{"id":22083,"date":"2026-05-29T01:00:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/?p=22083"},"modified":"2026-05-29T07:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:52:32","slug":"update-on-cometas-equine-metabolic-syndrome-and-cushings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/update-on-cometas-equine-metabolic-syndrome-and-cushings\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on Cometa&#8217;s Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Cushings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Patty Wilber<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>We had a very mild winter,<\/strong> and plants that normally freeze and die, did not. We ended up with a bumper crop of foxtail (and orchard grass), but that&#8217;s another story.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I let the horses graze on the green foxtail<\/strong> (for an hour at a time) and that may have pushed our 29-year-old, Cometa, over into a laminitis flare.\u00a0 He tested positive for pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) = Cushings, and also for Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS).<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>The symptoms<\/strong>, according to the<a href=\"https:\/\/equine.mgcafe.uky.edu\/news-story\/understanding-differences-between-ems-and-ppid\"> University of Kentucky<\/a> for PPID are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Changes in hair coat, such as failure to shed fully and timely and long, sometimes curly hair once called hirsutism, now called hypertrichosis<\/li>\n<li>Chronic infections<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Hoof abscesses<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Excess or inappropriate sweating<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Increased water intake and urination, called polyuria\/polydipsia;<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Lethargy<\/li>\n<li>Loss of muscle mass<\/li>\n<li>Pot-bellied appearance<\/li>\n<li>Infertility, or lack of estrus cycles, and abnormal mammary gland function<\/li>\n<li>In some cases a predisposition to laminitis if hyperinsulinemia (high levels of insulin in the blood) is involved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Cometa only had the bolded italic<\/strong> ones (until the laminitis episode), and the sweating and urination had been his norm for years. He sheds fine, has lots of energy, and did not show muscle loss.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For EMS,<\/strong> the symptoms (from UK again) are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>Insulin resistance (IR), now called insulin dysregulation<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>A history of or active laminitis<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Increased adiposity<\/strong><\/em> (excess fat depositions in typical regions of neck crest and fat pads at the base of tail).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>He has all of those.\u00a0 He has been &#8220;lumpy&#8221; for many years, also<\/strong>, so apparently our boy had been on the edge (or had) both PPID and EMD for quite some time!<\/p>\n<p><strong>His blood test showed:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22086\" src=\"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-220055.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"840\" height=\"77\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>High ACTH = PPID.<\/strong>\u00a0 High insulin and leptin are consistent with EMS.<\/p>\n<p><strong>He has adjusted to his new diet<\/strong> of timothy balance cubes, timothy pellets, and Nutrena Safe Choice Special care.\u00a0 This should help with the EMD, and indeed, he seems to be looking less lumpy! He also gets<a href=\"https:\/\/www.petpawsrx.com\/product\/animed-remission-founder-support-for-horses-4-pounds\/01tUP000002YcQLYA0?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23540560072&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADMRKEaZ4mOMIXL7Pe_ssD-wh-DGi&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwrNrQBhBjEiwAoR4VO9UTy5kdi8of7VxruoaqRwBflD9Av-7omFpcFIH8YcBDCrmnen9o5BoCc80QAvD_BwE\"> AniMed Remission<\/a>\u00a0and isoxsuprine to support his recovery from the laminitis, and pergolide for the PPID. He will be wearing the backward shoes for 6 months or so.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22092\" style=\"width: 566px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22092\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22092\" src=\"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260528_083548-e1780030153469.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"556\" height=\"600\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-22092\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eating his soaked feed, showing off his shine, and some lumps!<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>He lives in a good-sized pen<\/strong> next to Penny and MH.\u00a0 He is definitely feeling himself, as he and MH are sparring over the fence again.\u00a0 When he is done with breakfast, Penny sometimes is allowed to join him for the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jim is walking him 10 minutes a day,<\/strong> and Cometa strides out like he is on a Back Country Horsemen project, with places to go.<\/p>\n<p><strong>He got good marks<\/strong> on his last check-up and will have another one in three months. Hopefully, his feet recover enough to allow him to go back to work, because he clearly thinks he is still all that!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22093\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22093\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22093\" src=\"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260528_083613-e1780030173738.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"512\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-22093\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Looking pretty good for an oldster on a whole new life plan!<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>I started out to write about the effects of foxtail<\/strong> on other plants (foxtails produce phytotoxins!),\u00a0 but Cometa clearly wanted his story updated.\u00a0 Foxtail can wait a week.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Patty Wilber We had a very mild winter, and plants that normally freeze and die, did not. We ended up with a bumper crop of foxtail (and orchard grass), but that&#8217;s another story. I let the horses graze on &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/update-on-cometas-equine-metabolic-syndrome-and-cushings\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb2lc3-5Kb","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22049,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/cometa-has-equine-metabolic-syndrome\/","url_meta":{"origin":22083,"position":0},"title":"Cometa has Equine Metabolic Syndrome","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2604.24","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber Whelp, the old man (Cometa) has been off and on lame for a bit, and I kept thinking it was another abscess, but it would not clear up.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it wasn't an abscess. Nope. He spent the day at the vet on Monday and was diagnosed with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Write Horse&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20251010_140554.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20251010_140554.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20251010_140554.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20251010_140554.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20251010_140554.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22097,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/foxtail-vs-kochia\/","url_meta":{"origin":22083,"position":1},"title":"Foxtail vs. Kochia","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2606.05","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber We have what I have been calling \"foxtail\", but when I started to learn more about foxtails, it seems we don't have traditional foxtail in the genus Setaria,\u00a0but instead have a foxtail barley in the genus Hordeum.\u00a0 Mine is an annual, cool-season grass, so I think it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Write Horse&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260527_174836-scaled-e1780634099872.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260527_174836-scaled-e1780634099872.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260527_174836-scaled-e1780634099872.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19993,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2023\/03\/24\/mud-and-hair\/","url_meta":{"origin":22083,"position":2},"title":"Mud and Hair and My Surgery Results","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2303.24","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber We have had a wet winter with above average snow fall, and now Spring is leaking in, wetly as well. We came home from Arizona last Saturday to the remains of rain followed by nearly a foot of snow.\u00a0 The snow melted pretty fast and even started\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Miscellaneous!&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Miscellaneous!","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/miscellaneous\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230323_091819.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230323_091819.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230323_091819.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22033,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/good-fortune-abounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":22083,"position":3},"title":"Good Fortune in my Corner","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2604.10","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber I had a busy week, in which: we got back from a great Easter in Knoxville visiting Mark, Erica, and Juni; the hotel reservations in Clovis that I botched got fixed with the help of the Best Western Cannon AFB owner AND saved me money; and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Write Horse&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260403_113620-scaled-e1775797824987.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260403_113620-scaled-e1775797824987.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260403_113620-scaled-e1775797824987.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4229,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2011\/06\/15\/heading-for-hope\/","url_meta":{"origin":22083,"position":4},"title":"Heading for Hope","author":"Doranna","date":"1106.15","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week was all about Connery's MACH2 triumph. ConneryBeagle: THAT IS RIGHT!\u00a0 BAWH! Well, we haven't talked so much about the increasing headsplosions, or the way the compounded meds look like they're interacting with his critical immunosuppressant drug, giving him nights of illness while I look for a solution.\u00a0 Or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ConneryBeagle&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ConneryBeagle","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/connery\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Weaving Beagle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/1005.santafe.CBweaves.SM_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15030,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2017\/11\/10\/high-country-riding-check-list\/","url_meta":{"origin":22083,"position":5},"title":"High Country Riding Check List","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1711.10","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber Riding high country trails is a goal of many riders.\u00a0 I understand that goal because it sure is fun to be way out there on a good horse.\u00a0 \"Way out there\" can mean far from help, also, so here are some things to think about (in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Write Horse&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_1298-e1469076666327-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22083"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22095,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22083\/revisions\/22095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}