My cushings laminitic horse has a rubbish coat

[RubysGold]

Roo has cushings. Which is treated with one prascend a day.

Her coat is terrible. She is moulting but it's coming out in patches. And the hair that comes out has like scabby scurfy roots to it?

I know cushings horses can have poor coats but is there anything I can give her to help her get a better shine and quality to her skin and coat.

She is laminitic so I don't think oil is going to be an option. I don't want her gaining weight or getting sick from what I feed her.

Any suggestions? Currently she has up to 6 hours of grass. Soaked hay in her stable and a handful of topchop lite for her tablet.

 

[splashgirl45]

my old horse was like that and it improved after i gave her a couple of baths and really rinsed her very well then used a sweat scraper to get rid of the excess water. maybe she needs a balancer?

 

[Finlib]

our cushings arab gets two measures of linseed meal in each feed am and pm and his coat is fabulous .Linseed meal is ok for Cushings horses.He is on 1 prascend a day and his annual test reading last week was 22

 

[Leo Walker]

Linseed and something like pro balance or similar from Forage Plus etc. I'd worry that with a restricted diet shes low in protein and vitamins and minerals etc

 

[swilliam]

Linseed for mine too, and her coat is lovely - summer coat properly through and shiney.

 

[Nudibranch]

A bath and ideally a clip. I found one of mine needed year round clipping when the cushings advanced, but it kept her coat scurf free and she was so much livelier without the hair. Easier to groom and therefore keep on top of things too. A small amount of linseed works wonders too and is safe to feed afaik.

 

[Tiddlypom]

My 16yo Cushing's mare is similar. She's on 1.5 prascend/day plus pro hoof, linseed and salt, but she still tends to get a scurfy skin. I find regular grooming (another plug for Haas brushes), clipping and bathing in dermoline insecticidal shampoo keeps her skin and coat in respectable order.

 

[Equi]

My non-cushings gelding gets awful skin, hes just so hairy as per breed. He generally gets a good bath in head and shoulders or other skin type shampoos and a bit of tea tree oil.

 

[JillA]

This is mine, he is on one Prascend/day and is also an itcher. He has micronised linseed ( a mug a day) plus spirulina on top of a low sugar low grass diet. He also gets a mineral balancer and any other minerals revealed as shortage in the forage analysis, but I think his skin and coat are due to the linseed and spirulina

 

[splashgirl45]

This is mine, he is on one Prascend/day and is also an itcher. He has micronised linseed ( a mug a day) plus spirulina on top of a low sugar low grass diet. He also gets a mineral balancer and any other minerals revealed as shortage in the forage analysis, but I think his skin and coat are due to the linseed and spirulina

he looks fab, you are obviously doing something right...i managed to keep my horses coat ok till the last 6 months when the cushings really took hold and 4 prascend daily was not keeping her levels down and her coat was still growing in august so i made THAT decision in september.....

 

[dulcie_dustyxx]

My connemara is non-cushings. Takes me forever to get it all off and the majority of it turns grey beforehand, never seen another horse do that. We have no warm water for over winter so her moulted hair looks scurfy too. Find she's much better after a good bath on a hot spring day! x

 

[Micky]

19 yr old gelding on 2 and a quarter tablets a day, hi fi molasses free chop, pro hoof, salt and a mug of linseed and soaked hay, (plus a carrot a day for his pills) I clipped him back in January, and keep trimming off his legs, he's just has a bath for the second time in a month (great this hot weather for bathing!) and he is looking really shiny now, scurf on rear end has gone, I don't think being rugged all winter helps a ppid coat/skin but I would def invest in micronised linseed and look again at his feed...

 

[tallyho!]

Nothing wrong with high oil just not pure oil.

I would try either linseed or BOSS (Black Oil Sunflower Seed) and gradually introduce.

Eliminate anything that is starchy that aggravates the grass lignins - there is something I read somewhere that keeping the diet pure grass based ( but not short leafy stuff, let the grass go to seed) helps reduce the gut irritation and try yea-sacc too.

 

[tallyho!]

http://www.calmhealthyhorses.com/grass/past_man.html