Sorry, not sure who I’m replying to but what do most people feed their cushings horses ? One vet said wheat bran but I read a few pages that said “no grain” so wheat bran is from a grain right ? He only gets a small amount so I can put his meds in. Was thinking about beet pulp without the sugar.
what to feed depends on the rest of the situation. PPID has some special requirements, like treating them more like an IR horse than not, but beyond there there are a lot of individual requirements, including calories.
Wheat bran isn’t terribly useful for most horses - high NSC. Beet pulp is a much better choice between the 2. Hay pellets are useful.
Feeds can be anything from a forage balancer/vm supplement with a carrier, to 5lb or more of a low ESC+starch feed.
For feeding - 2 good references - take a look at the ECIR site, there is a ton of information there. Also, Jim the Feed Guy on FB.(I know that sounds a little odd but there is some good info)
Thanks, my (new) vet said to get Purina Enrich plus. Hope I can still disguise the meds in it.
Just know he’s very, very heavily biased for Nutrena and Purina, and has a lot of very incorrect things to say about other brands, and things in general. Just approach with an open mind.
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Feeding will depend on if he has both Cushing’s and insulin resistance or just Cushing’s. My Cushing’s horse actually had to have grain added to his diet a few months after being put in prascend because he dropped so much weight. But thanks to very early diagnosis, his only symptom has sore feet after having his shoes pulled for the winter. Mine is on full pasture, but he is not insulin resistant.
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FWIW, my 2 easy keepers get Enrich Plus, and they both like it. I feed half their ration in the morning, then half in the evening. For lagniappe (as they say in Louisiana), I sprinkle in a scoop of flax, a scoop of Remission, about a handful of oats, a peppermint, some peanuts and pretzels, and a bite of watermelon rind if it’s in season. They eat it all and lick their bowls.
I tried Nutrena once, but one of my guys wouldn’t eat it no matter how I tried to “improve” it. And where I live, Purina and Nutrena are my only choices when it comes to forage balancers. Also, neither of my guys has Cushings, so I don’t have to be quite as strict with their NSC intake; I just need to keep them slim and trim.
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Equi-Analytical has a portion of their website devoted to “approximate” NSC values of various types of hay.
But that is NOT something to depend on for a solid answer. You really should send them a sample of your hay for an accurate answer. I have seen huge differences in NSC value in hay cut five miles away, ten miles away, in the next county.
Far as what to put in the feed pan - The riding crops will likely come out but I am no fan of Purina anything and it’s their own fault. With all the hype they gave their WellSolve line when they were ramping up for its rollout in 2006 or 007 and all it did was make my first metabolic horse sick. It was higher in iron than any of their “non metabolic” horse products. Soon as I took him off the WellSolve he was better. I had asked for a Purina rep to call me but of course they never did.
I feed a condensed, soy-free/no added iron, complete vit/min supplement from Horse Tech. it only takes 3 ounces for the horse to receive its nutrients, therefore eliminating a lot of calorie intake.
I split the three ounces into two feedings, mix each of them with five measured ounces of straight timothy pellets and add a bit of water to the mix. I generously up the timothy pellets to 8 ounces during the winter:)
I feed this supplement to both my 26 yr old IR/Cushings horse & my 27 yr old easy keeper in the hopes of keeping him from developing IR. ATM, this vit/min supplement costs about .86 cents/day and worth every penny. I’ve been feeding it since 2014.
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There are a lot more forage balancers these days too, thankfully! I fed High Point Grass for years. 1 horse would never eat more than a half serving, but thankfully the others were fine
California Trace, Vermont Blend (and a Pro version) Arizona Copper Complete, Lonestar Trace (the latter 2 developed as custom mixes by HorseTech, then offered publicly, and offered via some other websites as well), KIS Trace, and others, are other forage balancers with different nutrient and pre/probiotic profiles. I’m currently using Vermont Blend Pro due to the added amino acids, which eliminates my need to add Nutramino, and even the additional bit of cu/zn I was adding to HPG
It doesn’t take much to mix it with.
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So, I told the vet my horse seemed to be doing better so he says he wants me to put shoes back on ??? I told him I’m not ready to put shoes back on. lol I don’t understand his thinking. If he’s feeling better why put shoes on. He’s been barefoot his whole life.
Is your vet suggesting therapeutic shoes or just regular shoes? It may be that he thinks your horse would benefit from having shoes for a while.
Like your horse, mine had been barefoot all his life. When he had his laminitis attack, the vet recommended therapeutic shoeing beginning after the acute attack subsided and lasting until his hooves grew out. I would take the horse to the vet clinic, and the farrier would meet us there. The vet would x-ray the feet, then he and the farrier would discuss how to adjust the shoes. I don’t remember which shoes were used, other than they were a Nanric product. They had a wedge to lift the heels a little and relieve pressure on the DFT. They also rocked a little. At each shoeing they would lower the wedge and rocker a little so that by the end of his treatment the shoes were almost flat. After my horse’s hooves grew out I kept him in regular shoes for a few more months, then he went barefoot again and has been barefoot ever since.
One thing the vet told me when we were discussing treatment was that the horse would tell us what he liked. What worked for my horse isn’t necessarily what your horse needs.
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OP, so sorry to hear about your gelding.
My old guy has been IR for 20 yrs, went PPID 5 yrs ago and my mare has been IR and then just this summer went positive for PPID. She was fine in January but ACTH hit 260 two months ago.
Twice a day I feed a 1/4 cup timothy hay pellets and then add water to get a wet mash and add in:
Horse Tech High Point Hay Balancer
2 oz ea stabilized flax from Juliet Getty’s online store
1 TBL loose salt
1000 IU Elevate natural Vitamin E (since they get just 30 min pasture - muzzled)
and add in calcium, magnesium, zinc and copper individually based on my hay test results.
Also feeding the Microbiome product by Getty - my mare only. Gelding will not eat it.
My latest 2nd cut orchardgrass came back at under 7% NSC so no need to soak.
I also feed in hay nets at no more than 2% of their bodyweight. They are kept on a big drylot.
I tapered up both horses on Prascend starting w a 1/4 tab for 3 days, then 1/2 tab for 3 days, then 3/4 tab for 3 days and then full tab. Neither horse ever went off their food or were depressed.
Here’s a question for whoever knows…why do they lose weight on Prascend? My mare is looking so much better - she always had a weight problem.
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@PaddockWood I don’t have an answer to the weight loss but my IR horse also started losing weight when he developed Cushings - too much weight.
HorseTech makes a custom product with an increased amount of amino acids and added fat calories, in case your horse starts losing too much weight over the winter. It works great for my horse:)
OP, IF your horse needs shoes because it’s soles have become thin, please do not put metal shoes on him. Use somebody’s brand of composite shoes. They do a bang up job of reducing concussion.
My IR/Cushings horse lives with residual founder issues and in 2019, x-rays showed Low Ringbone in the RF—- great what next:(
Anyway, I am fortunate to have a therapeutic farrier. She has him in a model of Versa polyurethane shoes by EasyCare. A full flexible 3/8” pad gets attached to the shoe, and a medium soft, two part DIM material by ShuFil is generously applied across the entire sole. The package has actually encouraged some sole depth.
If you look at the rear of the left hoof, you can see how the setup should look when the materials are correctly applied. This has been nothing short of a magic bullet for increasing this horse’s comfort.
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I also have my thin sole PPID horse in polyurethane shoes. Mine are the ground control brand. She loves them! She had been in metal shoes but was still never quite comfortable in them. Before I had to constantly be urging her forward, now it takes very little to get her going and quite a lot to get her to stop.
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Here’s advice on Prascend tapering:
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@walkinthewalk Good to know on that HT product and thanks for sharing the picture of the better idea on the polyurethane shoes.
@Sdel thanks for sharing your experience too. I’ve never dealt w laminitis but have seen others and did not see relief with metal shoes.
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The ground control horseshoes come in several colors. I’m using hot pink so they can be found in case she loses one. The nail channel is recessed so there are no pressure points from the nail heads coming into contact from the ground. They feature a horseshoe shaped area that has a tread pattern like a boot and they also have a “bar” that runs toe to heel that provide sole support. That can be removed with nippers if it’s not needed. They can also usually be reset once, if not twice. My only real complaint is she did develop a crack on the center of one hoof, but it has since been controlled with hoof conditioner.
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My horse did loose some weight, but he needed to. He just looks like he needs something extra for his coat. The cushings makes him look like a yak.
I’d never supplemented Vit E before because mine were always on pasture (muzzled) for hours each day. Since I’ve greatly reduced that I started Elevate and my 28 yo dark bay is GLOWING. I’ve never seen his coat look so good.
Tested the level on my mare and even with the supp she was just at a normal level.
Maybe an idea for you?
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My horse with Cushings is actually ancient. I feed him TC Senior, which the Cushings Facebook group said was still too high in NSC. My horse has always - even when he was young - been a horse that requires a lot of calories to keep his weight on (and honestly I’d rather him have more weight than he does now).
It definitely varies depending on easy vs. hard keepers, but there is a Facebook group. The members are from different places, so of course IMO you have to adapt to what your horse needs calorie wise and what you have access to.
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