Before

After

Gulliver’s Travels is a 16.2hh thoroughbred racehorse, who was referred to us after suffering weight loss and inappetance after entering race training in 2003. After a short period in training he returned to his owner in very poor condition. He was unable to eat any reasonable quantity of feed and appeared to be – in his owner’s words “a mentally broken horse”.  After veterinary investigation, it was discovered that Gulliver had severe gastric ulceration (EGUS – see gastric ulceration article), along with other abnormalities in both the small and large intestine. Prognosis was poor.

However, Gulliver was one of the lucky ones; he had a ‘hands on’ progressive owner who decided to give Gulliver a second chance and began investigation into possible alternative and holistic therapies. This is where we came in to advise on a suitable diet that would not only enhance recovery, but more importantly prevent further digestive disturbance.

Gulliver was subsequently put onto a diet of Total horse feed and Chinese herbs, and slowly but surely he began his long road to recovery. His previous, regular bouts of colic ceased and his demeanour began to improve. In fact, Gulliver not only made a full recovery, but also went back into race training – on Total horse feed. He has since been awarded ‘best conditioned horse’ at a race meeting and became the lead horse for the trainer on the gallops.

Epilogue

Although Gulliver’s story has a happy ending, in hindsight, Gulliver’s owner is not sure that Gulliver was really cut out for a racing career. Gulliver always appeared confident on the outside, but suffered anxiety and stress which manifested itself internally, resulting in depression and inappetance. This coupled with a high cereal, low fibre diet whilst in race training was a recipe for gastric ulceration and digestive distress.

I saw Gulliver recently, back at home in his paddock looking fantastic. We at Primero are proud to say that he is still fed on Total as he was during convalescence, through recovery, into race training, racing and beyond. As you can see, he is a gorgeous boy and we wish him a long, healthy life and career ahead.

By Linda Linnane BSc (Hons)

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