Mounted search and rescue

[Pennbo's <pennbo@verizon.net>]

Chuck, you have my sympathy.  I have had a Cushings horse before and I 
know the up and downs. While this seems like a harsh blow take heart-  
medicine can do some outrageously wonderful things these days about 
Cushings. You will first probably need to make sure it IS Cushings and 
not Insulin Resistance. Sometimes the tests results look similar. I can 
heartily recommend the yahoogroups EquineCushings. If there are experts 
in the study and care of Cushings and IR they are on that list. Just the 
archived information alone will enlighten you immensely.

Now- if your horse is just Cushings diet is not as big an issue and meds 
can control most of the symptoms for a good long time. If he is IR then 
diet is MUCH more critical- to avoid the laminitis/founder syndrome. 
Even then there are things you can learn about grazing that might allow 
some during a search- and there are specially formulated pelleted feeds 
that work really well for IR horses.

Anyway, you can probably still use your horse for a long long time!!

Chris Pennington