I have a nuturally chubby horse…part quarter horse. I have never muzzled her, she is tenish, but in the summer I keep her in half days. She is used to thick lushious grass…I suddenly am noticing that the crest of her neck seems very hard…her feet are cool and she is not at all unsound. Is this a warning that she may founder or be foundering? Is there anything other than common sense …keeping her in half days and riding her more?.. to do? Appreciate any advice. I hate to muzzle her but…
Is this a warning that she may founder or be foundering?
It’s possible that your horse is insulin resistant, and yes–it’s possible your your horse could founder unless you catch it now.
Have the vet out to check thyroid level, insulin and glucose then go to the Yahoo Cushing’s and Insulin Resistance board to determine if your horse is IR and for further help with questions: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/EquineCushings/ . You may have to change your horse’s diet to less sugars, and perhaps soak your horse’s hay.
You may want to start your horse on a product called “Quiessence” which should help your horse’s problem with being “chubby”.
Another place you might want to check out is http://www.safergrass.org . It should answer many of your questions about when you should turn your horse out and what times to avoid turning out (best in the early morning), that’s if your horse is not insulin resistant yet.
2 Likes
She is “naturally” chubby because she is naturally eating too much and/or too much in the way of sugars. She is not “naturally” chubby because she is part anything.
Muzzle her tomorrow. Seriously. Or, get her off the grass altogether and soak her hay.
The suddenly hard crest is a red flag that laminitis may be right around the corner, next blade of grass, next warm day/cool night.
Muzzle her, exercise her more.
Take this sign very, very seriously.
9 Likes
Magnesium would be a very, very good idea.
4 Likes
That too 
You’ve gotten great advice so far. Take this seriously. I’m dealing with an IR horse now. He is cresty and earlier this spring his crest got hard and he developed laminitis shortly after. I caught it early and he is fine now but underwent a major lifestyle change. He wears a grazing muzzle for a few hours first thing in the morning on grass and then he goes into a dry lot with hay that has a low sugar level. I joined the yahoo IR/Cushings group and they helped me get his diet balanced and he has lost weight to a nice level. He gets ridden 5-7 times a week which has also helped a bunch.
You have to get the extra weight off and really watch the diet.
1 Like
[QUOTE=trafalgar;4881607]
Is this a warning that she may founder ? Is there anything other than common sense …keeping her in half days and riding her more?..[/QUOTE]
Yes. That is good start. If the neck gets softer when you limit grazing to a few hours in AM, then you have dodged a bullet and should start learning about how to avoid laminitis in IR horses.
Get hay tested, too. www.equi-analytical.com
Carb Profile $26. Can save you $2600. I learned all this the hard, expensive way.
If you think education and prevention is expensive, try ignorance and treatment of founder.
2 Likes
Get her off the grass immediately and call your vet.
2 Likes
Does anyone know what the physiological cause is of the hardening of the crest? I’ve always been taught to watch for it as a symptom of laminitis being on the way, but I would really like to understand physiologically what happens to cause it. I find it very fascinating that their crest can harden and then soften and reduce so quickly.
And yes, OP, I can tell you from experience that it is far cheaper, easier, less heart-wrenching, and better for your horse to be overly paranoid and neurotic about avoiding laminitis–it is one of the few things that I think you can NEVER be overcautious about, because avoiding it is SO much better than having to treat it.
2 Likes
Naturally chubby? !
Your horse is chubby if he’s eating too much for the exercise he’s getting.
If he’s not laminitic now then he will be if you carry on not managing his diet and weight.
Have a good look at this. It’s a great on line resource video about obesity in horses and the dangers it causes:
The pony in Thomas’ video looks like a blob with legs. That poor thing is hugely obese.
My horse that developed laminitis was no where near that obese. He was overweight and had a cresty neck but it never was to the degree scene in the video. My point being, if your horse is only slightly over weight but has the hard crest you need to take immediate action. Diet and exercise do wonders for the IR horse.
Pookah, search for a thread that maybe EqTrainer started discussing the causes of the crest. I THINK it was her. Good thread 
bird, and everyone else, just FYI, hard keepers can be IR as well and become laminitic overnight from some metabolic insult.
I have a mare with a hint of ribs showing but a few weeks ago she developed fat pads behind her shoulders, the fat pad above her tail hardened and her neck hardened like crazy. Again, mare is in good body condition (not obese) with ribs barely visible. She had a laminitic attack two weeks ago and couldn’t walk. You’re already doing a better job than I did and your noticing the neck hardening. Do something now.
1 Like
There is a lot of good advice already, but for more, I recommend a visit to the site www.ecirhorse.com
I really appreciate all of the input and I have already called the vet…in terms of her being “naturally” chubby…I shoud have said she is a very easy keeper.
Being an “easy keeper” can be the result of IR issues that cause the horse to blow up in weight due to excess sugars. Getting simply the sugar intake under control, which can even mean being able to give MORE calories, can, depending on the horse, give you a nice keeper
My horse’s sister(same sire) is IR. I’ve changed my mare to TC Low starch feed . She’s on Quiessance also. She did have a abit of a crest which did disappear after a while. We have grass, but I wouldn’t call it"lush". I’ve never had her tested, but do all I can to keep the sugars and carbs down and she looks good. Her vet is pleased with how she looks, so we’re doing something right. Good advice from all here. Go to the Foxden.com site and Melyni, if you’re reading, please comment.
I should have written this in the spring. I dodged a bullet and that is because of you all. I had my mare blood tested right away and her levels were still normal but the vet said absolutely she was in danger. She is in half days and when out, wears a muzzle which I hated to do to her. She is like me and does love to eat. Her neck started to soften in about 10 days!..a few weeks ago whe went without her muzzle for less than a week because of a sore developing on her nose and boom, that neck bulkedup almost overnight. So this is her future but at least I know…it all must be related to something like diabedes even though horses don’t get that dread disease… I was very interested and surprised to hear all the info.
1 Like
you should google “chaste tree berries.” You can buy them whole (don’t buy the ones that are crushed) on ebay. (As well as doing whatever your vet tells you to do. Call the vet first for testing.) If you get fat wrinkles and crestiness then you need to cut out the grass.
You dodged a bullet and I got hit. My horse that was on stall rest this spring/summer started getting a cresty neck. I attributed it to weight gain due to being on lay-up and in retrospect realize it was a warning sign. He did founder. Turns out he is IR. Had I paid attention to the crestiness more, I could have caught it and addressed it sooner. We’re on the right track now, and I’ve learned a lot from it, but my horse suffered as a result of my lack of knowledge/attention. Sure won’t happen again (and he is doing okay – only mild rotation and we are managing the IR).
