Cushings horse unpredicatable to ride. Any suggestions?

[ali123]

My horse was diagnosed with Cushings just over 6 months ago and has been on one Prascend tablet a day since. He is an 18 year old TB x ISH. He has always been pretty easy to ride and only occasionally had problems with bucking if he was fed sugar beet or kept in. Otherwise he was always lazy and sensible to ride in school and good to hack in company. For the last year I have been trying and trying but he is just so unpredictable to ride. He can be a beginners horse one minute then he has run off bucking the next. He will go from halt to gallop and then bronk then halt. He will throw bucks when asking for canter (and they are big fly bucks not just small ones) and he is being a nightmare to hack throwing huge bucks from walk as soon as you go anywhere that is not on the road (he has even done it on the road occasionally). Other days he is good as gold.

I was wondering if anyone else has had similar behavioural problems with a Cushings horse and if there was anything that helps. He is better now he is on the Prascend but he is still not really safe and definitely is not fun when he acts like this. I really would rather not retire him as he is in great condition apart from the cushings.

Also he is not fed anything but grass and hay at the moment (he won't eat it!).

Thanks.

 

[ester]

How long have you had him?
My two thoughts if not long and he was poss slightly cushingoid all that time is he is feeling rather better.
More likely though I think the cushings is probably a red herring and he has something else going on, either brainwise or pain wise.

 

[ali123]

How long have you had him?
My two thoughts if not long and he was poss slightly cushingoid all that time is he is feeling rather better.
More likely though I think the cushings is probably a red herring and he has something else going on, either brainwise or pain wise.

Hi thanks for the reply. I've had him 12 years and he's probably had cushings I'd take a guess at 18 months/ 2 years. When it started he was miserable and kept dragging his feet. He's had all of his feet and his back x rayed and all are perfect according to the vet and he shows no sign of this anymore. I think it is more likely to be brain wise than pain as he can be good as gold one day and then really dangerous the next in exactly the same situation.

 

[_HP_]

Have you checked his levels since he started the prascend? Perhaps he needs more/less

 

[ester]

Ok, just wanted to check you knew him on 'normal'
sadly I would start wondering about the possibility of a tumour if he is struggling and retiring if he becomes dangerous. Though certainly worth checking levels I haven't ever heard of cushings, or the treatment having this sort of effect.

 

[paddy555]

mine was terrible before treatment, so lethargic, slow and unhappy being ridden. After a month on prascend he just went mad. Off his head, I couldn't have ridden him. He trashed the yard, the field, everything. He was just soooooo happy. He was almost like a naughty unhandled 3yo. OK one minute, next minute being wicked. He settled down after around another 2 or 3 months. He was not in pain and didn't have a brain problem he just came back to life and he really enjoyed being naughty.

it is very much like riding a much younger horse. Before treatment it was just too much effort to do anything other than what he was asked. Once he felt better he started to ask why? why should be go past something, slow down, behave or co-operate in the slightest. Of course he also then had the strength to do something about it. He would just explode on the road, head down, back end in the air all over nothing. He thought it was hilarious. I didn't. I ended up having to improve on the bridle to control him.

 

[paddy555]

mine was terrible before treatment, so lethargic, slow and unhappy being ridden. After a month on prascend he just went mad. Off his head, I couldn't have ridden him. He trashed the yard, the field, everything. He was just soooooo happy. He was almost like a naughty unhandled 3yo. OK one minute, next minute being wicked. He settled down after around another 2 or 3 months. He was not in pain and didn't have a brain problem he just came back to life and he really enjoyed being naughty.

it is very much like riding a much younger horse. Before treatment it was just too much effort to do anything other than what he was asked. Once he felt better he started to ask why? why should be go past something, slow down, behave or co-operate in the slightest. Of course he also then had the strength to do something about it. He would just explode on the road, head down, back end in the air all over nothing. He thought it was hilarious. I didn't. I ended up having to improve on the bridle to control him.

 

[ali123]

mine was terrible before treatment, so lethargic, slow and unhappy being ridden. After a month on prascend he just went mad. Off his head, I couldn't have ridden him. He trashed the yard, the field, everything. He was just soooooo happy. He was almost like a naughty unhandled 3yo. OK one minute, next minute being wicked. He settled down after around another 2 or 3 months. He was not in pain and didn't have a brain problem he just came back to life and he really enjoyed being naughty.

it is very much like riding a much younger horse. Before treatment it was just too much effort to do anything other than what he was asked. Once he felt better he started to ask why? why should be go past something, slow down, behave or co-operate in the slightest. Of course he also then had the strength to do something about it. He would just explode on the road, head down, back end in the air all over nothing. He thought it was hilarious. I didn't. I ended up having to improve on the bridle to control him.

Yes this sounds familiar before he was diagnosed he was dead miserable being ridden dragging his feet etc. he's quite clearly feeling extra naughty at the moment!! Problem is I can sit the bucks but they really are huge and they tend to occur in threes haha. The vet is coming next week so I will ask him to check his levels to make sure he's on the right amount of Prascend. Maybe it's a balance and we don't have it quite right yet! In the mean time I will work on trying to get him to behave it really does come out of nowhere though!

 

[paddy555]

Yes this sounds familiar before he was diagnosed he was dead miserable being ridden dragging his feet etc. he's quite clearly feeling extra naughty at the moment!! Problem is I can sit the bucks but they really are huge and they tend to occur in threes haha. The vet is coming next week so I will ask him to check his levels to make sure he's on the right amount of Prascend. Maybe it's a balance and we don't have it quite right yet! In the mean time I will work on trying to get him to behave it really does come out of nowhere though!

I had mine in a hackamore. I just couldn't cope with the improved horse. He went from perfect to literally a leap into the unknown in the space of a second. Just the slightest thing did it. Meeting another horse on the road was the worst. Once I got off as it was too much. He reared, bucked, just went crazy and all this was just holding him on the road. He was very happy. I put him in a bit with 2 reins and immediately his behaviour improved and he showed some respect. He has been a lot better ever since in that. For mine it was almost like a youngster trying it on except he was a lot stronger than a youngster.

 

[Greygirl]

My pony was diagnosed with cushings 6 years ago. At the time of diagnosis she was very spooky, jogged and bucked everywhere and was particularly sensitive to noise. Her prascend has been increased twice and both times the only sign that an increase in dose was required was her spooky behaviour, once her levels are stable she returns to her forward but not spooky self. Maybe get a blood test?

 

[spacefaer]

Friend of mine used to look after a big Connemara who was in his late teens and had slowed down a little. He was diagnosed with Cushings - put on 1 tablet of prascend - turned into a complete fruitloop.

He started pulling away when being lead in from the field, putting in pretty sharp bucks, jogging on hacks, cantering sideways when wound up - all about 15 years too late.

She dropped his dose down the 1/2 tablet a day and he became much more sane - better than without the drug, but not the nutter he was when on it. It's a known side effect that they feel "well" again and turn into unpredictable spring lambs!

 

[Wagtail]

Most cases of cushings are caused by a tumour and sometimes that tumour can effect things other than the pituitary gland. There was an eight year old here who I am sure had cushings. His eye orbits were filled, he got recurrent laminitis and he was nervous and unpredictable to ride. He would bolt in the arena and was totally and utterly dangerous. My farrier told me he knows of several cushings horses that are unpredictable to ride and/or handle.

 

[ali123]

Thank you everyone it had been a great help. It sounds like maybe he is feeling too well on the Prascend (he does seem to be acting like a 3 year old) he is picking everything up and chewing it like a youngster too (dentist say teeth are fine)! I shall speak to the vet on Thursday and see about another blood test and report back what he says. Hopefully I can get my normal horse back!

 

[splashgirl45]

i have owned my mare for 15 years and she was always a nutter, frightened the life out of me some days but i learnt to cope. about 6 years ago she became much easier to ride and i heaved a sigh of relief but gradually she got lethargic and a bit grumpy to handle so i got her tested in 2011 and her levels were 172 , so quite high. once her dose was right she went back to her normal nutty self, she can still scare me but not quite so much as before, i always know when her levels have gone up and get her tested twice a year to make sure.. maybe your horse had cushings a long time ago and it gradually got worse, same as mine, and now he is behaving normally for him...perhaps a bit unlucky for you!!!!!!!

 

[Micky]

Take a look at thelaminitissite site for all info you're asking on here...cushings is the pituitary gland not functioning properly..hence the name PPID ...my own horse was diagnosed 3/4 years ago but I reckon he'd had it for at least 3 years previous to that...after a few months of prascend, he became quite a live wire in all aspects, I carried on riding him as he wasn't totally dangerous and he did/has settled down again now but still will get quite revved up in company. I had him diagnosed to due to lethargy, low grade lami and general disinterest...when I think back to when I first bought him, he was actually quite lively so basically he has returned to his 'normal real' self! Good luck

 

[ali123]

Thanks but Barney has never been lively! Since a 5 year old he has been lazy and always does the minimal amount of work but was always really friendly. We kept him in a riding school (from the age of 14-17) so when he started getting miserable and grumpy we thought it was just the riding school work so we took him out and gave him a few months off. When we started riding him again he was still miserable and wasn't sound so we got everything checked and then eventually took him to the vets to x ray his back and feet. That's when the vet decided to test for cushings as his coat was very long. I honestly think the prascend is making him feel very well rather than him going back to what he was before. Without treatment though he isn't sound and can't be ridden so I'm hoping adjusting the dosage to somewhere in between will help.