Insulin resistant 8yr old gelding *need help!*

[Gottalope]

I have a 8 yr old quarter horse that vet says is insulin resistant but does not consider him to have cushings. He has had the atch test done and it was 5.9, and glucose level of 107. He had x rays done which showed very little rotation. We’ve had a mess with getting a good farrier in our area and thought I had a good one but turns out that he was taking out way to much sole, and now my gelding has very thins soles. He has that going on as well. He has been very lame for the last 14 days on his front, some days more on the left and now more on the right. The first 7days he was soaked in ice water morning and night but 2x a day and feet packed with dmso and magic cushion. That seemed to reduce some of the pain. Vet advised that I gradually reduce bute, ice and packing hooves. Now on day 14 his hooves are feeling warm again he’s more lame on one hooves then the other. I’ve never delt with anything like this before. Has anyone else had issues like this what should I expect for his life? We have taken him off grain, and put him on purina enrich plus. What does anyone else feed? He still seems hungry after eating. He’s also has choice 1st cutting hay. (In process of getting hay tested). This is my first time posting on here any help or guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[newhorsemommy]

[QUOTE=Gottalope;8650849]
I have a 8 yr old quarter horse that vet says is insulin resistant but does not consider him to have cushings. He has had the atch test done and it was 5.9, and glucose level of 107. He had x rays done which showed very little rotation. We’ve had a mess with getting a good farrier in our area and thought I had a good one but turns out that he was taking out way to much sole, and now my gelding has very thins soles. He has that going on as well. He has been very lame for the last 14 days on his front, some days more on the left and now more on the right. The first 7days he was soaked in ice water morning and night but 2x a day and feet packed with dmso and magic cushion. That seemed to reduce some of the pain. Vet advised that I gradually reduce bute, ice and packing hooves. Now on day 14 his hooves are feeling warm again he’s more lame on one hooves then the other. I’ve never delt with anything like this before. Has anyone else had issues like this what should I expect for his life? We have taken him off grain, and put him on purina enrich plus. What does anyone else feed? He still seems hungry after eating. He’s also has choice 1st cutting hay. (In process of getting hay tested). This is my first time posting on here any help or guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

Have you contact your vet with an update? He or she might recommend resuming the Bute.

Does he still have shoes on? I had good success using hoof boots and pads to get my older gelding through laminitis brought on by Cushing’s.

[sdlbredfan]

If you have not already gotten in touch with the ECIR folks, do that. Here is a link to their Facebook page, from which you will be guided to their new other site.
https://www.facebook.com/ECIRGroup/?fref=ts

If your Vet was not sufficiently proactive in telling you about dietary modifications you probably need to make, the ECIR group will be very helpful.

[JJ_sLuckyTrain]

Have you had an insulin level checked? Blood glucose of 107 is normal.

[Gottalope]

Shoes are still on with a wedge for heel support. I’ve aske many times if they should come off and have some type of styrafoam pad on or leave him barefoot and I have a pair of soft rides boots he could wear and the vet continues to say leave the shoes on for now.
Thank you

[Gottalope]

I’ve looked at there site and there is a yahoo group but, I felt it was hard to follow. :-/

[sassy45]

[QUOTE=Gottalope;8650998]
I’ve looked at there site and there is a yahoo group but, I felt it was hard to follow. :-/[/QUOTE]

You got that about right…also a lot of hoops to jump through just to get help there.

[Gottalope]

He had glucose which was 107, and the atch test wich was 5.9 which I believe should be 9-35. I’m wondering if a 5.9 is a abnormal enough results to be seeing the type of lameness I am seeing?

[Gottalope]

Hoping to find some help here.

[khall]

So is he foundering? If so, I would look into getting a venogram done to see what the blood flow is like in his feet. I did this on my mare last year when she foundered from dex/lymphangitis. NO wedges (vet wanted to put her in ultimate wedges, farrier said don’t she will rotate out the bottom) farrier was right and mare was not put in wedges, venogram showed lack of blood flow to part of her LF, was grooved to release pressure and shod with partial plate and dental impression material to support her boney column. Styrofoam would be a good alternative, I tried the soft rides for her and they were not enough support (did great on my other mare who was thin soled and laminitic from bad shoeing) why we went with plate shoe. BTW mare is now sound and just starting to get TO and a bit of work 10 months later. TSH test showed she was early cushings.

Good luck, I hope everything turns out well.

[Gottalope]

Thank you, I’m going to call tomorrow and ask about a venogram!

[JJ_sLuckyTrain]

Cornell runs ACTH, insulin and leptin levels, all of which can be helpful in determining whether laminitis is related to a metabolic or endocrine disorder.

https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/docs/EqMetabolicSyndromeV2.pdf

Eight is awfully young to be suspecting Cushing’s.

What is your horse’s body condition score?

[stb]

I wonder if his feet are sore because he is working on abscesses? I have a new horse who came to me with IR, crappy feet, and a long history of chronic abscesses. At this point I’m feeding him free choice soaked orchard hay, 1 cup of soaked beet pulp twice daily, and a vitamin/mineral pellet (High Point Grass Pellet), along with a magnesium supplement and Farrier’s Formula DS. I originally had him on a ration balancer but soon realized that he didn’t need those extra 1000 or so calories a day.

My guy abscessed out of his heel bulbs on the front two weeks ago, and is doing it again on the rear right now. Very frustrating. He had also been trimmed too short and had thin soles on one front foot (I did films), so I put him in shoes with pads on his front feet. He is much more comfortable in the shoes for right now.

Exercise is really, really important for these guys. Of course, if your horse is lame you can’t exercise him but do what you can when you can.

[maunder]

Oh, I’m sorry.

I lost my mini to a similar situation last June. My mini was only six and tested positive for IR. Under vet guidance I changed his diet, he received pain medication and we tried for about six months but in the end he was in too much pain from laminitis that went from mild to bad one day just like that.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things for your horse and I wish you well. Many people have success with diet and pain management.

[S1969]

So, what were the events that made him sore?

Because if you said “put him on pasture for the first time this spring, and now he’s sore” I would say - yes, that sounds very normal. Get him off pasture, stall rest, cold hose, bute…and don’t put him back on pasture.

But if this all happened without spring pasture and occurred out of the blue, I would wonder. Did anything else change? New load of hay?

As for the Enrich Plus; not sure what the NSC is on that but make sure it’s low. Even if you only feed a little. Whether your gelding “seems hungry” after eating it…don’t they always seem hungry? How much hay does he get?

[Gottalope]

I have tossed around the idea of him trying to pop an abscess. I’m afraid to ice his hooves of so. I’ve continued to pack him with magic cushion for some relief. Also was recommended by the farrier to start him on farriers formula but the vet suggested not giving that to him yet. He is warm on the bulbs of his heels, should I not pack his feet? I would hate to be drawing something put the wrong way. Just want my guy to feel better.
Thanks

[Gottalope]

Sorry for your loss

[Gottalope]

He was moved home to an empty barn meaning hes the only one here and he’s always been at a boarding facilities. He’s typically not a stresed horse or doesn’t show it he could care a less if horses comes or goes. Was not on fresh pasture I’ve always been overly cautious about turn out in the spring after a week of being home he had some joint injections done 9 days before the bad lameness strated. He was hand walked after that and got to have a little bit of grass while walking but not enough that should’ve hurt him. Same hay as he’s been on for the past 6 months. I have put a big rock in his feed pan so he has to eat ar I understand the “grain” sp he’s not just ducking it down in think this had helped with him not leaving the feed pan acting like he wasn’t fed lol. He has free choice hay orchard/Timothy hay he’s consuming a proximatly 20 lbs a day.

[sassy45]

Get the shoes with the wedges off,those alone can make a horse sore. That’s not natural to be jacked up on fronts,and makes for a sore horse. Just because he’s sore doesn’t mean laminitis or founder either. Could very well be the shoe job,had plenty a farriers make my horse’s sore lame.

What’s the insulin number? glucose number alone doesn’t mean IR.

[Gottalope]

He’s only had the glucose and the atch done.