Dodson & Horrell Cushcare Condition - feed for Cushings horses

Northern Hare

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Hi, I was just looking at D&H Cushcare Condition and wondered if anyone on here had used it for their Cushings horses?

It was only released by D&H in Nov '14, so is still quite new. The spec looks good but just thought I'd check on here before I try a bag.
 
I have been using it for about a month on my cushingoid pony and have been very impressed with it. She has gained a bit of weight, which is what I wanted, and more importantly she seems to love it so is taking her prascend tablets in her feed without a problem whereas before she was very picky with her feed and often left it and the prascend. I spoke to the nutritionalist at D & H and they were very helpful and recommended I feed half the recommended amount as I don't want to pile the pounds on her. It was my intention to only feed it until I had got the weight back on but I think I will continue to give her a token amount just to hide the tablets.
 
I've just completed swapping onto Cushcare. My old boys are loving it, and I am too because even H (fussy monkey that he is) clears his bucket - he even licks it clean! It's too early to tell yet whether it will do what it says on the bag but the early signs are looking good.

I do like the fact that it has a more crumbly consistency than normal nuts as that makes it easy to turn into a warming mash when the weather is cold.

I'm also feeding a bit of fast fibre and molassess free hi-fi with each feed, a) because they were on that already and b) to make sure they get enough fibre with it as I'm not too sure who is eating all the hay!
 
Following this one, my big horse is thriving on one prescend and DH Veteran/Vitality at the moment. Is the Cushcare a soaked feed ?
 
I'm having to feed mine Top Spec Cool Condition cubes & Alfabeet at the moment to get her weight up. I did wonder about changing to CushCare. My only concern was that it contains agnus castus and read somewhere that you shouldn't give agnus castus if you are feeding Prascend (can't remember why!).
 
Hi all, thanks very much for all your replies - they are all very helpful!

Southern Comfort, thanks for pointing out about the agnus castus - I will check with my vet as my horse is also on Prascend.
 
Thats interesting about not feeding agnus castus and prascend together, will have to check with my vet. Although the nutritionalist I spoke to did know my pony was on a high dose of prascend. I would imagine as it is only a lowish amount of agnus castus in the feed then it is okay but will definitely check. Adorable Alice, you can apparently feed dry or soaked, but I soak for just a few minutes and like 3 OldPonies H my girl lick her bowl clean.
 
Mine loves it too and he can be fussy. He is 36 and doesn't have cushings but I feed it as it is a low starch conditioning feed. It is quite pricey though, and comes in a 15kg bag.
 
I have just finished changing my pony onto this. He loves it and licks the bucket clean - which he hasn't done in a very long time - and has finally started to put a bit of weight on. Interested to hear about the Agnus Castus/Prascend issue though, as he also has prascend.
 
It's interesting that, despite the name, it doesn't mention Cushings anywhere in the description. It's pretty obvious that it is targetting Cushings but they've been careful not to actually mention it.
It looks like it's basically an expensive way of feeding sugar beet :)
 
I thought you might find my experience with Cush Care Condition of use regarding Prascend and Agnus Castus - I spoke to both the D&H Nutritionist and D&H company vet before my horse trialled it – my vet was also consulted by the D&H vet and he was perfectly happy with the feed containing Agnus Castus being given to a horse on 2 x Prascend a day. My horse showed lots of improvement in his weight, muscle tone and coat condition during the trial and I still feed it as he eats it up and enjoys it.
 
Good to know - thank you Fable. My pony still loves it and there is already some improvement in his general condition, despite the cold weather. Possibly partly due to the fact that he is actually eating something at last! Hoping to see some real improvement once the weather gets better.
 
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