bulges above eyes?

[ChubbyPony]

could soft bulges above the eyes be anything other than cushings or a metabolic disease?
my pony is almost 16, and has got them above his eyes. theyre not huge but noticeable when he lowers his head/chews.
he lives out 24/7 and is a very good doer....he is overweight at the moment so could it just be because hes fat?
another pony at the yard seems to have them too but slightly larger, she too is pretty over weight x

please give me some advice, im worried! is cushings life threatening? how is it managed? etc xxx

 

[bubbilygum]

My horse had these when he was hugely obese - tested for Cushings and EMS and had neither.

Get his weight down, if they are still there/he shows other signs of cushings/ems I would get tests done.

NB. My horse had severe laminitis as a result of being so obese, was on box rest for five months and fed a pitiful amount (2 x 3kg haynets a day and a small amount of fast fibre). He dropped the weight and I'm SO cautious of keeping it off now.

 

[YasandCrystal]

I am interested to hear about this as I was questionning the same when I saw Valegro (I think it was him) on the cover of H&H with massive bulges over his eyes.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Personally I'd be inclined to ask the vet to take a look and take some bloods initially, THEN you'll at least know what's going on.

 

[TwoStroke]

As far as I'm aware, puffy orbits are a sign that the horse is in a state of insulin resistance. This is obviously common when a horse has a metabolic disorder, but I believe it is not necessarily a fixed state and *can* simply be that the horse is ODing on sugar/starch & can't process it all.

I would soak hay, restrict grazing, cut all sugary/starchy hard feed and get the weight off and see if that helps. However, given the horse's age, a Cushings test would imo be a sensible precaution. Of it comes back positive then the sooner the horse gets on prascend the better.

Good luck.

 

[Persepolis]

My horse had puffy orbits just before he tested positive for Cushings. He was also showing the early stages of laminitis due to the Cushings at the same time. He didn't test positive for ems but I did put him straight on a lamanitic diet. I would definately speak to your vet.

 

[scewal]

My mare had them when she came down with laminitis.

 

[putasocinit]

My cobs went down when he lost weight, if you look at a very thin horse those holes will be sunken.

 

[happy_talk]

Aren't they fatty deposit, so presumably would reflected body condition of whole horse?