20 year old horse and Cushings

[Madam_max]

Just a quck question. This year my old girl has the thickest summer coat I have ever known her to have. Is this generally a sign of Cushings? Iam going to have to clip her for the lightest of work.

 

[itsonlyme]

My vet told me that she believes that if a horse lives long enough, it WILL develop cushings at some point. My gelding was diagnosed at 14, one of my mares at 20. She didn't shed properly, which made me look at a couple of other things (increased water intake, pot belly, etc), so i had her tested & she's positive. It's always best to catch it before any laminitis (usually the first thing that makes people think to test, especially if the horse has never had lami before).
You could get her tested now & start her on pracend (if she's positive!) or just very carefully manage her diet until you're more convinced it's worth testing.
Good luck. It's a pain in the bum!

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Thick coats that don't shed easily or properly are a symptom of Cushings. Another symptom is an inability to maintain the body temperature correctly so Cushings horses often sweat a zillion times more than other horses and the sweat is often stinky horrible like the most disgusting sweaty socks. The statistics aren't in your girl's favour - 50% of horses aged 20 and over have Cushings and 80% of horses over 25 do. If you go to talkaboutcushings.com you can get a voucher for free (or cheap) blood test for Cushings. If confirmed, your girl needs to start on Prascend immediately or her symptoms will start to increase. Be aware that Cushings horses are very very prone to laminitis so take great care with her diet and the new spring grass (when it finally appears).

 

[Sophstar]

If she is still holding onto her coat I would definitely get her tested...better to be safe than sorry! My cushings pony has started to properly shed his coat now...a little delayed but thats because i always compare him to my cob who sheds his winter coat earlier than any1 else on the yard! Keep an eye on the spring grass as a precaution as well. It's rained hard here for the past couple of days with spells of glorious sunshine and both mine are in muzzles through most of the day to beat them to the new shoots of grass.

 

[fatpiggy]

My old girl is finally losing a bit more than the odd hair - at last. She has a coat like a mammoth and it always took 4 months at least to get it all out when she started early March. I've added some chaste berry supplement in the last week so perhaps that is helping a bit. The other pony with Cushings has a very normal coat and is shedding much faster. I guess they are all different!

 

[russianhorse]

My lad started shedding his coat then stopped (when it got cold) and is now shedding again. Should I be concerned or have most horses not got their summer coats through yet?

 

[batty100]

None of my horses have got their summer coats fully through - as russianhorse says above, they started and then stopped etc. Another sign of cushings is that the hollow above the eye gets filled - only when my 31 yr old pony started pergolide last winter did the filling disappear.

 

[dukesmum]

I clip my old dales (24) with cushings all yr and regulate his temp for him with rugs and yes it's true their sweat really pongs. He is losing muscle and has a pot
belly now. I manage him does not have any meds. I hated it when I had to clip him but it had to be done and he was much happier my vet advised me to as he could no longer regulate his own temp.

 

[jojo5]

very good info on here, but just to say that the excess sweating and delayed coat shedding symptoms might not mean Cushings for definite. Last Autumn my boy was often very hot, right into winter when I felt very strange leaving him in overnight with just a cooler on. He had also held onto some of his coat until late July, so towards Christmas I had him tested for Cushings, having put one and one together and made twenty two! however, he was clear, and my vet pointed out that the very unusual mild climate at the end of last year had made many horses unusually hot, and that older horses typically hold onto their coats later into the summer. Just a thought ........