| − | The aims of this study were to determine whether ulcers could be induced and maintained in a population of horses fed a concentrate diet, maintained in fast work and fasted before exercise. In this study ulcers developed without the administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents or withholding of feed.(Vatistas 2 1999)
| + | There appears to be a high prevalence of gastric ulcers in horses performing in most disciplines including racing, endurance, show jumping, dressage and western performance.(Hartmann and Frankeny 2003)in (Nadeau 2009). Although this may be related to exercise, other confounding factors associated with these disciplines such as travel, diet, feeding regime, NSAIDs and stress may be significant. However, Vatistas et al (2 1999) were able to induce and maintain EGUS in racehorses in fast work without the use of NSAIDs or fasting before exercise (Vatistas et al 2 1999). There is also evidence that light to heavy training for just 8 days is suffcient to induce gastric ulcers.<ref>White, G, McClure, S.R, Siifferman, R, Holste, J.E, Fleishman, C, Murray, M.J, Cramer, L.G (2007) Effects of short-term light to heavy exercise on gastric ulcer development in horses and efficacy of omeprazole paste in preventing gastric ulceration. ''J Am Vet Med Assoc'', 230(11):1680-2. Furthermore, the higher prevalence of gastric ulcers at post mortem in racehorses in training compared to those in retirement adds wait to the hypothesis that exercise is an important risk factor for EGUS.(Hammond et al. (1986)It is thought that exercise increases the exposure of the squamous mucosa to acid as the stomach is compressed by the abdominal viscera and diaphragm (Lorenzo-Figueras and Merritt 2002). |
| − | The mechanism for this is that compression of the stomach by abdominal viscera and diaphragm leads to delivery of acid contents into the proximal region of the stomach (Lorenzo-Figueras and Merritt 2002). This mechanism is thought to deliver the acid to the nonglandular mucosa resulting in acid exposure and injury.Other risk factors have surfaced in a variety of recent studies. In one study of horses in Australia, horses trained in urban areas are 3.9x more likely to have gastric ulcers. Also, time in work, crib-biting, difficulty maintaining bodyweight and playing the radio in the barn were identified as other risk factors (Lester et al. 2007). On the other hand, protective factors included training on the property and turnout with other horses. Also, in another study in Standardbred mares, 7/8 horses (Gordon et al. 2006) had gastric ulcers after 8 weeks of training, compared to 0/7 horses housed similarly and not trained.
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| − | Although racehorses have a high prevalence of EGUS, 56.5% of horses in endurance competition, show jumping, dressage or western performance and travel, had gastric ulcers (Hartmann and Frankeny 2003) after competition. Thus, even nonrace training and performance horses are at risk of developing EGUS and should be monitored for clinical signs(Nadeau 2009)
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| − | White G, McClure SR, Sifferman R, Holste JE, Fleishman C, Murray MJ, Cramer LG. | |
| − | Conclusions: The study confirmed a high prevalence of ulcers in the gastric squamous mucosa of Standardbreds in race training. Of the studied parameters only status of training showed a significant association with gastric ulcers of the squamous mucosa.In a post mortem study, Hammond et al. (1986) showed a significantly higher prevalence (80%) of gastric ulcers among Thoroughbreds in race training compared with horses that had retired (52%), a finding supported by other authors (Murray et al. 1989, 1996; Vatistas et al. 1999b). (Jonssen 2006)
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