Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and Merial are hosting a free gastroscopy examination event during the 2-day break between the County Heir I and County Heir II horse shows being held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Exams will be held in Barn 4, stalls 1 through 7.

Merial conducts gastroscopy seminars throughout the year with equine veterinary practices nationwide providing horse owners with the diagnostic examination for their horse at no charge with medication purchase required only for those patients identified with stomach ulcers. In addition to the free gastroscopy, medication discounts and specials are available at the event.

Rood & Riddle internal medicine specialists Bonnie Barr, VMD, Dipl. ACVIM; Peter Morresey, BVSc, Dipl. ACT, Dipl. ACVIM; and Steve Reed, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, along Hoyt Cheramie, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, manager of Equine Veterinary Services for Merial, 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. Anyone interested in learning more about gastric ulcers in horses is welcome to attend the seminar at any time during the day, with or without a horse. Barr, Morresey, and Reed will be available throughout the day to discuss gastric ulcers and answer questions. Discounts and specials on anti-ulcer treatments will also be available.

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 develop gastric ulcers. Clinical signs associated with gastric ulcers are numerous and often vague, and easy to misinterpret making the diagnosis of gastric ulcers sometimes be tricky. The gold standard of diagnosis is gastroscopy, which is visualization of the stomach with a three meter endoscope