Advice re cushings pony

[MyBoyChe]

Pony was tested as extremely borderline so for now I am treating him as a lami risk and managing acccordingly. He is a 15 yr old Sec b and his only symptom was not moulting all of his winter coat, since I clipped him he looks so much better and is obviously happier. As he does very little work he is managed as a lami prone pony although I have his weight well under control and he is a happy and settled little chap. MY question is, going forward into winter, can he be allowed a little more grass once it stops growing and loses its nutitional value. I would prefer to leave him out as much as possible and as we are on clay, if he stays in his current small field it will soon turn into a mudbath, I would like to give him a bigger area from Nov-Mch ideally. It will have been grazed by my other pony and wont have much grass but the hedgerow and ditch side has a lot of longer, rough grass in it which will be left by Mr Fuss Pot, will that do the little one any harm?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

If he will take Prascend, I would give it to him, if he tested borderline, he will very likely deteriorate so that the next test he will have tipped over the line. Prascend made so much difference to my horse, you will be able to relax your vigilance somewhat, I expect.

 

[Esmae]

I would certainly give him Prascend. My boy was on it for 5 years. It makes such a difference to them. Best way to give it if he won't take it in food is to put it in the side of his mouth by his bottom lip where it meets the gum. Right at the bottom. They can't get rid of it from there I found after exhausting all other methods.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Echo the advice to trial the pony on prascend. We are coming towards the autumnal (sorry!) seasonal rise in ACTH levels, in which PPID horses get a much more elevated rise in ACTH levels compared to non PPID horses. This makes them much more susceptible to laminitis and other unpleasant symptoms if the rise is unchecked by medication.



The rise happens August to October, so getting him stabilised on prascend now would help him. My vets are very pro active on this, other vets less so.

The reference (limit of healthy) range when my two were tested a couple of weeks ago was about 31, but it’s over 50 during the peak.

If you get his Cushing’s under control, he should be able to cope with grass fairly normally.

More info:-

http://www.thelaminitissite.org/ppid.html

Good luck

 

[Pedantic]

Yes my pony is doing good on the pracsend, at the moment because he has plenty of grass in the field, he has stopped wanting a titbit, normally I drill a hole in a peice of carrot, push tablet down into hole, peen over hole using screwdriver so tablet doesnt fall out, and he eats it, at the moment its a finger of peanut butter with tablet in it, then poke into side of mouth, hold his head up and rub his thoat, taa daa ?. This is our first season, so having to learn to adjust, had to give him a trace clip as he was sweating when working, he has taken longer to shed his winter coat and had extra grooming, he does have his summer now.

 

[Laurac13]

Yes my pony is doing good on the pracsend, at the moment because he has plenty of grass in the field, he has stopped wanting a titbit, normally I drill a hole in a peice of carrot, push tablet down into hole, peen over hole using screwdriver so tablet doesnt fall out, and he eats it, at the moment its a finger of peanut butter with tablet in it, then poke into side of mouth, hold his head up and rub his thoat, taa daa ?. This is our first season, so having to learn to adjust, had to give him a trace clip as he was sweating when working, he has taken longer to shed his winter coat and had extra grooming, he does have his summer now.

I agree prascend is the way forward my Shetland’s been on it for years now and is healthy, like pedantic I feed my pony’s half a tablet in a piece of carrot with a hole cut out of it, I also have to clip him every spring When the weather warms up as he grows a yak coat which he doesn’t shed at all he then needs a 100g rug on cooler days Until he grows a bit of coat back he’s now mid/late 20’s and a happy boy
Good luck x