Insulin resistance

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Annie&Amy

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My mare has got laminitis this year for the first time (she's 24) I've been doing some research on the net as you do and have been reading that one of the signs of insulin resistance is fatty deposits in abnormal places. My cob has got fat lumps behind her elbows which she's never had before. She is a big cob but the vet said she isn't overly fat.

How is it treated, prognosis etc etc xxx
 
Mine didn't have the fatty deposits (at least not so we could obviously see them) but is extremely insulin resistant.

Treatment is just as in humans (insulin resistance is called metabolic syndrome also - google that). You reduce the amount of sugar in the diet and up the exercise. My horse eats the blue/purple horsehage (soaked for half an hour first if it's been cut too recently and hasn't fermented yet) and Spillers High Fibre cubes. On that diet she is healthy, sound and full of beans. You honestly would never guess there was anything wrong with her at all.

My horse is bad enough that she cannot usually tolerate grass so she goes out in a little woodland paddock with a friend, and has haynets of horsehage tied to trees to munch on. If she is in medium work (4hrs fastish hacking per day) she can go out for a few hours on a sparse paddock with a grazing muzzle.

Insulin resistance can be due to Cushings, and in that case there is medication to treat it. Or it can just develop. If I had kept trying to get my horse to lead a 'normal' life on hay and grass, she'd be crippled or put down by now as even soaked hay makes her footy and a day's worth of sparse grass is enough to give her laminitis. Instead, on her special diet, she's got rock-crunching hooves and is healthy and happy.

You need to find out how much your horse can tolerate (it will increase a little with regular exercise) and go with that. With the right diet, prognosis is usually very good.
 
I wondered if Chex had either this or Cushings as he had some symptoms (drinking/peeing more, odd fatty deposits etc). The vet was sure he had neither, and said it wasn't worth getting him tested as its difficult and not very reliable. From the research I did I think its managed by very limited grass intake, no cereals, feeding magnesium and other things that I can't remember!
 
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