Feeding a Cushing's horse for a bit more energy

[HelenBack]

My horse was diagnosed with Cushing's towards the end of last year. Prior to this he had the most non-Cushing's friendly diet going including conditioning mix and yard haylage which is pretty much all ryegrass so it's been a big change for me. He's not a fatty (unless he's out of work) and he's not greedy and generally keeps himself in pretty decent condition. In the past he has had a tendency to come up a bit lean in the winter or when working hard, hence the conditioning mix. His life has changed quite a bit now though so I don't know if this will be an issue any more.

His current regime is out overnight muzzled and in during the day. During the day he gets as much Horsehage Timothy as he wants to eat, and a bucket feed of speedibeet, micronised linseed (about 100-150g a day), Forageplus balancer, salt and a joint supplement. He was out without his muzzle until probably about the middle of July and then with the weird weather I got a bit worried about the sugars in the grass and put it on. I did also start adding a bit of extra magnesium at this point as well actually.

Since the muzzle going on and the extra magnesium he's dropped a couple of pounds and can sometimes be a bit lacking in energy and enthusiasm. He's not too thin but I wouldn't like to see him lose much more and I'm probably going to have to think about this for the winter anyway. I think I'm going to drop out the magnesium to see if that makes any difference as there's about 15g of it in his balancer anyway. I'm just wondering if there's something more or different I could be giving him to try and give him a bit more energy though? I'm far too terrified to take his muzzle off with the grass the way it is but he does seem to be genuinely hungry when he comes in.

I should add that he is medicated for the Cushing's and last time he was tested (fairly recently) his ACTH levels were well within the normal range.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

You could try some oats or some one I know uses Allen and page power and performance for a bit more energy, another thing to try is if mine are feeling a bit flat I put them on global herbs restore for a few weeks and I think it really helps.

 

[splashgirl45]

i treated my horse as normal when she was on medication and she never had laminitis even though in the summer she was out 24/7.i never used a muzzle. surely you should only use a muzzle with a horse that is overweight and needs to lose it not one who is a bit underweight...why not take regular photos of him and also tape measure him to check if he gains too much weight without a muzzle and just keep an eye on him..

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

i treated my horse as normal when she was on medication and she never had laminitis even though in the summer she was out 24/7.i never used a muzzle. surely you should only use a muzzle with a horse that is overweight and needs to lose it not one who is a bit underweight...why not take regular photos of him and also tape measure him to check if he gains too much weight without a muzzle and just keep an eye on him..

This ^^^^^^ Now that he is on medication, he is no greater danger of laminitis than any other healthy horse.

 

[dixie]

How about Coolstance Copra or maybe Equi Jewel for condition and energy.

 

[Micky]

Is he generally lethargic?

 

[HelenBack]

i treated my horse as normal when she was on medication and she never had laminitis even though in the summer she was out 24/7.i never used a muzzle. surely you should only use a muzzle with a horse that is overweight and needs to lose it not one who is a bit underweight...why not take regular photos of him and also tape measure him to check if he gains too much weight without a muzzle and just keep an eye on him..

This ^^^^^^ Now that he is on medication, he is no greater danger of laminitis than any other healthy horse.

Thanks for the advice. The trouble is that I have had different experts telling me both what you say about him being at no greater risk than any other horse now he's medicated, and then others saying he should definitely wear a muzzle. I'm terrified of laminitis anyway which doesn't help and then you have all the people in the barefoot groups declaring that every little thing everybody posts about is lami and grass is the source of all evil!

I actually don't think I could take the muzzle of him just now because we do have quite a lot of it in the field ( and no potion to strip graze) and he's become so obsessed with the stuff that I think he'd just gorge. I do have one that he can get more grass through though so I might well starting using that and giving him some in hand grazing to try and start to get him over the obsession and me to relax a bit.

I will also look at the feed recommendations. Thanks.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I would research your 'experts' carefully.

 

[twiggy2]

The medication sounds to have his condition well under control?
You say he has lacked energy, dropped weight and seems genuinely hungry since the muzzle has gone on?
For me the muzzle seems the obvious link, you can't replace his daily intake of forage adequately with a bucket feed and if his weight is on the lean side, he is lacking energy and is hungry he is not getting enough forage, you will be risking ulcers and whilst in themselves they are not as big a worry as laminitis, laminitis can be caused by stress such as ulcers.
Don't be scared enough to starve him, it's really not fair on him.
Try changing the muzzle and see if he puts on some weight and livens up a little, if not something else will have to change to allow him to eat more forage when turned out.

 

[HelenBack]

I would research your 'experts' carefully.

Well everybody is an expert nowadays aren't they? To be fair I am talking about vets and farriers/trimmers, although I will acknowledge I read too much online and scare myself.

The medication sounds to have his condition well under control?
You say he has lacked energy, dropped weight and seems genuinely hungry since the muzzle has gone on?
For me the muzzle seems the obvious link, you can't replace his daily intake of forage adequately with a bucket feed and if his weight is on the lean side, he is lacking energy and is hungry he is not getting enough forage, you will be risking ulcers and whilst in themselves they are not as big a worry as laminitis, laminitis can be caused by stress such as ulcers.
Don't be scared enough to starve him, it's really not fair on him.
Try changing the muzzle and see if he puts on some weight and livens up a little, if not something else will have to change to allow him to eat more forage when turned out.

To be clear I'm definitely not starving him - he has adlib horsehage while in and eats plenty of it so his tummy is probably full but it's probably too low calorie to give him the energy he needs. I think you're right though that we'll see how he gets on with the other muzzle but also try and find him something suitable that's higher calorie for when he's in the stable.

 

[splashgirl45]

what is the point of feeding him higher calorie feeds when you are not letting him have grass. if the grass is long there is less sugar in it anyway. rather than listen to experts on your yard why not speak to your vet to see what he/she thinks of his weight...once cushings is under control he should be fine being treated normally,mine never got to the correct level and was always a bit high but i made the decision ,after discussion with my vet, to treat her as normally as possible and let her graze 24/7 in summer and if she wasnt ok on that regime i would PTS as she would be unhappy stabled. as far as i know horsehage is quite rich and soaked hay is better...can you have him out 24/7 at your yard as they then pace themselves on the grass rather than pigging it...

 

[superpony]

If it helps my old horse has EMS and cushings. He has had ems for the last ten years (which he has medication for) but he doesn’t have any medication for his cushings. He sounds quite similar to your boy and he can lack energy. He doesn’t wear a muzzle as he becomes so distressed with it on and lives out 24/7 in summer. However, he is worked 5 days a week and that seems to control his weight. I found that when he was on very restricted grass he also lost energy and was very quiet - he is much better now he has more access to grass.

 

[Hackback]

Top Spec Ulsa Kind Cubes, Baileys Ease & Excel No 24, Saracens Relieve are all low starch feeds. I also give mine a Vitamin E supplement to help boost his immune system. Horses only get vitamin E from fresh grass - it degrades when the grass is cut and dried so not much present in hay/haylage. Maybe your horse isn't getting enough from his grazing - Cushings horses need it more than others. It's made a world of difference to mine, particularly over the last two winters. https://forageplustalk.co.uk/vitamin-e-the-warrior-vitamin/

 

[Micky]

Mine has cushings and when I had him in a muzzle i made the hole bigger, he got a lot more grass but not so much as to gorge himself..try that?

 

[Goldenstar]

Have a blood test and look at his iron levels if you can’t get a result by tweaking the management .

ETA iron levels that are too high may to linked in some way to Cushing this can cause lethargy .