Cresty necks - explain?!

[Nudibranch]

It's been a while since I've dealt with natives and back then the laminitis/PPID/EMS knowledge was far less advanced. Anyway the Fell has suspicious fat deposits so I keep a careful eye on her. With this mild winter the Dales is also less slim than I'd like - probably a 3.5 but the most concerning thing is her very hard crest. She's only 3 so I'm paranoid there's a metabolic issue developing for the future. Anyway I took them both off the grass on Friday as we had a hard frost then glorious sunshine and the Fell seemed very slightly footy. Since then both their crests have become wobbly. What are the actual mechanics of this?! It's a very quick change and obviously from the change to hay but how does the neck alter so much, so fast???

When they do go back out it'll be muzzles by day, and I'm making the track a lot thinner (never had to do this in February before!). I also feed mag ox and salt through spring-autumn. It's old pasture, unfertilised, with loads of plant species and cross grazed with sheep. Not sure what else can be done other than PPID test the Fell when the vet is next out.

 

[DabDab]

Not sure it answers your question at all (which I don't know btw, but will follow thread with interest), but I saw this research recently and thought it was interesting: https://ker.com/equinews/new-thoughts-cresty-necks-horses/

 

[Palindrome]

Not sure if true but I have read somewhere that when fat is hard it means they are putting on weight and when fat is wobbly it means they are loosing weight.

 

[Brownmare]

The Blue Cross have a really good guide here https://www.bluecross.org.uk/fat-horse-slim and I agree with Palindrome, when the pony's crest goes soft he is on the right track, when it goes hard he is off the grass completely until back to normal

 

[ester]

I'd feed the magox year round tbh. The only time Frank went really cresty was when I took him off it for a spell for other reasons, wish I hadn't!

 

[Nudibranch]

I've seen the blue cross info before, and it is very good. But it doesn't explain WHY the fat goes hard/soft so quickly - as in within 24 hours.

 

[Casey76]

It’s a hormonal response and part of the insulin regulation cascade

 

[SEL]

I had the Appy's insulin levels taken last year when her crest was rock solid. Actually very low, but the rest of the bloodwork showed high muscle and liver enzymes so I've wondered whether it got solid in response to toxins in her system.

It does flare up literally overnight which I assume is grass.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

It’s a hormonal response and part of the insulin regulation cascade

This.

And can even soften within 12 hours of being in.

 

[kinnygirl1]

Mine has EMS and his crestiness can change from hard to soft or vice versa literally in hours .... It's insulin related I believe ?

 

[SEL]

Can't sort out a link but found this from around 2010 written by a researcher....

cresty neck of the IR/EMS horse is not edema nor is it just fat.

When we did biopsies on the neck crests the tissue was highly vascularised and had very high levels of collagen, plus an unusual honeycomb structure that you don't see in normal adipose tissue. There was no edema (edema being defined as plasma accumulation in extra cellular tissue)

On palpation the texture is also different from normal fat. The tissue is much harder and firmer. Often you cannot bend it or move it yourself, some of these horses cannot turn their heads and look back the tissue is so ridgid.

We still don't know why this occurs, you can't produce it artificially. E.G. we can't get such a neck in a normal horse by giving insulin or allowing the horse to gain weight even a LOT of weight.

But in some horses, weight gain along with high sugar starch causes the neck to appear.
Giving extra magnesium reduces it, giving extra chromium reduces it, even if you don't change the diet.
Changing the diet away from sugar/starch also reduces it.
Combining the two minerals with a low starch diet reduces it better and faster.

BUT it is still not fully understood. Theories abound.

However it is a useful visual check for horse owners. If you see a crest forming then increase magnesium/chromium and reduce sugar/starch, if it gets hard to the touch then get the horse off the grass fast and drench with Epsom salts and get them onto a low glycemic diet.

It's my experience that you get a hardening of the crest about 48 hrs before then get full blown laminitis.

So if you have cresty horses, do a palpation check of the crest each am and pm, as in touch it and see if you can bend it or move it, if you can't, check for digital pulse.
If you have both call the vet.
If you just have the hard crest, no grass, soaked hay only for 24 hrs and dose with mag/chromium.
Then when the crest softens again you can return the horse to the pasture/hay diet if you increase the Mg/Cr intake and keep a very watchful eye on them.

 

[Hack4fun]

I know this is not the answer to your question but have you looked to their diet and rugging? If they have rugs then they could manage naked, assuming unclipped. A forage diet does not need topping up with hard feed, unless you choose to give a balancer. My natives, admittedly a shire and a clydesdale, have survived the winter happily in this way and not seen a rug. My mature sports horse did have a rig on the coldest days and happily has thinned down a little. All of them are not showing signs of starting to moult.

(I am aware that cresty necks can be linked to metabolic disorders and so one should not make the facile inference that this is a weight issue - my answer may not help greatly, but it was well-intended)

 

[Nudibranch]

Hack4fun...um... I don't rug them or feed hay at all (and only a handful of feed to mix their magnesium into). Why would I rug and feed if I wanted weight loss? I've been keeping horses 30 odd years so am fairly used to managing them out 24/7. Normally in February the grass is not green and and actively growing, nor are their condition scores above what I would like coming into spring.

SEL that's an interesting piece of information...and also interesting to see that nobody yet knows the whole story!

 

[pippixox]

Clearly an area that needs more research.
I have a mare who has a slightly cresty neck even in the middle of winter (only lightly rugged and a handful of feed as trying brewers yeast for her sweet itch) but I believe there are numerous factors at play- she is an Appaloosa so apparently they are prone to poor circulation and metabolic systems. I have tried numerous supplements aimed to help which have done nothing at all. She is on a track March-October. Although I think it is sometimes more firm when there has been a flush in the grass, that is not always the case. I cannot pin down an exact pattern. She will also have a mild pulse on a day when sugar should be quite low in the grass and none when it’s high! She breaks rhyme and reason!

So I basically ignore it and continue with fatty management! When she was in work she also still had crest. (Currently in little work due to my new baby and toddler!)

 

[whiteflower]

I've got one with a crest, even when she is as slim as I will have her, condition score 2.5/5 it doesn't go. It's there winter and summer and gets bigger/smaller with no apparent reasoning. I think there is a lot more too it although I expect as she gets older she may end up with metabolic issues, we will see. Magnesium didn't make any difference for her . The only thing I think makes it go down a bit is when she's in a decent level of work, so regular exercise

 

[SEL]

SEL that's an interesting piece of information...and also interesting to see that nobody yet knows the whole story!

That's what I thought! Given the Appy has shown low levels of circulating insulin when her crest is solid I always thought people saying it was a sign of insulin resistance was a bit simplistic.

Militaire has a HUGE crest. He was gelded late and even after the first winter I had him where he got really ribby (I completely mis-judged how much he would need to eat) that crest didn't go down. He was just a bit more wobbly - bit of an Ar4dennes 'thing' apparently. They hang onto their camel humps. But then apparently they got Napolean out of Russia when the soldiers were dropping of starvation in minus 40 so its there for good reason!!