Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Wine Country/Gastroguard

> Contrary to what many have believed through the years, psychological
stress
> does not play a significant role in the development of ulcers in either
> humans or horses, Murray contends. Psychological stress can cause an upset
> stomach in man and horse, Murray says, but "there have been many studies
> which show that psychological stress does not have an effect on ulcers."
>
> and
>
> Why some horses develop ulcers and others don't remains a mystery. In the
> experiments described earlier, some horses which had feed withheld for 24
> hours, were fed, then had it withheld again quickly developed ulcers. Some
> others in the experiment, though their stomach had as much or more
acidity,
> did not develop significant lesions.

The difference here is that what some horses "perceive" to be stress is not
the same what other horses "perceive" to be stress.  Why some horses develop
ulcers and others don't is simply that some are more geared to handling the
various stresses than others.  This may not be able to be called
"psychological" stress--as the metabolically "superior" (if you will) horse
may be subjected to exactly the same kind of psychological stress as the
horse that does develop ulcers, and the former horse still won't develop
them.  So I use the term "perceive" loosely--the body is perceiving the
stress, even though it may not be mental.  From what I've seen clinically,
the horses that have a "survival" mentality (they eat, they drink, nothing
much upsets their routine, etc.) don't get ulcers with the frequency of
those who interrupt their routines because of what is going on.  So it would
be more accurate to say that the problem is still something inate to the
given horse than it is the actual events going on.  It is the individual
horse that determines the degree to which stress is "internalized" if you
will, not the level of stress itself.  And that gets back to selection.

Heidi


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=