showing a cushingoid pony

[bex]

Guyson has cushings and unfortunately hasnt got his summer coat yet its not curly its just still long. bits are coming out but hes not exactly moulting. the yard are going to a show in a couple of weeks and they all want me to go as Guyson is beautiful and we used to do a bit of showing years ago. Now im not exactly "competative" but its always nice to think you have a chance isnt it?

anyone have any suggestions as to what i do with his coat? its still all shiney and soft but hairy! i will be doing th Mountain and Moorland classes with him and so i know im supposed to keep him "natural" but hes just getting too hot so i thought about clipping him because i dont want him getting all sticky and sweaty. will i be disqualified for this? people have told me if i explain to the judge why he is clipped then she will take it into consideration. hes only 14 so is young and healthy apart form the cushings and the lami that he got with it too! Lami is totally under control now so its just his coat im conserned about.

does anyone else have a pony with cushings thats on pergolide? Guyson is on 1 a day and is doing well. i wondered if he had a higher dose then he might start to moult?? anyone had any experience with this? anyway im going to ring my vet and see what he says too but just wondered. thanx. x

also.......what do judges usually think of heartbars? us this usually a problem?

[harveydales]

Well, if you think Guyson is struggling with his long coat in this warm weather, I'd clip him. He looks fab clipped or not and the judge should understand if she knows about it. If she is the sort of judge to mark him down because he has Cushings, she will do so whether he is clipped or not so I would go ahead. Same goes for the heratbars. Just enter the class and enjoy the day!

I think Nancy's Topaz is or was on Pergolide for his Cushings. Maybe she will see this post and be able to answer your question.

[bex]

ok thank you harveydales. i think i will go and just see what happens, i hope the judge understands. i can see myself getting upset if im last! lol

so if i clip him should i do allover but leave his little legs on? what about his face?

[shiatsudales]

Bonnie has had cushings for around five years now. We started him on periactin and then moved him to the pergolide when that stopped working. He's currently on 250mg a day (the tablets come in 125, 250 and 500mg so check what dosage Guyson is on as all the tablets are the same size and shape).

We started Bonnie on 125 and had to double his dose last Spring when he was really struggling. I don't know whether it's good to keep the dose low at first so you have somewhere to go with it as the condition deteriorates? If it's only for his coat that you're thinking of putting it up then I, personally, wouldn't but it's best to have a chat with your vet.

With Bonnie we find his coat doesn't shed properly and we end up 'plucking' him the same as you pluck some breeds of dog. Just pinch his hair between thumb and first finger and give a sharp down wards pull. If ready it comes away in a tuft, if not it just slides through your fingers and stays attached.

This year Bonnie has been really struggling with the heat and it was making him ill so we did this to him...



Not sure how impressed he was but he also does a lovely windswept look. You can see the tufty belly bits here that even three goes with the clippers and a pair of hand shearing thingies couldn't get!



When clipping a cushinoid horse you need two sets of newly sharpened blades and a heavy duty set of clippers. With Bonnie I had to do two passes going 'with' the hair to take it down from four inches in length to around an inch. The bottom inch of his coat was manky with grease and sweat so he then had to be given a bath and dried out overnight before I did another two passes. Both sets of blades now need sharpening again. I also did some of the worst bits with a set of hand shears as the hair was just too thick for clippers. Neighbour has said he'll do him with the sheep shears if he's hear next year. If you try and wash first before taking any length of hair off be prepared for it to take two days of good weather to dry out at the skin level.

In my experience showing a clipped Native is no more of a lottery than anything else in the 'judge likes you or not' stakes. Some will place you at the end of the line up as he's clipped and they'll say he shouldn't be, others will put you at the bottom as he has heart bars and, by assumption, has been laminitic, showing he has weak feet in some people's opinions.

Other judges will ignore both and judge conformation and movement alone.

We used to take Bonnie out when he was younger and he loved it so I'd say take Guyson if he enjoys parties as it'll be a good day out and some fun for both of you together. Go with no expectations of being placed and just treat it as an enjoyable outing. You never know.

If clipping I'd also recommend a full clip, this looks better than what I've done to poor old Bonnie.

[bex]

hello thank you for your response, i cant get to the internet over the weekend so thats why i havnt replied. Tried ringing the vet on friday with no answer, didnt want to bother him saturday so ill try again today. i think the pergolide your talking about is in Micro-grams not Miligrams. Guyson is on 1 milligram once a day, i do often wonder if this is enough but vet said because hes responded to this then he didnt think taking another blood test was neccessary but i may ask him to do one anyway as its been a while now and cant have the dreaded lami coming back. A normal horse on a cushings test would be 40, a cushingoid horse is 70 and Guysons result came back as 298!!!!! no wonder i couldnt get rid of the lami by keeping him in! hes back to his crazy self now its been about a year since he was diagnosed.

looks like he will have to be clipped, more of his coat has been coming out this week but not enough! show is at weekend and he wont be clipped before then so he will be all hairy for that so ill let you all know what the verdict is!! LOL

[bex]

ps bonnie looks very cute!

[harveydales]

Oh good luck with the Show. If you've got the cold wind we have, Guyson should be OK.

[bex]

thank you i cant wait. trouble is i havnt got anything to wear! off to the shops on saturday i think! i couldnt believe his in hand bridle still fits him from when he was 6 and its in perfect condition. tried it on him at the weekend and he looked so cute. im only doing in-hand so hes got all he needs its just me that has to get dressed now!

[bex]

hello hello hello hello!!!!! well........................bathed him and he scrubbed up a treat, even more of his coat began to come out!! well went to the show on sunday and after all my worrying ended up taking him all natural not clipped as clipper women never came and he got 5th in pre-veteran!!!! i was over the moon!! judge didnt even ask me about his coat! mind you its semi summer coat now hes doing really well, all of a sudden tonnes have come out, im actually starting to worry that hes going from 1 extreme to the next! lol. also entered in M+M and he came 7th so no rosette for that but still i was so pleased with his as the classes were quite large. ill get some pics on when i can.

[harveydales]

Brilliant results! Well done both of you! I'm so glad you had a good day Showing.

[Debbie]

Well done!!! I think it showed great courage to get out there and show him, and his results are brilliant.

Besides, nothing like an excuse for a touch of shopping

[bevbob]

Brilliant becky! Aww, wish I had gone now! Im still missing you and Guyson.

[shiatsudales]

Sounds as if you had fun and congratuklations on the rosette and other placings. Bonnie used to really light up at 'parties' so has boviously done quite a lot in the past. I think these older guys just like going out and strutting their stuff.

[bex]

he really loved it, he thought he was a stallion! haha. i really enjoyed it once i got over my nerves! cant tell you how much i spent on my shopping for just one day! bloomin heck its expensive! iv not been to a show for about 6 years so had to buy a whole new wardrobe plus riding boots MOUNTAIN HORSE SPORTIV 2! ilove them but they really dont love me back they turned me into a cripple!! thanx everyone and yes bev you should have come i thought you would have been there i saw vicky and lindsay.