It looks like a Barb horse to me: Barb horse - Wikipedia

...and I'd say that the long hair is explained by Cushings. Long hair is one of the hallmarks of Cushings and your Zarqa has a few other characteristics that are common in untreated Cushings - like the collapsed topline. Bad cases of Cushings have trouble walking and have anhedonia. Cushings is treatable with medication but not curable. They can do pretty well on treatment.

 

That is fascinating. I'm not a horse specialist but I've known Zarqa for years, even before I rescued her, and I do remember that she would shed her coat more easily during the summer season and now she doesn't. She has trouble walking, and I just assumed that was because she had been worked too hard as a plow horse. In terms of anhedonia, again, I'm not a specialist, but it could be the case. She is almost blind, and follows around a small pony rescue of mine who she has kind of adopted, but it is true she is a bit withdrawn. But most of my rescues are, because they've had pretty awful lives with people their whole lives. I am going to ask my vet about Cushings and see what the diagnostic and treatment protocols are. There aren't a lot of meds here, but I could always bring some in if necessary. As an aside, we also think she has some neurological issues. Some years ago she went through a phase of a couple months of a bobbing head. We tried programs of anti-inflammatories, anti-biotics and steroids. No way to diagnose what it was, but my vet decided to try and treat all the possibilities that he could identify. After a couple months, it went away. Also, she has had some mini-seizures. Falls down, shakes a bit, and after a couple minutes gets back up, is a bit wobbly for awhile, but then goes back to normal. When I Googled seizures in horses, it seemed to match what was being written. I wonder if that could be linked to Cushing's also.

I really appreciate your information! Thanks.

 

Yup, Cushing's, definitely.

The prescribed medication will be likely Prascend or Pergolide, and it is available in many parts of the world. It would likely increase her quality of life quite a lot.

 

Thanks so much for the information. Super valuable. I'm getting my vet on top of it tonight!

 

Cushings, 1000% percent. Your vet should be able to advise you on management and what to feed her. They generally need low sugar diets and a higher balance of certain minerals that they're more prone to lacking.

Check out this page. It's a really good resource and I'm sure there are lots of people happy to give you guidance! Equine Cushings & Insulin Resistance Group

 

Cushings, 1000% percent. Your vet should be able to advise you on management and what to feed her. They generally need low sugar diets and a higher balance of certain minerals that they're more prone to lacking.

Check out this page. It's a really good resource and I'm sure there are lots of people happy to give you guidance! Equine Cushings & Insulin Resistance Group

Thanks so much. Really appreciated.

 

I'm going to guess Arab crossed with some kind of pony. Her ears & eyes are very Arabian looking but her body is more like some kind of pony breed. I agree with the probability of Cushings based on her symptoms, age and hair. Can you get a vet to check her fairly easily?

 

I already called my vet. He says he's familiar with Cushings, although I question that since he's never mentioned it as a possibility before. In any case, now we're on the case. I need to figure out what the diagnostic capabilities are here, and whether the correct medicine is available.

 

Just jumping back in to make a point.

While Cushings is a likely diagnosis, there's nothing "definite" or "1000%" about it. It's the most probable guess, but not the only possibility. There are other medical conditions that cause hirsutism, including in horses, and other possible explanations for loss of topline, distended belly, lack of interest in life, difficulty walking etc. A Cushings diagnosis involves a blood test, not just looking at a photograph and speculating.

It may seem pedantic to some, but it's really not. It's really important not to jump to conclusions, and not to dismiss other possibilities - with this matter, and as a general rule in life.

And as to dietary modifications, that's only necessary if your horse is also insulin resistant/has equine metabolic syndrome, which is not the case for all Cushings horses. I've got a 24-year-old horse who has Cushings and no issues with blood sugar regulation, and he eats as he always has and is doing very well. Cushings in horses is usually caused by a pituitary tumour, and the regulatory problems caused by the tumour depend on where exactly it is, how big it is, and a whole raft of other things.

In humans, cases of Cushings caused by pituitary tumours are usually treated by removing the tumour. Because that's not a realistic option in horses, their Cushings gets treated with a dopamine agonist, which often (but not always) improves the quality of life of the horse significantly. Dopamine is involved in the regulation of physiological processes (in a complex way and not as the only factor) and affects mood, motivation and interest in life.

It's best to catch Cushings early, before a lot of degeneration sets in; but if that wasn't possible treatment can still make a significant difference in many cases.

Good luck, @Debbie in Lybia - it's so kind of you to give a nice retirement to senior animals in need of TLC. ❤ I've only ever bought one horse in my life - an Arabian who died in 2014, at age 32. All the others have been the debris of the horse racing "industry" which I loathe. That includes my current three, all over 20 and enjoying a stimulating free-range retirement in which they can freely socialise with each other and a small herd of donkeys, and (because we've been lucky) they can explore a whole lot of diverse countryside in the daytime. The socialisation bit is so important - my youngest adoptee spent 17 years basically in solitary confinement, never allowed to interact with another animal in the same enclosure. This changed when we got him. Here's a photo from the morning he first ran with others of his kind, and on actual pasture.



He's in the middle. My Cushings horse is on the left of the photo.

 

Just jumping back in to make a point.

While Cushings is a likely diagnosis, there's nothing "definite" or "1000%" about it. It's the most probable guess, but not the only possibility. There are other medical conditions that cause hirsutism, including in horses, and other possible explanations for loss of topline, distended belly, lack of interest in life, difficulty walking etc. A Cushings diagnosis involves a blood test, not just looking at a photograph and speculating.

Regarding hirsutism, my vet told me that Cushing's is actually the only known cause of it in horses. I was skeptical, so looked it up and the vet sources I was able to find online seemed to confirm this. I will agree there are other explanations for the other symptoms. But believe it is true that if you see a horse with a significantly long hair coat even in a photo, the horse does have Cushing's. Some horses will have longer coats in the winter than others, such as Icelandic ponies. No breed naturally has a coat like the OP's horse.

 

if you have clippers shave that hair coat off . they cannot regulate body temp with cushings. If you cannot find the medication , and you cannot get it ordered try googling for some natural remedys. Anything that will help is better than nothing

 

Whether or not you clip the coat off depends on the season, and whether the horse gets sweaty and hot in summer (and whether or not your summer has cold nights, although you can rug a clipped horse in cool weather and at night). Many (but not all) unmedicated Cushings horses have difficulty thermoregulating, but this can be in both directions - can suffer from heat and from cold. Cushings medication generally (but not always) improves this problem. Meanwhile, provide shade, shelter, ample water, and consider whether you need to clip, and rug in cool weather.

The veterinarian should be able to get access to the standard medication, if Cushings is diagnosed. It's available to order online and shipped internationally.

 

I'm positive the breed is "cutie patooty".

 

Absolutely agreed!

 

Sue C, I love your picture of the lonely horse first turned with others of his kind.

 

Thank you. 🌞 I really love to see him enjoying his life, after being solitary and bored for so terribly long - I used to watch him pace up and down the fenceline of his run with a dead-eyed expression, and he wore a deep trench along the fence from his incessant pacing up and down. I could never do anything about it, until I had a chance to adopt him. ❤ He spent much of his early weeks here just walking around looking at everything with fascination, often coming to see what I was doing with this "isn't it great" expression on his face - home had been one deep sand run (lot feeding - no pasture) and a stable at night. The sensory and social deprivation this horse endured for 17 years were unspeakable. But it's not unusual for racehorses to be kept like this, and indeed I'm not a fan of keeping horses locked into buildings for most of their lives, as is still common practice in many countries - just as I'm not a fan of hens living in batteries, or songbirds being kept in little cages.

 

My hat's off to you for living in such a difficult place.

 

Oh Sue, my Bethlehem donk's name was Ben too!

 

As a follow-up, I'd like to let all the people who shared their valuable input with me know that we were able to test her ACTH and it was 335 pg/ml, which is extremely elevated (I understand normal levels could be around 30 pg/ml) so Cushing's is confirmed. Prascend is not available in Libya, but I managed to get a UK prescription for it, and it should be here in about 10 days. I estimate her weight to be approx. 925 lbs/420 kg, so I am going to start her on 1 mg/day, and see how she reacts, with the possibility of upping it to 2 mg/day if necessary.

I want to express my deep gratitude for the time and consideration of each of the people that responded to my post, as well as to the Forum for providing this resource. I doubt I ever would have realized my dear horse had Cushing's without it, and her life would have been worse because of it. Your input has changed the quality of life of a horse and gained my profound appreciation.

Thank you thank you thank you!

 

Thank you...

Most welcome, Debbie - and I'd be really interested to know how your horse goes on treatment - which issues improve for her, out of what you listed. 😎

Improvements can take a while to peak. The horse I've got, I started on 1 tablet a day when he was originally diagnosed and the only sign of it externally was delayed and patchy shedding of his winter coat, which wasn't even particularly hairy - was in range of normal. I built it up from half a tablet; at that early stage he ended up with "pergolide veil" - less active than he was before the medication, so we reduced him back to half a tablet a day, and he was fine on that for about 18 months. Then he fell into a hole - one day he got exhausted on a small ride, and this horse never gets exhausted... I walked him home; he drank lots of water and just seemed depressed to me and I called the vet out for another blood test. ACTH was way up this time so we tripled his medication then. It took about 3-4 months for him to get back to within range of normal symptom-wise and I at first didn't expect him to because he spent two months going around very slowly like an old man and not even keeping up with the herd, but grazing on his own and not joining in with the others, and not very interested in eating or anything else really - his eyes were just completely switched off, and he was losing weight.

Then he gradually got better, and started running with the others again and eating with an appetite, and putting muscle back on so I was able to start him back on light work. Still, at the end of that winter he had grown a yak-like coat:

This is him giving a beginner a ride - he looks awful here but it was mostly his coat - at this point he was galloping freely with the herd and had enough muscle back on to be ridden, and of course light work and extra feed with it assisted in him regaining his condition.

This is him now - and he's 24:

It's autumn here and he's just beginning to grow a winter coat again. We'll see how extreme it gets this year - maybe I'll have to buy clippers, or maybe it will be OK because this time around he's not in a Cushings crisis while actually growing his winter coat in autumn (which is what happened last time, a year ago).

Good luck with everything in Libya - are you having to courier, or is there international post into your country?

 

Well thank you for the update Debbie. Glad 'we' could help! Not that I said anything pertinent - when I arrived it had already been said. But we all appreciate your letting us know & hopefully the old girl will have a new lease of life, become less 'geriatric' with the meds!

 

But we all appreciate your letting us know & hopefully the old girl will have a new lease of life, become less 'geriatric' with the meds!

...and now what I'm interested in is something to make me less geriatric as time goes on. 😇

I mean, apart from enough sleep and exercise, good nutrition, hair dye, UV protection and a positive attitude...

 

Some horses have issues when starting on Prascend with a loss of appetite and seeming depressed. Many vets recommend easing the horse onto it beginning with a half pill, and then increasing to one pill over a week or so.

 

That's very helpful, thanks.

 

I wanted to share an update of my Cushings horse. Thanks to this Forum, I was able to identify she had Cushings, and she's been on half a dose of Prascend for about 3 months. I'm sharing the before and after photos. Absolutely amazing, and I am so grateful to the people on this Forum who guided me in the right direction.

 

So happy to see your update! Prascend is a miracle for many horses.

 

Wow!! She must be so much more comfortable now. Wonderful change!

 

She looks fantastic!

 

Wonderful!

Thanks for coming back and giving this update.

 

Yes!