Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, 2150 Georgetown Road, Lexington, Ky., will host a Merial Animal Health gastroscopy event and education forum from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 15 in the Rood & Riddle Podiatry building. Horse owners are invited to schedule an appointment for their horse or horses to have a gastroscopy at no charge with medication purchase required only for those patients identified with stomach ulcers.

Rood & Riddle internal medicine specialists Dr. Bonnie Barr, Dr. Peter Morresey and Dr. Steve Reed along with Merial veterinarian Hoyt Cheramie, DVM, DACVS, will be on hand to perform gastroscopy exams and provide educational commentary to explain the procedure, exam results, and educational information on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of gastric ulcers.

Gastric ulcers are a common medical condition in horses and foals. Numerous publications have identified that up to 60% of show horses have ulcers and up to 90% of racehorses may develop gastric ulcers. There are many triggers for stomach ulcer development, and stress is an important factor. Horses may experience stress when exposed to situations that you might think of as routine such as training, travel, competition, shows or events, or changes in routine such as lay-up due to sickness or injury.

Clinical signs associated with gastric ulcers are numerous and often vague. Typical symptoms include poor performance, poor hair coat, picky eating, and colic. Oftentimes diagnosis of gastric ulcers can be tricky because the signs can be subtle and easy to misinterpret. The gold standard of diagnosis is gastroscopy, which is visualization of the stomach with a 3-meter endoscope