Cushings Disease- Is this true / (did i do the wrong thing)?

charleysummer

charleysummer

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I went to the yard earlier , all horses had been out in the cold temperature and snowstorm over night- needless to say the poor things were frozen.

My pony was shivering but had a sheet on so just brought her in for a bit of hay etc, put her back out in a medium combo when she was warmed up and dried off (rain had gone through rug a bit and its quite a good one =/ )

I brought my friend's pony in who was out rugless and was shivering so bad he actually lost his balance and stumbled over in his stable- unfortunatly she couldnt make it and was horrified to hear how cold he'd got so left him in with rugs.

So as you can see- very cold! There was another pony out without a rug, a 12hh pony in late twenties who has (undiagnosed) cushings disease and apparrent lami. He was too frozen and shivering- and due to his age, was suffering greatly with his joints in the cold so i brought him in and gave him hay- However when i told the owner she was very grateful but told me to put him out again for his own good as he needs to get cold to redistribute the fat in his body with cushings and therefore prevent laminitis- however im not so sure.
 
thats what i thought :/ i cant see how freezing a pony half to death is going to do it any good- tbh i'd have him put down, perlino so covered in melanomas inside his mouth/anus, cushings, lami, arthritic joints...
 
How wicked to put an elderly horse out with no rug in that weather! poor little soul. If anything, the stress of being turned out in those conditions could actually increase the chances of laminitis. What a stupid, cruel owner.
 
My Cushings pony only EVER got lami when out in the snow. (Not on grass - yarded for a bit of exercise)

I think the cold stops the blood from flowing so effectively and actually brings the lami on. He didn't get it this year as he has been wearing hoof boots and magnetic wraps.
 
Poor pony... And b!00*y ignorant owner.
You did the right thing, tell her to go and stand out in the cold without her coat and see how she likes it.
Stupid stupid stupid - sorry about the rant.
 
He is out again but luckily it isn't forecast to rain now so think he will be fine with his thicker coat- was just that he was soaked through to the skin and with icy snow in 24mph wind- chill factor was just nasty. Just got to hope the weather doesn't turn bad again! the other horse is now happily out in a 300g chillcheeta stable rug + rainsheet and is just warm enough (hes a cold horse).

I just hate to see him cold as he suffers so badly with his joints he can hardly walk in the cold weather...
 
How awful, poor, poor pony :( You definitely did the right thing, if anything the cold weather & frozen grass will increase the chances of a lami attack, not reduce it!?! Poor boy.
 
Well thats what I would have thought and im not quite sure how freezing them will help the cushings fat issue. Cant tell other people what to do with their horses though! Sure they mean well... but ignorance is bliss when you leave them out in the cold and don't go to stand looking at how frozen they are out in the field :rolleyes:

I really dont like over rugging and am a minimalist rugger (says the one with pony out in a hw combo because she ripped her mw combo :p and is now probably going to be a little too warm tomorrow daytime!!) but as far as I am concerned no horse should have to shiver, I have raynaud's and sympathise greatly with coldness lol
 
Charleysummer you did absolutely the right thing with the Cushings pony though not sure how you know it's got Cushings if undiagnosed? If pony has got Cushings he needs Pergolide or Prascend otherwise one of the little known symptoms could prove fatal. And to say he needs to be out in the freezing bloody cold to HELP his Cushings is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. My veteran (now 28) has Cushings and is on 2mg Pergolide daily. One of the little known symptoms is the Cushings horse's inability to control his body temperature. They can get very hot and very sweaty and their sweat smells disgusting, like the most revolting, stinkiest, cheesiest pair of socks you've ever smelt. Inability to control body temperature works both ways though and that poor pony could get so cold that his core body temperature will drop so low that he'll be unable to recover. His owner needs to get him a vet asap, and if not the vet, at least tell her to read a good book on Cushings or get on line at talkaboutcushings.com. Stupid, stupid woman.
 
Redistribute his fat??? Ponies in their latter years don't move about quite so much so will get chilled more easily. My old girl has always felt the cold if it is blowing or damp (shivers badlly) and has been noticeably worse since she went onto antiinflammatories for her arthritis so she is often wearing a rug when no-one else is. I know her better than anyone so I make my own judgements, not listen to what is "normal". But equally I don't rug her up only because its January or whatever. I always make sure I watch the local weather forecast carefully and act accordingly. Today the others are rugged, but she isn't because the wind is 20mph less than yesterday, the sun is out and no rain is forecast.
 
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