Ulcerative gastric lesions in Brasileiro de Hipismo horses.

Background: equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) has a high and variable occurrence in horses of different ages and activity levels. Objective: the aim of this study was to determine the presence and severity of ulcers in Brasileiro de Hipismo (BH) horses owned by the military police. Methods: a group of 80 horses (38 males and 42 females, aged between 3.3 and 29.2 years) performing different activities underwent clinical and gastroscopic evaluation. Descriptive statistics for the presence of ulcers and chi-square (X2) analysis with Fisher exact test were conducted to determine a possible association between EGUS and type of activity, sex or age. Results: occurrence of at least one ulcer was detected in 45% of the horses, and most of them (40%) were located in the squamous mucosa of the Margo plicatus. No significant association (p>0.05) was observed between any of the factors evaluated and the presence of EGUS. Conclusion: the BH horses owned by cavalry's military have low incidence of EGUS despite being subjected to stress, which confirms a multifactorial nature of gastric lesions in this subpopulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]