I had this posted on the general discussion board, but didn't get much input.  I thought by posting it here, I might get more information.

My 24 year old Arabian mare Briahna was recently diagnosed with Cushing's disease.  She has been on Pergolide for almost 3 months now, but really lost weight this summer.  The vet says that is nature's way of keeping the horse cooler, without so much fat.  The vet didn't want me to change her feed (grass hay in am, alfalfa at noon and grass hay for pm, with Integrity Lite grain mix, Grand Complete suppliments).  She suggested adding rice bran or rice bran oil, one cup a day with her grain/carrots bucket, two cups if she doesn't respond well.  I bought some rice bran oil, but it is expensive, $22 a gallon.  I'll use it up but I'm wondering if anyone else has faced the same problem and solved it and can share their wisdom.  Remember, Bri has Cushing's so my choices are limited.

 Do a ggogle.com search on feeding the Cushings horse (or something similar). A low starch grain might be recommended. I am surprised that alfalfa is recommended - isn't that a very rich hay? Weight loss isn't a concern unless the horse starts loosing before a score of 4 on the body weight score - can't remember the exact name but you can google a search for that also. If you can see your horse's ribs, that can be a concern. Maybe more grass hay but soak it in water first to get rid of some of the sugar?

I know there are articles by vets on the internet so do a search and read a few as they have suggestions for feeding the Cushings horse. There are several on insulin resistance, which I've had to read up on.

Bri is getting Integrity Lite which is formulated for Cushing's horses.  She is probably between a 2-3 on the 1 to 9 scale.  I'm giving her the rice bran oil, but it's too early to see if it's doing any good.  Her vet didn't have a problem with her hay feedings.  I'm just searching for anyone who's been in this same place and what they did to turn it around.

I would recommend beet pulp, soaked and rinsed to remove any added molasses/sugar. It's easily digested and good source of energy. I would omit the alflalfa and replace with more grass hay, I think someone already mentioned soaking that as well. You could even consider giving her straw as a filler and bulk fiber (how are her teeth?) if she can chew well. Just being full sometimes really helps, esp in the winter as the digestion of straw (course fiber) and hay actually produce heat, which means less effort her body will have to put forth to keep warm, thereby not burning so much body fat.

A good site about sugar/grasses and such is safegrass.org   very informative site.

 Not sure exactly what is in it, but I know that Safechoice feed is based upon natural ingrediants.  I had a big performance warmblood that was hard to keep weight on, and this worked wonders for her!

I am surprised that your vet allows your mare to have carrots because of the high sugar content in them.  I am also surprised that your vet allows alfalfa as part of the diet.

You have been given some great suggestions.  I am for not feeding her the carrots or alfalfa.

The horse in my avatar is now pre-Cushings.  He has EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome) and is essentially a Type II diabetic.  Thankfully he has never foundered.

He was cresty-necked, had fat pockets over his rump, and obese.  He suddenly lost nearly 100# in six weeks last spring.  I had two sets of blood tests by two separate vets.  One set came back with everything in normal range, the other set came back showing his cortisol level was high. 

It was concluded from Duke's symptoms that he is most likely EMS.  I did not put him on Pergolide or any other drug because he is PRE-Cushings and not full blown cushings.

Because of his sudden weight loss, the nutritionist/owner of our local feed company suggested putting him on Equi-Jewel's pelleted rice bran, plus Burkmann's vitamin/mineral supplement. 

Equi-Jewel is 20% fat and high in calcium.  Duke only gets 8 ounces 2X/day, along with his vit/min supps, chastetree and magnesium, and a splash of Canola oil because it is high in Omega-3 fatty acids.  He is on pasture 12 hours, and gets two nice-sized flakes of grass hay (no alfalfa) when he comes in at night.

He is maintaining his weight perfectly on this feed regimen.

I am finding that no two horses are the same with dealing with Cushings or pre-cushings.  I was very very lucky to hit Duke's diet right the first time and I owe it all to the Nutritionist/feed company owner.  He was honest enough to recommend things for Duke that he doesn't even make.

While I am not recommending anything, I have seen excellent results feeding the Equi-Jewel pelleted rice bran along with a vitamin mineral supplement and adding some canola oil to the diet.

I take a rubber spatula and mix it all with about 1/2 cup of water, so alleviate any chance of choke.

It is also crucial to maintain good tooth and hoof care for these horses

I hope this helps some.  Good luck with your mare and please keep us posted

I let my vet, Dr. P, know what I was feeding Bri, she said that was OK.  Here's the article she wrote for Horse Illustrated on Cushing's Disease:

http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-health/equine-cushings-disease-24321.aspx

She only gets 1/2 flake of alfalfa a day.  Her grain, Integrity Lite, is beet pulp and other things OK for Cushing's horses.   I don't feed that much carrots.  She also gets Grand Complete for vitamins, minerals and other things.

Like my original post said, I'm looking for advise from people who have already gone down this road and what worked for them.  Thanks for the heads up on Equi-Jewel.  I'll look into it.  Also the Canola oil.  This is the information I'm looking for.

I'm also coming to the conclusion her changing body is what Cushing's does to the horse.  Several articles have noted the loss of muscle in the topline and rump, sway back and pot belly.  But the ribs and hip bones aren't.  I just want to get some weight on her before winter comes.  It may not get that cold here in Southern California and I do blanket her November through March, but I don't want her to lose any more weight.

Bev

That is a great article and I copied the link over to my local messge board.  Now that I have an EMS horse and realize how subtle and insidious Cushings can be, I am trying to raise awareness. 

 Dr.Posnikoff must feel your horse isn't in the severe Cushings category, as she permits it to have a bit of alfalfa and carrots.

BEGIN QUOTE:

"Feeding a Cushing’s horse can be very challenging, and unfortunately there are no set rules. However, it is safe to say that horses with Cushing’s disease do well on the same type of low-sugar, low-starch diet that horses prone to laminitis do. This type of feeding plan usually rules out alfalfa and grain, and leaves us with grass hay and grass hay pellets. If the disease symptoms aren’t too severe, then extruded feeds utilizing soy and beet pulp can help keep weight on. Generally I try to keep Cushing’s horses on mostly timothy and orchard hays, along with pelleted feeds, like those mentioned above, to keep weight on, and I minimize sugar as much as possible. Since Cushing’s horses are difficult to keep weight on, dedication has to be put into balancing diet with exercise."

END QUOTE

I hope the folks that read this thread will also read her entire article, even if they are sure they don't have a horse that is headed down the cushings path.  They might be really surprised to find out otherwise

EDITED TO ADD:  I forgot to ask how you are faring from the heavy smoke from all the fires?  The smoke is something else that might cause you mare to have some sort of health setback

walkinthewalk:

That is a great article and I copied the link over to my local messge board.  Now that I have an EMS horse and realize how subtle and insidious Cushings can be, I am trying to raise awareness. 

 Dr.Posnikoff must feel your horse isn't in the severe Cushings category, as she permits it to have a bit of alfalfa and carrots.

I just got back from the stables, had a recheck on Bri's abcessed hoof.  Hoof is looking real good, will get the eggbar shoes off this next trim, BACK TO BAREFOOT!  YAHOOOOOOO!

I made it a point to ask about the carrots.  She said the carrots don't have that much sugar, just don't feed excessively, like 5 to 10 pounds a bucket!  Sheesh, she only gets five carrots in her bucket, only when I make up the bucket, so that's like three times a week.  Dr. P was OK with that!

Speaking of barefoot again (YAHOO!, can you tell I'm excited?), I'm wondering if she'll be sore?  She's had this abcess for over two years.  Worst one Dr. P ever saw.  But now that we are treating her Cushing's the hoof is healing.  I've been lucky in my life, all my horses did well bearfoot so didn't have to shoe, only trim.

The smoke is getting worse again.  Yesterday it was going straight up.  Today it is coming across the mountains and down into the valley again.  The Santa Ana's will be back this weekend, but not near as bad as when the fires started.  Here we go again.  Here's some pics from that general area:

http://picasaweb.google.com/BrianMillsap/FoothillRanchFire

Bri is coughing if I try anything more than a walk, so we walk.  More than half the refugee horses have left, hopefully to their old barns and stables.  I do know of one couple who lost their barn and garage.  But the house was saved.  The owners of a big tack store down in South County lost their Geodisic home in Modjeska Canyon.  It was like a landmark, ya know, turn just past the dome house and then go a mile down the canyon....  So sad.

Thanks for asking.  I think the fire is almost contained.  Pray for the Santa Ana's to be light so no one will have to go through this all again so soon.

 Bev

How wonderful that the abscess is healing and Briahna can go back to barefoot!  I hate this disease for the horses, because there is no black & white or plain and simple, to it.  It exists in the gray area and is always changing

I looked at the link of the fires, but did it quickly because it truly makes me ill to think of all the tragedy these fires have produced.  And now the San Franciso area has had a pretty good shaker.  Did you feel any aftershocks from that?

I hope the smoke rises out of your valley sooner than later. 

For five years, I lived just off the 215, between Sun City and Hemet.  It was horse country amongst the potato fields and rock hills, but  in the poor area compared to Menifee or other horse areas - lol lol.  Now all those potato fields have been given over to houses - part of why I moved back East, plus the fires scared me to absolute death; I didn't blink an eye at the earthquakes and aftershocks because I was in a really rural area.  I would rather deal with a tornado than fire.

I wasn't fond of those "Devil Winds" either.  The Santa Ana's is a phenomina you can't really explain - you have to live thru them.  They are the eeriest bit of nature I have ever experience.

Prayers to all of you for the Santa Ana's to just go away quickly!

walkinthewalk:

For five years, I lived just off the 215, between Sun City and Hemet.  It was horse country amongst the potato fields and rock hills, but  in the poor area compared to Menifee or other horse areas - lol lol.  Now all those potato fields have been given over to houses - part of why I moved back East, plus the fires scared me to absolute death; I didn't blink an eye at the earthquakes and aftershocks because I was in a really rural area.  I would rather deal with a tornado than fire.

I'm very familier with the area, my in-laws have lived in Hemet for over 25 years.  The area has really grown by leaps and bounds.  That huge horse farm off the 91 is going too.  All the horses are gone and I'm sure it will be another houseing development too!

Bev