[Poneigh]

My horse was super underweight a few months ago and the vet had me up his feed a lot. now he is a good weight and i cut his feed again because his neck has gotten cresty. he usually has a bit of an arched neck as he is 1/2 saddlebred but i think this is definitely too much of a crest. he has foundered a few years ago and recently started going on grass from 9am to 7pm (ish). before that he was doing half day on grass half day on a dry lot with hay. he was wearing a muzzle for the spring and beginning of summer but the vet had me wean him off it when he was so skinny. what do you think? sorry i dont have a good picture, its from my phone.

 

[KissTheRing]

Oh no That's not too bad! I've once seen a draft where his crest was soo large it actually folded down-

 

[eclipseranch]

I would keep in contact with the vet. The pic is blurry, but if you start limiting feed again and go back the other direction..the huge fluctuations of weight gain/loss like a roller coaster is not optimal...best to find a steady place with a steady routine and end up with a fairly steady weight.

 

[Poneigh]

thanks for your advice! i will call the vet on tuesday after the holiday. sometimes it can take a few days to get a call back though :/

 

[PaintedFury]

The little bit of crest in that pic is nothing to worry about. It's when they get so much of a crest that it's just huge, and affects their throatlatch that it becomes a problem. You have a long, long way to go before you have to even think about that crest as something to worry about.
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[Super Nova]

The little bit of crest in that pic is nothing to worry about. It's when they get so much of a crest that it's just huge, and affects their throatlatch that it becomes a problem. You have a long, long way to go before you have to even think about that crest as something to worry about.
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Well in my opinion any crest is something that should make any owner sit up and take notice.......its a warning sign......don't ignore it.....by then it could be too late you could end up dealing with a serious case of laminitis.

And I'm not sure what the throat latch area has to do with a cresty neck? the cresty neck is on the top side of the neck right under the mane, the throat latch area is on the underside of the next next to the jowl area.....

Super Nova

 

[jaydee]

cresty neck

He isn't a draft or cob breed that has a naturally cresty neck and with his history of founder/laminitis you should definitely worry. It may not look much but these things start small and get worse
Horse with full blown metabolic. IRS issues aren't essentially fat on their rib area but get abnormal deposits of fat on the neck, rump, quarters, sheath.
Look into ways of restricting his grazing and keeping good weight on him using the right feeds - avoid anything high starch/sugar.
Magnesium & chromium supplements are getting good results in IRS horses
Your vet will advise you but there are some good websites out there as well that you can research yourself

 

[loosie]

The little bit of crest in that pic is nothing to worry about. It's when they get so much of a crest that it's just huge, and affects their throatlatch that it becomes a problem.

:shock: That to me sounds like discounting neurological probs if they fall short of paraplegia!! It is indicative of long term & unaddressed problems when it becomes that severe that it falls over or affects the throat. You would also be likely to see hoof & other health probs way before it got to that extreme. Agree with Nova and Jaydee. Yes OP, you are correct to be concerned.

That the horse was thin(assuming), has a history of founder & a crest despite having been underweight screams insulin resistance to me, of which it sounds like your vet may not be not knowledgeable about. ecirhorse.com is one great online resource for learning about this.

 

[Poneigh]

thank you so much everyone for your advice!! i have had him looked at by two vets this year and have ended up confused both times. one looked at him when he was first starting to get thin/underweight and thought his weight looked good after previously (approx. 2 months) thinking he looked cresty and possibly IR (i did not think so at the time). then i got a 2nd opinion on him bc i thought he was continuing to lose weight and everyone else thought so too. we upped his hay and grain as well as pasture time (gradually). i never had him fed as much grain as the vet wanted though. I got him up to 1.5 scoops 2x/day of LS sentinel performance feed and the vet had wanted him on at least 2. it took 2 months to see a difference but he finally started gaining rapidly, and now he looks cresty when i have never seen him like this before, even when he foundered!
perhaps i will give the original vet a call early tomorrow morning.
thanks again everyone for the help. sorry for the blabbing on!

 

[loosie]

While pics often aren't all that accurate, if you'd like opinions on the rest of his weight now, some (non blurry ;-) ) ones would help. If there's any chance he's IR, I would be feeding him NO grain or other sugary/starchy feed.

 

[Poneigh]

i will try to get some pictures tonight that arent off my phone lol. and im in the process of making a vet appointment by the receptionist doesnt know how late the vet is willing to do appointments so im waiting to hear back!! its always difficult bc i work "business hours" 5-7days a week to pay for the horses in the first place!!
thanks to everyone for your advice

 

[jaydee]

I would ask for a full bloods to be done to check his insulin levels - I have a friend in the UK who really struggles to keep weight on her IRS pony without him going cresty or laminitic - they go from being 'good doers' to being bad ones. Might be worth testing him for Cushings too.
Sentinel senior seems to be a safe feed - I use it for mine and one of them had severe laminitis several years ago. You could add non molassed sugar beet to that - also a safe feed and recomended by the Laminitis Trust
My vet had such good results with chromium supplement on an old laminitic pony he 'rescued' that he suggested I use that - it also seems to encourage 'safe weight gain' I buy Quiessence as it also contains magnesium which is also said to be good for IRS horses.

 

[Super Nova]

If your horse has foundered before and tends to get fat deposits it would be advisable to keep your horse on the lean side........better a little thin then to fat and risk another bout of laminitis.

Super Nova

 

[Poneigh]

jaydee-- i actually used to have him on the senior sentinel and then the vet i got the 2nd opinion from had me switch to the performance as it is higher fat. its also what i feed my ottb mare that has a tendency to tie up and is also on a low sugar/starch diet. i will def talk about it with my vet (whenever i hear from him)
and i am certainly going to ask for a blood draw! i hope we can get a diagnosis on him!
thanks everyone