Something a bit controversial I feed with an IR cushings pony is I add a small handful of the smart beetpulp pellets (soaked) to his grain and I feed him a flake of alfalfa with regular grass hay after soaking it (in a haynet cause he’s a pig) he’s also on the proelite grass advantage 3/4-1lb twice a day with 1/4 lb after each ride. He stays in a grazing muzzle but is still turned out as much as possible. Don’t be afraid to feed them like the athlete they are just because of Cushings or IR. They need added support and a higher protein or protein supplement might be something to investigate. It can really help with maintaining and building muscle. Also really look at your training program and taking time to really focus on his topline and building it evenly
Where is this controversial? Beet pulp tends to be quite low in NSC, and a handful of even pellets is much less than 1lb, so even if that product is higher than average, that’s still not much at all
I had an interesting, if short, conversation with an internal medicine specialist recently. I mentioned ECIR and their position on how we should treat every PPID horse like it has IR and only feed foods with less than 10% NSC. He very diplomatically suggested that ECIR is not the best source of information on PPID and instead suggested reviewing the work done by the Equine Endocrinology Group. I have not yet done so but plan to take a look, considering I have two PPID horses.
I’ve been told the same thing by an internal medicine veterinarian at a major university veterinary teaching hospital.
You would be surprised the looks I will get when I tell someone it’s for my cushings horse. I do think it’s much more outdated thought and more commonly by someone who hasn’t owned a cushings horse.
ok that makes sense, as there’s a WHOLE lot of mis-information out there on what beet pulp is and isn’t. From “high sugar” to “nothing but filler” to “makes your horse bloated” to all sorts of things.
EEG pretty much is the gold standard for the most up to date info, without being as incredibly dogmatic, black and white, as the ECIR group is. I almost hate saying that, as ECIR has done and continues to do enormously good work. It’s hard to say how much of this comes down from Kellon, or just a product of the cult-like followers, but when a group puts people into tears for not doing the absolutely most perfect things for the diet, despite having a healthy horse, saying they’re just going to end up killing him, that’s just not cool. NO, they’re not all like that.
The point is, at some point the reader has to self-educate enough, and look at their horse, and see what’s what. My 34yo PPID horse is on full time grass (because he can’t eat hay, won’t eat anything soaked (so no hay cubes/pellets/etc), is eating 12lb of an 18% NSC/12% starch feed (Nutrena SafeChoice Sr) which is just not “appropriate” at all, but it’s working for HIM. And, it’s all I can get him to eat enough of, for long enough, so at some point they just get to eat what they’ll eat.
Yes, it’s ideal to feed all PPID horses as if they are, or almost are, also EMS. But so many aren’t also IR/EMS, so there IS a gray area there
My 29 yr old warmblood mare is PPID and has been for about 8 years. She’s been on Pergolide since then. At the time she was on Triple Crown Senior, and bermuda grass hay. About 2 years ago she started losing weight. I consulted with a knowledgeable, professional equine nutritionist who looked at her annual blood counts and knew her medical history (one colic surgery). He recommended keeping her on the hay and TC Senior, adding Purina Amplify, and soaked hay pellets. I did it all slowly, and it took a several months, but it worked beautifully. She’s gained weight, and looks the best she has in a long time. She has energy, is active in the turnout, eats everything, and her summer coat is shiny and healthy. Her annual blood counts and chem panels are pretty good, and if necessary, we change the Pergolide dose.
Bottom line, the Purina Amplfy (1 lb = 1 cup oil) made a big difference along with Succeed.
The soaked hay pellets 2x a day have also made a difference. She has hay in front of her 24/7.
An update on my old man; he’s now on a 1/2 pill a day dose and is starting to not eat as much. He’s still getting in about 4lbs of grain, but he appetite is not what it usually is. I’m hoping it passes quickly.
Can’t remember if mentioned already on this thread, but you could try adding APF into his meals. It helps with the appetite. Of course, with my gelding he didn’t like the APF so that was it’s own challenge.
I fed my Cushings Wb geld Triple Crown Senior Gold for many years
You can do an alternate days dosing schedule if necessary (I got that info direct from a B-I staff vet).
Mine stopped eating his grain when first started on Prascend. I took him off, got him eating, and tried again two weeks later. He was fine the second time.
He started on a half tab every other day, and was okay until we went to a half tab a day. At this point he is still eating, just not as much. If he gets worse I may decrease dose for a bit.
If you can, try 1/4 tab twice a day
Mine was okay on half a tab but stopped eating when I moved to a full tab. I took him off everything until he started eating again, then started again with half a tab, then did 3/4 tab, then did the full tab. About 2 weeks for each change. That worked, along with the APF.
I’m not sure I can break it that small 
I can have it compounded if necessary.
A pill cutter is your friend 
They’re pretty cheap too
Another update: tonight he ate all of his food. Back to his normal amount. I’m hoping it continues. He was back to his regular crabby self, making nasty faces at things that might try to take his grain (like the wall. You know, because wooden walls are always stealing grain.)
Unfortunately he made a turn for the worse after about a week of full pill a day. He started refusing to eat more than a bite of grain. So, I’ve called it; no more meds this year. We are too close to winter (when he tends to drop weight anyways) to chance going in thin. I considered pulling the meds and restarting at 1/4 a pill every other day, but with only about 3 months of summer grass left I just can’t risk it with him.
I may try again next spring. We will see.
At his age, I’d feed him what he likes and whatever helps keep weight on for winter. I had one that I had to feed a nursing mare feed to keep weight on. She probably had cushings, but she wouldn’t allow anything to be added to her feed or forced into her, and I wasn’t going to torture her every day for the rest of her life so never tested her. She lived a couple years on that grain.
