Riding Easy
March 19, 2009
Protect your horse’s health with these five tips to reduce trailering stress.
From AQHA corporate partner Merial
Traveling, training and showing horses can all cause stress, and potentially, ulcers.
One result from these stressors may be Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS), a disease prevalent across all breeds, disciplines and ages.
In fact, EGUS can develop quickly, sometimes in as little as five days.
Keeping your horse comfortable in the trailer can help reduce the risk of EGUS development and help ensure your horse is ready to perform when you arrive.
AQHA’s Common Horse Health Issues report points you in the right direction to keep your horse not only comfortable, but truly healthy. This valuable report arms you with the knowledge you need to be a responsible horse owner.
Before loading up next, keep these five simple steps in mind to minimize stress:
1. Plan to trailer during the coolest hours of the day during hot weather.
2. Wrap your horse’s legs for extra support.
3. Provide safe footing. Rubber mats and shavings can help stabilize your horse and help eliminate some stress.
4. Stop every four hours to allow your horse to relax and to offer your horse water and hay.
5. Consider giving Ulcergard (omeprazole) to help prevent stomach ulcers, which can be painful.
Management changes can help reduce the effects of stress, but EGUS can still be a concern. Ulcergard is the only product approved by the FDA for the prevention of stomach ulcers. During the stress of traveling, showing or training, one daily dose of Ulcergard has been proven effective in preventing stomach ulcers over both short and long periods of time.
Hauling your horse may seem routine, but it often creates stress that can potentially affect your horse’s overall health. The next time you are traveling with your horse, remember that just getting there can be stressful enough to cause EGUS. Ask your veterinarian about Ulcergard.
You’re armed with the tools to protect your horse from ulcers caused by trailering stress. Now, learn more about your horse’s health with AQHA’s Common Horse Health Issues report.
Dr. April Covington specializes in equine health care and has a special interest in sport horse lameness and internal medicine. She holds a doctorate of veterinary medicine from the University of California-Davis.
Ulcergard (omeprazole) can be used in horses that weigh at least 600 pounds. The effectiveness of Ulcergard in the prevention of gastric ulcers in foals and weanlings has not been evaluated. Ulcergard may be used safely in breeding stallions. Safety in pregnant mares has not been determined.
When treated for 8 to 28 days, ULCERGARD is proven to effectively prevent stomach ulcers in horses exposed to stressful conditions.
Comments
7 Comments on “Riding Easy”
Add a Comment
March 22nd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
The most important thing was forgotten. Pick you horses feet just before putting him or her into the trailer so he or she does not have to ride on a small pebble or dirt clod picked up on the way to the trailer. So many people pick when they unlode, but by then the damage is done.
Also, during the summer I am not sure horses need the extra heat of leg wraps, especially if you can’t haul when it is cool.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Having travelled horses for about 30 years I can assure you that leg wraps a can be lifesaver. Things that I have see where leg wraps saved horses from serious injury include: horses that slip and go down and their legs go under the feet of other horses, that somehow get tied up in their blankets, that manage to hook their feet in a piece of rope or in a hay-net that has come loose, that panic and fall while being loaded or unloaded. There was a motorvehicle accident where the box was wrecked and the only horse that did not have to be put down due to his injuries was the one weaning leg wraps and a thick blanket.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I understand both points of view. The only time I did not wrap my stallions legs (short distance home, I was tired and it was raining) when I unloaded he had an unexplained swelling in one hind leg. No cuts, abrasions or other signs of injury, just the swelling that lasted a couple days.
Now I wrap, no exceptions. My mare tends to get hot in the trailer so minimize heat accumulation I make sure 100% cotton is next on her legs, although I may wrap with a synthetic. This makes me feel like I’ve done everything I can to to protect her 25-year-old legs AND keep her comfortable.
May 31st, 2010 at 9:35 am
[...] are really useful tips that I use every day when I am out in the barn or traveling with my horses. My hope is that everyone will be able to find something useful in this list,” [...]
June 17th, 2010 at 6:02 am
[...] would be things like prior to long-distance transport, which typically is classified as greater than 500 miles,” Dr. Davis says. “In some settings, [...]
December 3rd, 2010 at 4:02 am
[...] are rubber mats you can custom-cut for the room, and then go back and seal the seams,” he says. “Or you can use [...]
January 11th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
[...] sheets, fly masks, stable sheets and unused halters. Repair any tears in blankets, masks, and leg wraps. Then store them in a sealed container like a [...]