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Re: [RC] [Guest] Equine Cushing's - Heidi Smith



Behalf Of Jon.Linderman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<snip>

We had an arab Gelding who became Cushinoid in his later years and the
pergolyde was miraculous.  Far far better than cypro.  He had a suspensory
injury that kept him form being show/competed beyond light trail riding

but

we did notice he had difficulty in thermoregulation.  If the Cushings

(high

ACTH from the pituitary stimulating adrenal cortical hormones) also causes
problems upstream w/the hypothalamus temperature regulation is going to be
a real problem.  We kept him bodyclipped almost year round, and fairly
frequently to help keep him cool.  He never foundered but we kept him on
high forage feed (Equine senior) as opposed to sweet feeds.


Original post:

Anyone competing with a Cushing's positive horse?  I have a 10 year old
Mustang mare that was diagnosed last Oct.  We had done two 30 mile rides
while she was symptomatic, in retrospect, and did well;  had energy at the
end to do 50 probably.  She is currently on 0.5mg Pergolide once a day.
Sent
out a recheck panel yesterday, we'll see how she doing, results should be
in
this afternoon.  Would like any input on competing with this disease.


While I would encourage you to continue to ride and use this horse, as it
would be in her best interests to remain active, keep in mind that you are
having to use a drug to keep a disease process in check.  From the rule
perspective, this is not legal in AERC competition.  From a horse health
perspective, even controlling the disease with medication, putting a horse
with "built-in" thermoregulation problems is asking for problems.  (The rule
is there in the best interests of horses.)  Sometimes it's time to reach the
conclusion that there are some horses that may be just fine to ride but
should not be asked to be endurance athletes.

Heidi


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[RC] [Guest] Equine Cushing's, Ridecamp Guest