symptoms include:
- recurrent mild colic, especially if it occurs regularly or after feeding,
- teeth grinding,
- a marked reaction to touch around the abdomen,
- strong resistance to girthing or saddling,
- loss of condition or difficulty maintaining body weight,
- visible discomfort after work or a meal.
Not every horse shows all these signs. One may mainly eat less well. Another may start reacting strongly to saddling. A third may show ulcers primarily through low spirits and frequent mild colic.
Symptoms and interpretation
The following overview helps distinguish an ordinary “off moment” from a picture that should raise concern:
| What you see | What it may mean |
|---|---|
| your horse leaves some feed | discomfort when eating or altered tolerance of a meal |
| it becomes irritable when girthed | abdominal pain or tension associated with movement of the stomach |
| it loses willingness to work | a sign of pain rather than laziness |
| it has episodes of mild colic | a sign that the digestive system needs investigation |
| it remains “out of sorts” for a prolonged period | chronic discomfort expressed through behaviour |
The key point is simple. The absence of classic pain does not rule out ulcers, and several subtle changes occurring together may be more significant than one dramatic symptom.
Ulcer symptoms in competition and leisure horses: Differences in signs
A competition horse and a leisure horse may suffer for the same reason, but their owners notice it differently. In one case, training performance may be the first clue. In the other, everyday behaviour at the yard is the first sign.
A competition horse more often shows the problem through performance than pain
In performance horses, stress associated with training, transport and competition is a major risk factor for developing gastric ulcers. Symptoms may also intensify during the competition season, appearing mainly as reduced performance rather than classic signs of pain, as described in the article on training stress and gastric ulcer symptoms.
In practice, a competition horse may:
- respond less well to the aids,
- lose its desire to move forwards,
- tense up sooner,
- struggle to concentrate,
- become less consistent in its work.
This matters because such a horse often still looks “capable”. It jumps, performs movements and enters the dressage arena. It simply does so less comfortably.
A leisure horse more often “speaks” through behaviour
For a leisure horse, performance pressure is lower, so you may notice changes in everyday interaction sooner. Your horse becomes less friendly when handled, more spooky, and sometimes starts avoiding people in its stable or paddock.
Some leisure horses:
- turn round when the girth is tightened,
- are reluctant to have their abdomen groomed,
- are more irritable before riding than during it,
- show unusual restlessness at feeding time.
A leisure horse rarely “spoils a result”, but very often changes its relationship with people. That is a symptom too.
A brief comparison
| Type of horse | What you notice first |
|---|---|
| Competition | reduced performance, poorer quality of work, tension and weaker concentration |
| Leisure | irritability, problems with saddling, altered appetite, withdrawal or spookiness |
The most common mistake is explaining symptoms through the discipline, temperament or a “difficult spell”. Yet the stomach does not distinguish between jumping a course, hacking or working lightly in the school. If your horse feels pain, it will express it in whatever way its temperament and lifestyle allow.
When to call the vet: What professional ulcer diagnosis involves
You return to the yard after several days of closer observation. Your horse again leaves some feed, tenses its abdomen at the girth and is more irritable than usual under saddle. This is the point to stop guessing and ask your vet to assess the situation.
The difficulty with ulcers is that horses rarely show pain in one obvious way. More often, they give a series of small signs. Individually, each can be blamed on stress, training, the weather or a “bad day”. Together, they create a clearer picture.
When you need to call the vet without delay
Contact your vet if your horse:
- regularly leaves feed or has a clearly altered appetite,
- has recurrent mild colic symptoms,
- reacts painfully to girthing, touching the abdomen or work,
- becomes unusually irritable, tense or reluctant to move,
- has several subtle symptoms together and does not return to normal despite routine adjustments.
Early consultation matters even when symptoms are “small”. At this stage, many owners can identify a developing problem before their horse visibly loses weight, struggles at work or starts associating feeding and training with pain.
What you can observe at home and what needs examination
Your notes are very useful. Your vet needs to know whether your horse eats less well in the morning, becomes unsettled before feed arrives, or shows worse symptoms after a long gap without hay, transport or harder training. These details help connect behaviour with possible stomach irritation.
However, observation alone cannot reliably establish the type of lesions involved. Ulcers in the non-glandular region and lesions in the glandular region can produce similar signs but require different diagnostic approaches and often different treatment and feeding strategies.
It is rather like low-grade lameness. You can see that your horse moves differently, but without examination you cannot identify exactly which structure hurts or how serious the problem is.
Gastroscopy: What it really shows and why it changes so much
Gastroscopy is the main examination used to confirm gastric ulcers. It allows the inside of the stomach to be viewed and checks:
- where the lesions are,
- what they look like,
- how extensive the irritation or ulceration is.
This often sounds stressful to owners, but in practice it is the stage that brings the most clarity. Guesswork ends. Concrete information emerges. Your vet can see whether ulcers really are causing the problem or whether the source of pain and reduced comfort needs broader investigation.
The less specific the symptoms, the more valuable the examination images become. A horse that has simply “become more difficult” may actually have been working with stomach pain for weeks.
What professional diagnosis usually involves
Gastroscopy itself is the most important step, but investigation starts earlier. Your vet takes a history and assesses feeding practices, gaps between meals, stress levels, work intensity, transport, yard moves, medication and the progression of symptoms. This matters because ulcers rarely result from one factor. They usually reflect overlapping pressures.
In practice, your vet may ask:
- how many hours your horse spends without hay,
- which hard feed it receives and in what portions,
- whether symptoms worsen during training or saddling,
- whether your horse has recently received anti-inflammatory medication,
- whether there have been changes to the herd, transport or daily routine.
This history is highly valuable. It helps establish a diagnosis and subsequently reduce the risk of recurrence.
What happens after diagnosis
Once lesions are confirmed, your vet creates a management plan. This may include medication, often omeprazole, alongside specific recommendations for feeding, training and daily routines. This matters because medication addresses the consequences, while living conditions and feeding practices often sustain the cause.
The most reassuring route for you usually follows this sequence: recognise a pattern, call your vet, confirm the problem, then introduce treatment and daily nutritional support. This combination gives your horse a real chance to feel more comfortable and regain its balance.
Feeding a horse with gastric ulcers: A practical guide to VETfactory feeds and supplements
After treatment, your horse may look better for a few days, then start fussing over feed again, tensing its abdomen during saddling or losing enthusiasm for work. Very often, this is not because the medication “did not work”, but because the stomach still faces the same daily pressures. Long gaps without hay, large hard-feed meals and too much starch can sustain irritation of the stomach lining.
You therefore need to treat feeding as an ongoing part of recovery. For a horse with ulcers, feed is more than fuel for work. It also helps limit contact between acidic stomach contents and the sensitive lining.
Principles that really make a difference
First, understand one thing. A horse's stomach produces acid continuously, even when the horse is not eating. If the stomach remains empty for a long time, its lining is less protected. It is rather like leaving delicate skin without a protective layer. That is why we so often see a link between long gaps without food and recurring symptoms.
In practice, the feeding plan should rest on a few simple principles:
- constant access to good-quality hay or small forage portions offered as frequently as possible,
- smaller portions more often, rather than infrequent large meals,
- caution with feeds high in starch and sugars,
- matching feed to the type of work, rather than making up energy needs with cereals alone,
- a calm feeding routine, without major shifts in feeding times.
For a horse prone to ulcers, eating patterns directly affect health.
What to feed instead of an arbitrary concentrate
Many owners fall into a simple trap: their horse loses weight or works less well, so they add more oats or cereal mix. With a sensitive stomach, this often makes matters worse. Your horse may receive more energy, but also a greater digestive burden.
A safer direction is low-starch feeds, formulated for horses that react poorly to traditional cereal mixes or have confirmed stomach problems. Such recipes generally rely more on fibre and gentler energy sources.
Other useful options in practice include:
- balancers for horses that do not need much hard feed but require vitamins, minerals and amino acids, particularly Spillers ULCA Balancer
- mashes with gentle ingredients, provided your horse tolerates them well and they do not replace fibre,
- chaff based on quality fibre, fed before work or as part of the ration. Spillers ULCA Fibre is an excellent choice here
Chaff containing alfalfa can be particularly useful. It prolongs chewing, increases saliva production and helps prepare the stomach for exercise. For many horses, this small daily habit reduces the first subtle signs of discomfort before they develop into a more obvious problem.
Which product types to consider
No single combination suits every horse. A nervous competition horse travelling frequently needs a different plan from a leisure gelding that spends long nights without hay and is becoming fussy at feeding time. Symptoms may look similar, but the cause of daily stomach strain may differ.
The table below helps organise your choices:
| Product type | When it may help |
|---|---|
| low-starch feed | when your horse tolerates traditional cereal mixes poorly |
| high-fibre chaff | when you want to prolong chewing and protect the stomach before work |
| balancer | when your horse should eat little hard feed but still needs a complete ration. Ideal for horses with unrestricted access to pasture. |
| a supplement supporting the stomach lining | as part of a feeding plan agreed with your vet or nutritionist |
| a supplement supporting stress reduction | when symptoms worsen with transport, changes and competition |
This is a good point to connect nutrition with behavioural observations. If your horse becomes more irritable mainly before training, look at what it receives before work. If it eats less well in the morning, an overly long overnight gap without fibre may be the issue. Such details often indicate which part of the plan needs adjustment.
Ingredients and formulas worth considering
Labels can be confusing. You see a long list of additives and may feel that more ingredients must be better. What matters in practice is whether a product fits the overall ration and the individual horse.
Digestive-support supplements often feature protective ingredients, feed yeasts and components that help maintain digestive stability. Ingredients alone do not solve the problem, however. If your horse still spends half the night without hay, even a well-chosen supplement has limited scope to help.
Before buying, ask yourself four questions:
- Does this product fit the overall ration?
- Is my horse receiving enough fibre?
- Is the supplement intended to support treatment or prevention after therapy?
- Is the stomach the only issue, or are stress and tension involved too?
This approach makes decisions clearer. Overcomplicated supplementation without a plan more often obscures the picture than delivers real improvement.
Examples of practical product options
In everyday management of horses with ulcers, we generally do not seek a “miracle” supplement. We look for a sensible combination matching symptoms, lifestyle and diagnostic findings. This usually involves specific product categories:
- specialist feeds and fibrous chaff for horses with sensitive digestive systems, such as options like SPILLERS Alfalfa-Pro Fibre,
- stomach-support supplements such as NAF Gastri-Vet Pellets,
- products targeting digestive support such as TRM GNF.
These product groups are also available from VETfactory, alongside feeds, chaff and supplements from brands such as Spillers, TRM, NAF, Equine America and AniVero.
A good feed for a horse with ulcers does not cure ulcers by itself. It creates conditions in which treatment and repair of the stomach lining have a better chance of progressing smoothly.
The most frequent recurring feeding mistakes
The greatest harm usually comes from repeated everyday oversights rather than complicated mistakes:
- an overly long overnight gap without hay,
- a large hard-feed meal on an empty stomach,
- increasing energy through cereals too quickly,
- no fibrous snack before training,
- constant feed changes without time to assess the effect.
This is an area where you can spot a great deal. Your horse will not always show severe pain immediately. Slower eating, scattering feed, greater irritability when its flanks are groomed or resistance to tightening the girth may appear first. If these small signs coincide with feeding changes or gaps in hay provision, take them seriously.
Combining treatment with your horse's everyday life
The best results come from a plan in which medication and nutrition work towards the same goal. Your horse receives its medicine alongside a structured daily routine, predictable feeding and a ration designed around stomach health as well as calories.
A good plan usually includes:
- set feeding times,
- monitoring hay quantities,
- assessing reactions to individual feeds,
- recording appetite and behavioural changes,
- a cautious return to a full training workload.
Keep brief notes. Two sentences a day are often enough. Does your horse finish its meals? Is it calmer during saddling? Does it work better after chaff before training? This diary helps reveal connections between subtle behavioural changes and what happens in the feed bowl.
A horse with ulcers functions best when its day is predictable and its stomach does not constantly have to defend itself against further feeding mistakes.
Summary: Your action plan for managing a horse with ulcers
If I were to condense the whole topic into a few steps, they would look like this.
First, observe carefully. Gastric ulcer symptoms rarely start dramatically. More often, they show up in small changes in appetite, mood, reactions to the girth and quality of work. Knowing your horse's normal behaviour gives you a huge advantage.
Second, do not guess. When concerns recur, you need veterinary consultation and professional diagnosis. Only then can you know what type of problem you face and plan treatment sensibly.
Third, organise everyday management. Constant fibre access, reduced stress, regularity and a sensible training workload are not optional extras. They are part of therapy.
Fourth, match nutrition to the stomach, not just energy needs. Low-starch feeds, quality chaff, carefully chosen balancers and digestive-support supplements can genuinely improve your horse's comfort as part of a sensible plan.
The key is that ulcers do not leave you powerless as an owner. Quite the reverse. This is one of those problems where daily attentiveness, sound diagnosis and thoughtful feeding really make a substantial difference.
If you notice worrying changes in your horse's appetite, behaviour or work, seek feeding advice and choose suitable categories of stomach-support products. At VETfactory you will find feeds, chaff and supplements for horses with sensitive digestive systems, alongside expert advice to help build a practical management plan.
