"This is giving me an ulcer!" These probably are words our horses would utter if they could speak because many performance horses and racehorses develop ulcers due to stress that might not even be apparent to us. A domesticated environment, increased exercise and competition, transport, an unnatural diet, and other factors can all contribute stress to your horse’s life. The good news is that you can strategically manage his diet to minimize incidence and severity of ulcers.

Stephen Duren, PhD, an equine nutritionist and founder of Performance Horse Nutrition in Weiser, Idaho, says people generally think in terms of gastric (stomach) ulcers, but we now realize there can be ulcers in the colon, as well. Researchers at the University of Tennessee and University of Kentucky, studying ponies with cannulas (openings into the digestive tract), were able to sample material in the stomach and colon to learn more about ulcers.

"The initial thrust of early ulcer research was to find drug therapies and acid blockers to help with treatment," says Duren. "But along with medication, we also must consider what we should do from a feeding standpoint to reduce or help heal this condition, or prevent ulcers in the first place.

"Many ulcers occur in performance/racehorses for two reasons," he continues. "First, we change their diet. As the horse goes from a pasture or sedentary animal to athletic performance, his diet must change in order to provide the needed energy. He can’t get enough calories from forages for the increased work. So we feed different ingredients