Cushing’s disease, or more accurately known as Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID), is an endocrine disorder in horses caused by a tumour in the pituitary gland. This tumour, called a pituitary adenoma, triggers an overproduction of hormones in the horse’s body.
This increased production of hormones in Cushing’s horses can often be seen in the classic tell-tale sign of the long, thick, sometimes curly coat that does not annually shed and remains all year round.
While Cushing’s disease cannot be cured, there are several steps you can take to improve your horse’s comfort and quality of life. In this blog, we'll explore how regular clipping and careful management can help keep your Cushing’s horse healthy and comfortable year-round. Read on to discover practical tips for managing this condition and helping your horse thrive.
Signs Your Horse Or Pony May Have Cushing's
The most prominent sign of Cushing’s is a long, curly coat that does not shed and remains all year round. Other signs of Cushing’s are:
- Weight loss and lethargy despite normal or increased appetite
- Loss of muscle tone particularly over the back and rump.
- Fat deposits on the crest, above the tail and behind the eyes.
- Sweating.
- Increased drinking and urination.
- Unusual bouts of laminitis.
- Recurrent infections due to suppression of the immune system.
Care Of The Cushing's Horse Or Pony
Cushing’s disease can be confirmed by a veterinary blood test and although the condition cannot be cured, it can be managed effectively with tablets and careful stable management including clipping, dentistry, weight control and nutrition.
- Dentistry is important to keep the teeth in good order to ensure the horse can get the most from his feed and ensure the risk of infection from poor teeth is reduced. Teeth that are sharp, loose or missing can lead to the horse ‘quidding’ or dropping his forage, making him unable the ingest enough feed or prevent him from getting the essential nutrients from his food leading to greater weight loss.
- Feeding: Ensuring that the Cushing’s horse or pony is being fed the right food is also very important. There are many feed companies that offer specialists feeds for veteran horses whilst minimizing the risk of laminitis. It is best to seek out professional advice from your vet or a feed company nutritionist to ensure your horse receives the right diet for his weight and condition.
- Coat Care: The thick, long coat of the Cushing’s horse can make them overly warm and sweat, causing discomfort and distress in warmer weather. Their thick coat can also prevent them from drying out properly, risking them becoming chilled and causing the body to use up valuable energy to keep warm. Moisture from sweating trapped in the hair close to the skin can also be an ideal breeding ground for bacteria and fungi, with an overgrowth likely to develop into skin issues.
Regularly clipping the thick coat will be greatly beneficial to help your horse regulate their body temperature much more effectively and reduce the risk of sweating and overheating.
Choosing The Best Clippers For Cushing's Coats
Because the coat of the Cushing’s horse or pony is usually very thick, curly and could be matted, a heavy-duty horse clipper is best. At Masterclip, we offer a variety of different horse clippers to ensure that your Cushing’s horse or pony keeps cool and comfortable.
Our heavy-duty Hunter, cordless HD Roamer and V-series clippers are ideal for full clips, legs and hogging of thick, Cushing’s coats. These clippers have powerful motors to help breeze through thick fluffy coats effortlessly. They are easy to use and have wide blades to take more hair off with each stoke and reduce clipping time. Our Masterclip horse clippers offer a choice of A2 blades to suit the condition of the coat and provide the best finish.
Heavy duty clippers can be used to clip your horse’s legs and head but you may prefer a smaller clipper to clip smaller, delicate areas such as trimming the face and heels.
A medium duty clipper, such as our Royale or cordless MD Roamer are smaller, quieter, and easier to manoeuvre than larger heavy duty handsets, ideal clippers to finish off a super smart full clip.
What Type Of Clip Is Best?
Cushing’s horses tend to need clipping all year round and you may need to adapt your clip throughout the year depending on their comfort.
- Summer Clip: In summer, usually a full clip, even for horses that are not in work tends to be best. A full body clip will keep them cool and help them to regulate their body temperature more effectively.
- Winter Clip: In winter, clipping depends on how your horse copes with the colder climate. A partial clip in a variation of a trace or Irish clip may be all that’s needed for most horses and ponies, especially for those still in work. These types of clip tackle the hair in the sweatiest places but allow to keep the backs and quarters covered.
Which Clipper Blades Should I use?
The coat needs to be as clean as possible before clipping, but as such a thick coat does not tend to dry properly so bathing is usually not an option, even in the summer. Instead, brushing the coat by deep, through grooming daily to remove as much dust, dirty, grass and dried sweat as possible before attempting to clip will help the clipper blades to glide comfortably through the coat.
A2 coarse clipper blades are the best blades to give your horse the first clip to remove the bulk of the hair. They cope much better with clipping through patches of sweaty, matted hair that would otherwise dull other blades much faster. Always start with freshly sharpened or brand new clipper blades and take time to regularly oil the clipper handset and blades every 5 minutes during clipping and to brush away hair from the blades.
Don’t worry if the first initial clip doesn’t look perfect as the coat may not be very clean to provide a smooth finish straight away. Instead, after the first clip use a medium blade on the clipper to run over the clip again in a slightly different direction against the hair to remove any clip lines and a leave a more even, smarter finish.
A full clip with a medium blade is ideal for the summer. This will ensure that your Cushing’s horse stays cool but has enough coat to keep their skin protected from the sun’s rays if they have sensitive pink skin. If clipping using a fine blade, you may want to turn your horse out with a UV sheet to protect against the sun.
Above Cushing's clips by @Laura Rose Equine Services
Summary
Clip regularly : Horses with Cushing’s disease may require more frequent clipping due to their coat's inability to shed naturally. Regular clipping helps maintain comfort and hygiene.
Use the right clippers : Choose powerful, heavy-duty clippers designed to handle thick, often curly coats.
Choose the right blades : Use blades designed for thick coats, such as medium to coarse blades, to handle the dense hair of horses with Cushing’s more effectively.
We hope you find this blog helpful! Take a look at our range of clippers or feel free to contact us for friendly advice on choosing the best tools for your horse.
