Pony with cushings....?

My little old man reacted badly to the medication (which is easily available from the vet and costs approx £1.50 a day).

I clip him in spring, keep an eye on his weight (at the moment that means feeding him alot),

I'm getting very practiced at dealing with abcesses. Keep a close eye out for lammi as well, my little one has had cushings induced lammi dispite looking like a toast rack.

Also you will need to change how you feed. Cushings makes teeth fall out, but first they get loose and the hose will find chewing painful. If he is on a mix you need to change it to a cube and soak the cubes in water untill they turn to mush. That means the horse wont have to chew much. Only takes about 10mins.

A pony with Cushings grows a long, matted curly coat, even in the high heat of summer, tends to be very thirsty and consequently pee a great deal. It may also lose weight and suffers from late onset laminitis even if it is not overweight. And is ravenously hungry!

It is a tumour on the pituatry gland and is quite common in older horses. I think we might be seeing it more now because horses are tending to live longer and more active lives due to progression of feeding and veterinary care.

It is a miserable animal and will start to get lethargic. In fact most of the symptoms are very much like diabetes in humans and dogs, though we cannot tell whether there are eyesight problems as some horses can hide that pretty well, especially if allowed to grow whiskers!

There is medication that can control it, though by the time we discovered what was wrong with my pony he had already been sold on. The vet would be the one to ask about that.

He kept a long coat during the last two summers I had him, despite him being 3/4 TB x something hairy (written on his vet certificate!!!!) - the hairy bit previously was only evident in winter. I decided to buck the trend and relieve the horse of his thick coat by clipping, even in summer. He would have a full clip through the summer months and a blanket clip during the winter in order to keep him comfortable and working.

In fact he went on to go hunting and cross country for several more years, but unfortunately was found collapsed one morning and was euthanased as quickly as possible. Sadly, that is the usual outcome in the end. One famous horse who definitely had it was Desert Orchid.

The treatment, other than medication would be clipping all year round, restricted grazing, water on demand - with mine a fire hose might have been more helpful, the amount he got through. Bedding on wood shavings or something inedible, hay as normal and low calorific feeds like nuts (no sugar beet, or barley) if in work. In other words, treat as for laminitis.

I am pretty certain they do become diabetic - when I was diagnosed the symptoms that I experienced and what he experienced were pretty similar. Tho, as I say, the eye sight bit would be difficult. He certainly worked up until a week before he died.

There is a product called Evitex which is chasteberry extract that can be tried before going to Pergolide, which is more expensive, and may not be needed yet. Often the vets around here will postpone Pergolide treatment and see how the horse does on Evitex. My gelding was diagnosed many years ago, and never was put on Pergolide. His symptoms never advanced, so I would recommend that you look into it.

It is added to the feed daily for 3 weeks out of every 4, with a week off in between. That and a diet low in soluble carbs, like Purina Equine Senior and grass hay may be all you need. Stabilized rice bran can be added as a fat source if the horse is a hard keeper. If the horse is an easy keeper, supplementing magnesium is recommended sometimes. I also use daily dewormer at my vet's recommendation, with Ivermectin paste at least twice a year.

I would provide as stress-free a lifestyle as possible, since these horses don't handle stress normally. 24/7 turnout with access to good shelter is best, and grass hay available 24/7. If you have lush pastures, you may need to use a grazing muzzle to restrict intake of the high fructan grasses, especially in spring.

Geneva's feeling cheeky tonight. Yes, it's very likely your pony has Cushing's. Have your vet come very first thing in the morning.. and fast your pony overnight. As soon as he comes, have him pull an ACTH blood test. It's the only way to know for certain. And just FYI: you can possibly manage Cushing's with diet, but depending upon it's cause, the only way to 'treat' it (unless it's from a pituitary tumor) is with Pergolyde or Cyproheptadine.

I had a Cushings's horse. I just managed him very carefully - watched his weight - clipped when necessary - lots of turnout - kept him on his medication and took him to the very twice per year. Mine was also old and had tooth problems so keeping weight on him was hard and he was on senior food. I know that there are also supplements that can help Cushings's horses now. They did not exist when I had him, so I have no first hand experience with them.

Stall fresh/Sweet PDZ. A common symptom is they will drink a lot, and it goes right through them. If you don't keep on top of the urine, you'll end up with an awful mess.

Honestly, that was the only real problem, besides the hair which is easily clipped that I had with an old gelding that I had once. I don't know that him having cushings contributed to his foundering, or if it was all on his having gotten into a friend's tub of daily wormer. He hadn't eaten that much, but it was enough for him to founder in both back hooves. He was in his twenties, too.

We have a Cushings pony. It's been about 7 years now. He is on a daily dose of Pergolide to manage it, as well as a special diet. He eats only timothy hay (I don't know what kind of hay you have in the UK, but something pretty plain, low protien). He ate a feed called Mare & Maintenance, basically like a safe-choice type feed. High in lysine (to break down proteins) and vitamin E. He is also on a Vit E and selenium supplement.

i had a welsh b. with cushings. controlling her diet and minim grass kept her going, but in the end she got an infection up her leg and had to be put down. i was 13 at the time and was said cause she had cushions it moved quicker up her leg than a normal cut on any other horse. never looked in to it at the end of the day i lost her, that was it. had her since i was 3

there is no complete cure but there are lots of medacations to help the pony feel more at home you can still ride the pony if it has cushings

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