Equine gastric ulcer syndrome: is feeding key?

Equine gastric ulcer syndrome is the general term used to describe ulcers of any part of the epithelial tissue of the stomach. In recent years, the Equine Gastric Ulcer Council has promoted the sub-division of equine gastric ulcer syndrome into two categories which more accurately describe where the ulcers occur. The first describes ulceration of the non-glandular, upper part of the stomach and is called equine squamous gastric disease. The second describes ulceration occurring in the lower glandular part of the stomach and is termed equine glandular gastric disease (Sykes et al, 2015). Ulceration has also been known to occur at the end of the oesophagus and in the upper regions of the duodenum (Andrews et al, 1999). The consensus statement on equine gastric ulcer syndrome further divided equine squamous gastric disease into primary disease, which occurs in horses with an otherwise normal gastrointestinal tract, and secondary disease which occurs in horses with pyloric stenosis (Sykes et al, 2015). At present, equine glandular gastric disease is less well categorised and simply reflects the region where it occurs in the stomach (van den Boom, 2022).