Improvement of gastric disease and ridden horse pain ethogram scores with diet adaptation in sport horses.
Authors: Pineau Violaine, Ter Woort Fe, Julien Félicie, Vernant Margaux, Lambey Sandrine, Hébert Camille, Hanne-Poujade Sandrine, Westergren Victor, van Erck-Westergren Emmanuelle
Journal: Journal of veterinary internal medicine
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Diet-Responsive Gastric Disease in Sport Horses Gastric ulceration remains endemic in performance horses, yet its relationship to ridden behaviour and pain expression has been poorly characterised. This prospective study tracked nine show-jumping Warmbloods as they transitioned from a conventional pelleted diet (>30% sugar and starch) to a low-starch muesli format (11% starch) over 12 weeks, measuring gastric lesion severity via blinded endoscopy and pain responses using the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE). The dietary intervention produced marked improvements: equine gastric disease (EGD) scores dropped from median 4 to 1 (P<0.01), whilst RHpE pain scores halved from 6 to 3 (P<0.01), with particularly strong correlations between glandular ulceration and pain expression (r=0.867). For practitioners—especially those managing performance horses presenting with subtle behavioural or ridden resistance issues—these findings underscore that apparently intractable problems may respond to straightforward dietary reformulation away from high-starch concentrates. Given the high prevalence of gastric disease in this population and evidence of its direct relationship to pain during work, dietary assessment and modification should now form part of routine performance investigations before pursuing more invasive diagnostics or training interventions.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Switching show-jumping horses from high-starch pelleted feeds (>30%) to low-starch cooked muesli-type diets (11%) significantly reduces gastric disease and associated pain behaviors within 12 weeks
- •Gastric ulceration directly correlates with pain expression during ridden work, making dietary management a practical welfare intervention for sport horses
- •Consider diet modification as a first-line strategy to improve horse comfort and performance before investigating other causes of behavioral changes or poor performance in ridden athletes
Key Findings
- •Low-starch diet (11%) significantly reduced EGD scores from 4 [3-5] to 1 [0-1] after 12 weeks (P<0.01)
- •Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE) scores improved from 6 [3-13] to 3 [0-6] with diet change (P<0.01)
- •Strong positive correlations between gastric lesion severity and pain expression: EGD with RHpE (r=0.867, P<0.01), squamous lesions (r=0.747, P<0.01), and glandular lesions (r=0.743, P<0.01)