Cushings Experience? And sympathy!!!

Kellys Heroes

Kellys Heroes

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After countless bouts of lami, the vets have decided to take blood tests from Kelly for Cushings and other things.
She's just started with lami again as of last week :(
No other symptoms just this lami appearing mysteriously! The farrier said she did look quite woolly but she generally is over winter.
Just in case (and this could be over-worrying 2nd mum syndrome rearing its head again) anybody got any experience with Cushings sufferers?
I'm worried now, it always seems Cushings has a bad prognosis.
She's still eating and drinking well, and although she thinks we're trying to poison her in her hard feed, she's well in herself.
Any sympathy welcome too!
K x
 
cushings isn't curable but other than that it shouldn't really affect her life to badly. its all about management, feeding accordingly avoid any cereals feeding only fibre if possible (ie hay with something like hi fi lite and fast fibre, though i feed my cushings horse AP veteran vitality) the vet will probably prescribe pergliode with will help suppress alot of her symptoms. your best to talk to both the vet and the farrier seperately to get honest opinions about her management. also you will need to consider restrition her grazing as cushings horses are prone to lami.

hope that helps and chin up its not all bad they can lead a normal life and still be ridden with the correct management.
 
My previous pony, (the little brown one in my siggy) was diagnosed with cushings about 4/5 years ago. He had been a bit laminitic for a while. We clipped him out every summer and kept a close eye on his feed in the time that he was with us. He is now with another family who have a 6 year old boy who rides him (hes a small 12.2hh), the last I heard he had bronked down the long-side, sending the boy flying ;) They are hoping to do triathlons with him in the future. So there is life in the beastie yet!

Don't worry, with careful management it should be controllable :D x
 
Thanks guys
She's 17 next year and till now hasn't really shown it! Apart from this lami, nothing else has changed with her at all.
She's shod with heart bars (came down badly with lami in March, have only just got her back into work!), she was already lami prone so only grazed for 1 hour per day with a muzzle (winter turnout for her now will maybe be once or twice a week for an hour or two), she was exercised every day and fed Happy Hoof with soaked hay. Just at wits end as to what else we can do!! Seems like we are doing everything possible.

Cushings always seems so negative - vet was shocked at how fast she's deteriorated (she dragged him down the lane last time he saw her!) and the farrier just said it looked like Cushings to him. So good to know horses can live normal lives with it...
I'm away at uni at the moment, I miss her loads and hate to think that she's in pain :(
K x
 
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well to let you see this is joe last winter
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having a very bad spell in august
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and at the end of september winning best veteran and reserve supreme in hand champion!
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I have an old pony - 30 plus - and this year she was diagnosed with Cushings. She came to me with awful feet anyway (I've had her three years), rotated pedal bones, but of course these have been more of a problem since the new diagnosis.

I will say though that what bothered me most was her depression - so unlike her. To the point where I was seriously considering whether she was telling me that she wanted to shuffle off.

Tried her with Vitex first after a friend reported good results, but it had no effect. Good news is though that the pergolide has worked a treat. It did put her off hard feed to begin with, so I drenched her with it to get her back on her feet and the change in her demeanour is remarkable. Of course, she is old and so I don't expect her to be around for years but what's more important to me is that she has her spark back, for however long she has with us now.

She enjoys her turnout with my other horses, she loves her hay net, being groomed and generally fussed over. Noone rides her due to her size (don't have kids) but she's walked out in hand and tanks up and down the field, rolling completely over from one side to the next and nickers to all and sundry when they approach. She's clearly in good spirits, so there's lots that can be done to manage the condition.
 
thanks guys! Actually just brought a tear to my eye seeing those.
I think I might be getting ahead of myself but I worry so much about her.
And like you said showqa, seeing her depressed is the worst thing she has the biggest character on the yard and I can't cope with seeing her so fed up.
K x
 
just a touch lol, no i all seriousness nothing will set your mind at rest until you get the results. don't forget to let us know what they say x
 
Yes don't panic yet! We've had a few with lami that have come back negative for cushings. My old pony had cushings and she was still hunting and fun rides to the bitter end when laminitis became too much for her.

Someone mentioned about Pergolide, i'm afraid they will not prescribe that anymore as an equine drug company has come up with their own version called Prascend, which by law we have to use under the cascade. The down side to this is Prascend is very expensive, almost double the cost of pergolide.
 
I have read something that chaste berries is having great success with this i think i saw it on internet might be worth having a look best wishes for your horse
 
My Dales mare was diagnosed with Cushings at 6 y/o She had no obvious signs at all apart from unexplained laminitis.

We had no luck with any of the medications, tried Pergolide, Periactin and another, can't remember the name. Also tried Agnus Castis/chaste berry (sp) Cush X , well you name it we tried it.

Her laminitis was uncontrollable if she was allowed any grass at all. She just couldn't tolerate it. Faced with a keeping her in solitary on a sand paddock for the rest of her days I decided to PTS at age 8 as her quality of life was poor. She just wanted to be a pony, she was never going to be able to be :(

ETS Her circumstances were extreme. When she was diagnosed she was the youngest pony known about in the country.
 
Yeah I can understand that Persephone. Kelly's always been lami prone but she's always bounced back from it. She's always on restricted grazing etc.
I guess only the test results will give us the answer we want! I just really really hope whatever it is, its manageable and she can live a good life.
K x
 
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