7 yo ottb w cushings

[The_Entertainer]

7yo ottb has long “cat hairs“ on his underside that arent shedding out with his winter coat.

This sucks.

He has cushings, doesnt he?

There’s no other explaination for these hairs, is there?

I’ve only had him for a year and had high hopes when i got him that he was young enough, that i wouldnt have to deal with “old age“ issues for a while.

Anyway, here we are.

Theres no other possible cause for the hair, is there?

I had a 26 year old pony with cushings not too long ago and what happened was a battle to get him to take just half a pill of pracend and then he refused to eat.

Is there any option aside from pracend, or is that it?

Also, will i need to change his food? He gets tc equine senior, alfalfa pellets and rice bran pellets, horse shine, ha fluid action and california trace.

I kind of wanted to be able to keep him on a high fat diet with beet pulp base but something that i didnt have to soak due to how heavy it makes the buckets to carry as well as the mess it makes.

Theres no other possibility of this being anything else is there?

When i think back to the 80s, i dont remember knowing anyone who had a cushings horse. Now it seems like everyone has at least one horse with cushings.

Are there any other options aside from pracend? How do i deal with getting him to take the pill without a daily battle? What do i do when he refuses to eat once hes on the pill?

I guess the only good thing is i caught it early. He wasnt like this last year with the “cat hairs“ on his underside.

His other issue is ulcers, but im doing nexium for that and the improvement in his behavior is night and day.

Is it just my imagination, or are horses just sicker now than back in the 80s?

[Heinz_57]

@The_Entertainer

Theres no other possible cause for the hair, is there?

I wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater on this one… all of mine (5-10yo) still have some cat hairs that are hanging on.

By all means have him tested if you’re suspicious, but I wouldn’t say that cat hairs in April are all that unusual.

[GraceLikeRain]

Get him tested. Sometimes horses shed weird. I wouldn’t go full panic mode with zero data.

[WNT]

@The_Entertainer

He gets tc equine senior, alfalfa pellets and rice bran pellets, horse shine, ha fluid action and california trace.

How much of each, how many times a day? I’m guessing that’s Triple Crown Senior?

Where are you located? Many areas had a colder than usual winter, and many horses have held on to their coats. I had my first horses in Montana, and it was common for even young horses to hold on to those guard hairs into May.

If you are concerned about PPID, talk to your vet and get the appropriate bloodwork done to confirm or not.

[OzarksRider]

Don’t assume it’s Cushings/PPID. Like others have said, get him tested. Maybe he’s just a slow shedder.

When was your horse last wormed? Worms can cause delayed shedding and a scruffy coat.

Just because it was hard to get your last horse to take Prascend doesn’t mean it will be hard with this horse. I put Prascend in a 1/4 piece of a fig newton and toss that in with my PPID horse’s ration balancer. He eats it with the rest of his meal.

I don’t think horses are sicker now than in the 80s. Rather, I think we’re just better at recognizing it now–better diagnostics, more informed owners.

[MapleFarm]

Horses live longer now than they did in the 80s, and we actually diagnose and treat.

Diet can easily cause the shedding issues you describe. If you get a Cushing’s test, also get a panel on different vitamins/minerals to determine any deficits. My friend has a horse in training that came from a not great place and his coat looks like crap. Lots of long wispy hair still, and he’s 4 so I don’t think ppid.

[endlessclimb]

You post reads like a riddle or a rhyme for how many times you asked if there’s another possibility for the hair.

This is your first year with him, so first shedding season. You have no clue what this horse’s “normal” is at this time of year.

RELAX.

[B-burg_Dressage]

My 4-year old still has long wispy hairs on her belly and under her neck. Some guard hairs on their belly in April definitely doesn’t make me think cushings. My 20-year old cushings horse is still a wooly mammoth (half clipped because he was getting too hot).

FWIW, my gelding eats his pill with a handful of alf pellets every morning. Not all horses are the same.

[JB]

@MapleFarm

also get a panel on different vitamins/minerals to determine any deficits.

Vitamin E and selenium are the only 2 nutritional deficiencies you can determine with blood work. Ok, copper sort of but it’s not reliable. Everything else is about some sort of disease status (some of which can be managed with diet).

@The_Entertainer

7yo ottb has long “cat hairs“ on his underside that arent shedding out with his winter coat.

This sucks.

He has cushings, doesnt he?

There’s no other explaination for these hairs, is there?

I’ve only had him for a year and had high hopes when i got him that he was young enough, that i wouldnt have to deal with “old age“ issues for a while.

Anyway, here we are.

Theres no other possible cause for the hair, is there?

There are many possible issues. PPID is not a primary focus in a 7yo. It’s easy to “see” a disease in a lot of places where it isn’t, just because a symptom or 2 are similar to an actual disease you’re dealing with. PPID would be the zebra in the “when you hear hoofbeats, think horse, not zebra” scenario

@The_Entertainer

Theres no other possibility of this being anything else is there?

Yes, there is. Diet, any immune issue, maybe an extra cold Winter and those hairs are just taking longer, there are many things

@The_Entertainer

When i think back to the 80s, i dont remember knowing anyone who had a cushings horse. Now it seems like everyone has at least one horse with cushings.

I knew several horses with it, but usually it wasn’t diagnosed until end stage and the horses were already older and didn’t live long because…end stage, even when medicated. Younger horses who DID have it, but undiagnosed, often got laminitis or something else which caused them to be put down at an age long before PPID was on anyone’s radar.

Now, there’s a LOT more known about earlier symptoms so horses are being diagnosed earlier because people are going “hey, what if…”

@The_Entertainer

Are there any other options aside from pracend? How do i deal with getting him to take the pill without a daily battle? What do i do when he refuses to eat once hes on the pill?

You’re basing everything on your one horse. Not all horses are like yours. My PPID horse gets his pill dissolved in a syringe and squirted in every morning, without a single fuss.

@The_Entertainer

He wasnt like this last year with the “cat hairs“ on his underside.

last year isn’t this year. We (NC) have a really cold Winter. That changes coats

@The_Entertainer

His other issue is ulcers, but im doing nexium for that and the improvement in his behavior is night and day.

see above - just another in the list of things that can cause weird coat issues. Gut dysfunction affects everything, just not always visibly

@The_Entertainer

Is it just my imagination, or are horses just sicker now than back in the 80s?

It’s your imagination. The 80s didn’t have all the forums and websites and everything that allows everyone to share all the details about all the things. No COTH, no FB, I suppose MySpace was there but not nearly as popular as social media is today and even then, people tended to be very guarded about personal info. If it didn’t happen in your general circle, you didn’t know about it.

@The_Entertainer

will i need to change his food? He gets tc equine senior, alfalfa pellets and rice bran pellets, horse shine, ha fluid action and california trace.

That’s and entirely appropriate PPID-friendly diet. But I do have to ask - how much TC Sr and how much California Trace, and why did you add the CT to the Sr?

[RhythmNCruise]

Oh my! Take a deep breath and simmer down. My gelding and almost every horse at the barn still has some fuzz clinging to the middle of them. Keeping those vital organs protected until Mother Nature decides it’s safe (at least that’s my theory, lol). The hairs will shed. Don’t worry.

[endlessclimb]

Are everyone else’s horses shed out by now? Mine aren’t on a summer coat really anywhere on their body yet. Some areas are close, necks and shoulders and the back of their bums, but the rest of their body no way, big fuzz.

[Christa_P]

In my barn they are still rather furry, an OTTB, 2 QHs, TWH and Haflinger, all at least 15. I expect they will finish shedding in the next few weeks as the weather is finally warming up, though we did get into the low 30s the last few nights.

[RedHorses]

If it turns out that your horse does have PPID, don’t despair. Pergolide is a drug that significantly slows the body degeneration that PPID causes.

Mine was diagnosed in November 2014 after a vet said “Well, maybe it could possibly be Cushings, but…” , started Prascend in April 2015, and turned 27 a week ago. We caught it early, really early. I had asked the vet about a persistent inability to build top line muscle despite good feed and correct work. While my horse was one of the 51% who don’t rebuild top line muscle after starting Prascend, he has maintained very well on one pill per day since 2016 (started on a half pill in 2015). His ACTH test results come back within normal range, and no other PPID symptoms have developed.

I can’t trust him to eat his feed, let alone a pill in the feed, so he gets it dissolved in about 6cc of water and syringed into his mouth. He also gets other daily syringes and is very good about them.

Yes, it would suck to have to medicate for the rest of his life, but it can be a healthy life when the disease is caught before it does a lot of damage to the horse’s body.

[Amberley]

One of my TBs grows a full on goat beard every winter to rival the 25 year old mini. She doesn’t have Cushings, I assume it’s just genetic.

[The_Entertainer]

Thank you so much for responding. He gets about 3 pounds am & pm of tc, same for alfalfa pellets. Im in the northeast where yeah, its been kinda still cold esp at night.
All of his regular coat is shedding out nicely except for those long thick cat hairs.

[sparkygrace]

No, my mare is still shedding and has long wispy hairs on her belly/midline. She was shipped from a cold climate and the weather here varies from warm to cool every few days. Nights are still cold.

[WNT]

I remember with both of my boys (one TB, one TB/QH) I had in Montana, those guard hairs hung on tight. I either had to ignore them until they finally fell off in late spring or I grabbed the scissors since I didn’t have clippers at the time.

At 6 lbs per day of the TC Senior, you probably shouldn’t need the Cal Trace since your probably meeting his nutrient needs (amino acids, mineral, vitamins) with the Senior like JB said. You’re getting additional protein from the alfalfa pellets. Plus the Omega Horseshine has additional lysine, copper, and zinc so check your numbers per feeding rate between that and the Cal Trace to make sure you’re not over-supplementing anything.

[JB]

@WNT

the Omega Horseshine has additional lysine, copper, and zinc so check your numbers per feeding rate between that and the Cal Trace to make sure you’re not over-supplementing anything.

fortunately the OHS doesn’t have enough cu/zn/lysine to start to cause issues:
16.6mg Cu
29.6mg Zn
0.23mg Se
no amino acids listed in the GA even though they’re in the ingredients

Essentially, OHS is an insignificantly fortified flax supplement, no concerns there. Even the biotin is a low 10mg in an 85gm serving, most horses need at least 20, up to 30 or so depending on weight.

[quietann]

Ah, you’re in the Northeast. So am I - 25 miles north of Boston, and my mare is about 20 miles west of there. We have had a wet, cold spring so far. There are 4 horses at the barn, all mares, and only one is close to being shed out. One of the remaining 3 is in her 20s and has PPID, diagnosed last year. So for that one, we expect her to be shaggy. The other 2 (late teens draft cross and 27 YO Morgan) are also both still a bit shaggy. Mine, the Morgan, has a lot of hair on her sides and belly, but is mostly shed out and I just brushed off the last of her winter feathers yesterday.

[The_Entertainer]

Thanks to everyone that responded.

I’ll ask the vet what he thinks & do testing maybe if he thinks theres a possibility.

I had myself convinced hes got cushings after googling what could cause those long hairs that just do not seem to be shedding at all.

The only thing that came up as a “cause“ was cushings and nothing else.

As a side question, does anyone know of a tick repellant for horses…something as effective as frontline for dogs?