# Ginger is it any good for horses?



## tullulahjay (2 October 2012)

Ok so i have had a biopsy come back on my horse as he was recently scoped for ulcers and there was like a rather boil like lump very near his stomach intestine.

They have come back and they said that the cells are inflamed and that he is now have to go on 3 weeks of gastroguard and 2 weeks of antibiotics. 

Can anyone tell me I have noticed that some say ginger is very good for horses. Does anyone use ginger. I am trying to see if anyone uses it and if so how much.

I would also love to hear from you your experiences with Ginger


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## TarrSteps (2 October 2012)

Personally, I would not give your horse anything else while he is under the vet's treatment.  Just because something is "natural" doesn't mean there is no risk of interactions and you need to know if the treatment is working correctly.

I always work on the assumption that supplements etc. either have and effect or they don't.  If they don't, then why am I using them?  If they do, then I need to be careful how I use them and what I use them for/with.


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## Britestar (2 October 2012)

I don't use it at such, but ginger biscuits are what my horses get as their treats.


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## tullulahjay (2 October 2012)

Hi philamena'

Thank u, ur so helpful. I'm not planning on the ginger yet. I will of course be letting the drugs do there thing. 

I am definitely am interested in maintaining the gut as natural as possible. What brand is the gastro plus?? All them ingredients is that what it has in it? I have also looked at liquorice root as well which seems to be interesting


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## tullulahjay (2 October 2012)

Also how much is gastro plus?


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## dressage_diva (3 October 2012)

Just to offer a different opinion, medical research in humans has found ginger to decrease mucus secretion in the stomach (due to inhibition of prostoglandin synthesis), limiting the natural pH buffering that goes on and has been found to lead to an increase in gastric ulcers.  Some equine scientists/vets have therefore speculated that ginger could possibly have the same effect in horses.

Feeding ginger has also been found to increase creatine kinase levels which could potentially indicate changes in the permeability of cell membranes.  This could mean that ginger extract may irritate the GI tract causing cell damage to the smooth muscle, resulting in inflammation and potentially ulcers.  Ginger has also been shown to increase gastric motility, which could mean that any acid produced in the stomach is moved around the stomach more, which may increase the frequency with which it comes into contact with the epithelial surface (further increasing the risk of ulcers).

The equine research however is currently fairly limited, so there is no conclusive evidence either way as to whether there is a link between ginger and EGUS. Certainly some evidence suggests ginger offers good anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, but there is the potential that it may be harmful in other means.

If you'd like to see any of the scientific references, then please let me know - I've been researching the effects of some herbs on gastric ulcers for a dissertation, so I've got them all to hand!


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## tullulahjay (3 October 2012)

Hi Dressage Diva,

That is very interesting. To be honest I would like to try the natural approach. One I havent got that much money so spending ££££ on products that could be a complete waste of money when the simple ingredients you can buy or even grow yourself and more cost effective in the long run. 

If you have any other recommendations of other herbs I would be very interested to hear  x


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## dressage_diva (3 October 2012)

tullulahjay said:



			If you have any other recommendations of other herbs I would be very interested to hear  x
		
Click to expand...

I don't think I'm really qualified to recommend any unfortunately - your best bet would be to speak to your vet (who even if they don't know themself, might be able to refer you to a colleague who does know more about natural medicine).

I've been specifically looking at herbs which have been linked with gastric ulcers in someway, whether that be in humans or horses (or other animals).  As I said in my above post, there is some tentative evidence to suggest that ginger, along with other herbs such as Devil's Claw and garlic, along with commonly fed electrolytes (obviously not a herb, but pretty natural given they're just salts) may increase the risk of EGUS in some horses.  But scientific research in equines is relatively inconclusive at present, so I'm not saying that these herbs definitely do increase EGUS risk (they also offer other potential benefits).

I'm presuming you're already planning on looking at your horse's lifestyle and feed in an effort to reduce the risk of the ulcers re-occurring.  Are you aware of the benefits of feeding alfalfa? It's high lignin content as well as it's abundance of protein and calcium have been shown to reduce the occurrence of EGUS (though you should be cautious of feeding it in excess as you don't want too much unnecessary protein in the diet).  I would liaise with your vet and get your horse's lifestyle optimized - less stress, more forage, more turnout etc., before adding unnecessarily supplements.  Though if you are interested, some antacid supplements have been proven at least in vitro to increase the stomach pH which could potentially reduce the risk of ulcers.  Generally though I agree with TarrSteps - it's better to try and avoid unnecessary supplements as there has been virtually no scientific research done into possible nutritional supplement interactions with each other/medicinal products.


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## philamena (3 October 2012)

Ooh interesting. Thanks for the info. OP I would say that if money is a factor then some of the bespoke "normal" anti-ulcer post-treatment management supplements which have good reports (and no ginger!) aren't actually that expensive in comparison to Something like ginger. Don't see the price of gastrogard and panic that you'll be paying crazy prices long term. Feedmark Ulcer Calm for example works out at less than 30 a month or less if they're doing one of their more generous offers.


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