Equine Health

Medicine & Husbandry

Cushings Disease and Laminitis Linked

Researchers recently revealed that Cushings, a disease related to the dysfunction of the pituitary gland, may be a large contributing factor to laminitis. Dr. Mark Donaldson at the University of Pennsylvania began testing laminitis cases in 1996 and has found that over 70% of his laminitis cases were also suffering from Cushings disease.

Typically horses with Cushings are older, have cresty necks, abnormal fat distribution, and an overly long coat. However, most of the laminitis cases that Dr. Donaldson tested and diagnosed with having Cushings were horses in their teens and showed no clinical signs of the disease. Dr. Donaldson recommends “test any horse for Cushing's that develops laminitis for an unknown reason.”