Someone asked about a web site on cushings. Not all cases of cushings disease are the same, so I'd be careful about only following information from the internet without specific blood work and advice from your vet. I'm not an expert but offer my unsolicited advice based on experiences I'd wish I hadn't had. My Hanoverian has cushings and high insulin levels but no thyroid problems. Thus, she is on a grass (no alfalfa) diet with low carb grain (Triple Crown Lite). One of my trainer's horses has cushings, but his affects his thyroid and not his insulin levels. He's on an alfalfa diet and Triple Crown Senior. Both are on pergolite (sp?) and mine is also on chromium. Both of these horses are 18 years old. Unfortunately, I also have experience with founder. My appaloosa mare foundered when she got West Nile two years ago (she had had both vaccines that year, and both the year before). Apparently the founder resulted from the fever related to the West Nile. She was on styrofoam pads for a few months, then switched to egg bar shoes with pads. At first she was on antiinflammatories and ulcer preventatives (she'd had ulcers a few years before that) and for about 9 mos. she was on a supplement called Equi Flo (sp?). Also on a grass hay (timothy) /no grain diet (had been since colic surgery in '98). She survived both the founder and West Nile, is 21 years old now. She doesn't have cushings but does have high insulin levels and is on quiessence. The founder experience was awful, and so frightening. It was over a year before we could ride again, and the prognosis was uncertain that whole time. I limit my fjord's feed to 20 lbs grass hay a day, no grain -- definitely don't want him to get overweight to increase the chances of founder.
