For whatever it’s worth (or not). Just tossing this out for consideration:
I have a stallion, diagnosed with Cushings.
He does not, nor has he ever, “looked” like a Cushings horse. No “classic” hair coat. Nor had he ever had laminitis prior to diagnosis, a cresty neck, etc. Never “obese”. But he is tested and confirmed, and has now been on medication (Pergolide) for almost 6 years.
We went looking for a problem thanks to a rapid shift in fertility, and massive amounts of gel with the semen in a pre-breeding season collection and evaluation. We didn’t test for Cushings initially, as he didn’t have any other apparent signs of a Cushings horse–of course we know that there can be many different symptoms, or combinations of symptoms…or in some cases, none at all.
It took us a few months to finally come back to test for Cushings - I think we tested for and ruled out, or treated for, just about everything else in the meantime.
Finally, we came back to Cushings. Bingo. Almost immediate elimination of the excessive gel once he was started on Pergolide. And we did see a rise in energy levels, a decline in which we hadn’t really noticed, or previously attributed to anything else, other than maybe age. Unfortunately, we were too late to preserve his overall fertility, and he was retired from breeding. (He went from being fertile and “shippable” to not impregnating mares via live cover in four months’ time).
In joining the EquineCushings group on yahoogroups in order to learn more after the diagnosis, I was surprised to find that mine was the only stallion recorded in the group’s statistics at that time (with over 800 members at that time).
That made me wonder if more stallions have Cushings, but maybe go undiagnosed (or diagnosed later) because they might be less likely to exhibit a combination of symptoms that might be suspicious of Cushings? Just based on my own personal experience with our horse.
As an example, I’m just thinking that stallions generally, tend to have a finer coat overall (and especially their winter coats) than their mare or gelding counterparts.
I just can’t help but wonder if it’s possible that some of the same factors possibly contribute, when it comes to a stallion exhibiting symptoms of Cushings…? Possibly making them less likely to exhibit visual symptoms (or maybe to a lesser degree)? Just tossing that out as a possibility/thought.
As time has progressed and his fertility dropped further, our horse did have one minor laminitic episode with no other obvious cause, despite management as a Cushnoid horse (feed and medications, etc).
And there are definately some changes in the hair coat now, several years later (somewhat thicker/heavier than ever before, and a tad later shedding now compared to our other horses). Still not what we’d define as a “classic” Cushings coat – but as we have had him since he was foaled, we ourselves see the slight differences/changes.
We consider ourselves fortunate to have picked up on the Cushings as early as we did (thanks to our wonderful veterinarian!). We hope that we have extended our horse’s life, and improved the quality of that life as a result by minimizing some of the potential effects of Cushings, with overall management and meds.
