ETD

• EGGD
• EGUS
• endurance
• ESGD
• horses
• morphology

Objective: the aim was to assess the prevalence of EGUS, ESGD, EGGD and the incidence of the work attitude in a group of horses (endurance or show) at rest from training.
Animals: 41 Arab horses living in Tuscany, Umbria or Lazio, used for endurance (17/41) or morphology show (24/41) with no signs of EGUS.
Materials and methods: all horses undergone gastroscopy examination and the lesions were classified according to guidelines for ESGD and EGGD diagnosis. Results were statistically analyzed using the chi square test to verify differences between the two groups for EGUS, ESGD and EGGD or ESGD plus EGGD.
Results: 5/17 endurance horses and all the show horses were positive for EGUS/ESGD. Six out of 24 show horses and three out of 17 endurance subjects were positive for EGGD. All horses with EGGD, were also positive for ESGD. The 17.6% of endurance horses and the 95.8% of show horses showed gastric ulceration (2-4/4 score).
Conclusions: the prevalence of EGUS found in endurance horses is comparable with results reported in previous studies on the same type of subject. Results show a significant statistical association within the sport activity and the prevalence of ESGD between the two groups, while no association was found for EGGD for both groups relating the sport activity.