02/07/2025
For Maritime Equine, Winter always seems to be Gastroscopy season‼️
🐴Have you ever wondered what the inside of a horse’s stomach looks like? Check out this short video where we are inside the horse’s stomach and first examining the pyloris (glandular portion of the stomach before it turns into small intestine) followed by the non-glandular or squamous part of the stomach. Ulcer symptoms can range in horses from weight loss, decreased appetite and colic, to behavioural issues on the ground and undersaddle (biting, kicking, rearing).
🐴Did you know that the horse has two types of tissue in its stomach? The light pink region is non-glandular tissue, and the dark pink region on bottom is the glandular tissue which produces the stomach acid. The acid typically splashes up onto the more sensitive light pink tissue and can cause ulcers.
🐴In the video attached, this horse was diagnosed with grades 3 and 4 ulcers throughout. Ulcers are graded on a scale from 1-4. You can see a part initially where we spray some water at the bleeding ulcers around the pyloris to make sure it is not feed debris. These ulcers around the pyloris that are almost black in colour have been bleeding which gives them that dark colour. In the main part part of this horse’s stomach (non-glandular or light pink region), you can see lots of small ulcers throughout the non-glandular tissue and some that have been actively bleeding.
🐴This horse received a treatment protocol including multiple medications to target the severity and types of ulcers seen on the gastroscope. The stomach looked significantly better after a month of treatment and you can see these after photos of what a healthy horse stomach should look like.
📞 If you think your horse could have gastric ulcers, feel free to contact us to discuss your concerns & set up a gastroscope!
