Mad Mare! Three ulcer products that make my horses happy (and a few that haven't worked).

"You don't know what you don't know". I say those words often in the horse industry and if there is one thing that I could do over I would have aggressively treated my horses for ulcers.

I remember at the beginning of my horse career I ordered a box of omeprazole from Abler for a very difficult thoroughbred mare. I stopped treating her because it was cost prohibitive, took a long while to ship, and I had a bottle of ranitidine from another horse. Gosh, if I could do it all over I would have thrown sucralfate, alfalfa hay, and omeprazole at that particular horse for treatment. This is the combination that seems to work for me and keep my performance horses happy. 

Before we dig into my top picks of ulcer products I want to briefly share the behavior that my mares display when they aren't on their "meds". Basically, they get extremely marish and cranky. They pin their ears when I tighten the girth and touch their belly and they also drink a lot of water. When they are on their meds they are happy and don't exhibit cranky mare behavior. 

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1. Good Alfalfa Hay 
​Alfalfa hay is the most recent introduction to my maintenance program. For over a year two local farriers kept telling me to give my horse a flake or two of alfalfa to help my horses with ulcers. Last year I fed alfalfa cubes but didn't see a result. On a whim, I finally heeded their advice and purchased a bag of Standlee compressed alfalfa hay from Tractor Supply. My horses LOVED it! My dutch warmblood looks at me with sparkly begging eyes every morning when she wants her alfalfa flake. My horses are so much calmer, better behaved, and seem happier overall when they have a flake or two a day. 

2. Sucralfate (vet script needed)
There is absolutely no way to sugar coat this, but my horses are demon ponies without their sucralfate. As soon as they are back on their meds they turn into angel ponies, but they need their 10-15 tabs of sucralfate 2-3 times per day to stay happy. This product has made the biggest and quickest improvement in all my horses. 

3. Ulcerguard
I can't tell you all the places i've hauled horses to as a kid and never gave a tube of ulcerguard. Even it my early twenties, moving a horse somewhere? No big deal, they should be able to handle it, or so I thought...
Now I don't go to a horse show or a clinic without ulcerguard. When I sell horses out of state the buyers typically send a tube to give to the horse before they travel. I am amazed at how much knowledge the industry has gained in regards to ulcers in the last ten years, and this is one product that I always keep in my barn. 

Two products that didn't work.
Ulcer products are EXPENSIVE! There, I said it! They cost a lot of money so choosing which to purchase is always a big decision. Not to mention, there is a lot of research out there supporting what works and doesn't. These are two products that just didn't work for me.

The first, was Daily Gold, which comes HIGHLY recommended by many horse owners (including my friends that rave about it). Quite frankly, it just didn't work for me. My horses would not eat it and did not like the taste of it. 

The second is called Ulc-R-Aid, and it was another product that came recommended. My horses didn't mind the taste and ate the product just fine, but I didn't see any results or changes in their behavior.
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The next product I would like to try is Ulceraser from Equine Elixirs. I am very interested in trying this product because I have used the Equine Elixirs  "Positude" formula on sale horses before with good results including noticeable changes in the horses behavior when they were on and off the product.