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I must have, because I remember giving Legend to my cushings horse and I always start with adequan before moving on to legend when the adequan stops working. (The legend sticks in my mind because this horse is not a fan of iv sticks)!
He must have been fine for it. He is now 25 and mostly retired but sound. His hocks fused and he no longer needs anything. He is not IR though.
I think I would have remembered if the adequan was not effective. I probably used it for a few years and then moved to legend as is my normal practice.
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I’m not aware of any contraindications to Adequan, Legend, or other IV HA products in Cushings/IR/“generically metabolic” horses. All three have been prescribed for my Cushings horse over the course of his arthritis progression. From what I understand of their mechanisms there’s no specific concern about the drugs working differently for or causing side effects for horses with Cushings and IR.
If you’re thinking about this because HA is used in some kinds of joint injections and you know that those can be of concern for the metabolic horse, the problem there isn’t the HA, it’s the steroid it’s paired with.
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That’s great to hear! Thank you!
That’s great to hear! Yeah I’m aware of the steroid (not HA) concern and wasn’t really thinking about that specifically since Adequan isn’t a steroid, I was just curious since it’s a substance entering the horse’s system on a general basis. I’m glad to hear there aren’t any concerns, thank you! Horse is newly diagnosed so I’m figuring out which management things that aren’t specifically diet and exercise related I need to be revisiting
I did a round with my 18 year old IR horse back in 2022 with no problems. We didn’t see much improvement so we moved on and tried hock and stifle injections. Last year we did Osphos and that made a remarkable difference and lasted the longest.
My vet was not concerned about using Adequan or Ichon on my Cushings/IR horse - I specifically asked about it.
Horse will make this clear. Horse will continue to make this clear over the rest of horse’s life. This may change every 6 months. Good luck. 
Aging: it’s not for beginners!
My standard advice to everyone who has a newly-diagnosed horse is don’t panic, taper up on the pergolide following your vet’s advice (minimizes side effects,) and buy a bottle of APF in case the horse’s appetite suffers while adjusting to pergolide. My horse’s standard advice to everyone who has a newly-diagnosed horse is that pretzels and peanuts are great treats.
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My vet has no issues with Adequan or Legend for IR horses. No steroids for joint injections though - so we use ProStride as a joint injection instead.
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Yes, I actively use Adequan on my 25 year old Cushing’s gelding. The difference was night and day during the loading dose period.
I have used adequan for years in Cushings horses without issue. Your vet has to prescribe it and I would think he or she would not have called it in if it wasn’t appropriate to use in your horse.
I used it on my old guy (died at 38) who had Cushings and was on Prascend. He had no adverse effects.
Could you tell me more about APF? So many supplements out there it is hard to know what actually works. We are testing for cushings next vet visit and my mare is already a notoriously slow and picky eater. Practically have to treat her meals like a Starbucks order to convince her to eat sometimes - I’ve even resorted to sprinkling crushed peppermint on top some days LOL.
My vet refers to it as “witchcraft.”
It’s an herbal supplement containing adaptogens. I have no idea why it works, but a lot of us with Cushings horses have found it effective in helping to get through pergolide veil and particularly the lack of appetite that the medication often causes.
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Hmm thank you for the info! I wonder if it would work for appetite even if she isn’t cushing positive. She just came down with strep zoo two weeks ago so we are trying to figure out why her immune system is down in the first place. She has always been in excellent health, if my vet didn’t know her they would think she was much younger.
Is there any other benefit besides appetite? My cushingoid was on pergolide since before I acquired her, so if there was a veil, I wasn’t aware of it. She’s a tad picky but has an excellent appetite and eats every morsel of her meals, so long as it’s prepared to her liking. But I’m always looking for any little something something that can keep her going as long as she comfortably can, or slow disease progression even a tiny bit, or get her numbers down at all. Any little advantage I can get over this frustrating disease, I’ll give it a shot for the old girl who is the queen of my place.
I don’t know how it works, so I don’t know what else it should do. Allegedly it’s for immune support.
I don’t want to further derail this thread, but one thing that DID seem to help my guy was supplementing with marine-source omega 3’s (I use Mad Barn W3 oil, KER makes another.) That was associated with his ACTH dropping to a very healthy number while all the rest of his meds and nutrition stayed the same.
Oh I forgot you were the one who recommended that. She’s on the KER oil. It did not influence her test numbers like I had hoped (maybe a smidge, still well over 100). But I figured it would still be beneficial so I left her on it.
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There is a thread somewhere where someone recommended Evite ( or something like that). Mine wouldn’t touch the oil and syringing it was an epic failure.
