Has anyone managed to get rid of a crest?

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paris123

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Jan 3, 2011
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My mare has a HUGE crest, well actually it fluctuates.

I try and manage it as best i can but its really hard!

Even the slightest bit of sugar turns it rock hard.

She's currently on minimal grass with a grazing muzzle on all day, she has a token feed with suppliments in - flax seed oil, magnesium, garlic and multi vit.
She is fed horsehage high fibre haylage to make up for lack of grass.

Last summer i got her crest as small as i had ever done through huge amounts of exercise, but she was also stabled in the day time which i can't do now. Though by the end of the summer she'd started to get a bit ribby despite her crest still being large!

So in the space of the last two weeks her crest has gone rock hard and got alot bigger, luckily she isn't prone to lami and the rest of her body is in no way over- weight just her neck!

Is there anything i am missing that i should be doing to reduce this?

many thanks.
 
This happened to Ed last Spring. He became slightly overweight all of a sudden, but the most dramatic change was his neck. He's a chunky Welsh Sec D, so to some extent a big neck is part of his conformation, but this was worryingly large and firm.

I took him off grass overnight (bark chip school, with one haynet and hedgrows!) and strip grazed him by day. I then fed him Fast Fibre with Naf Slimline and Magnesium Oxide. It took from beginning of June until end of August for him to get back to normal weight/neck. But, I only had him off grass overnight for three weeks, then we just relied on strip grazing.

I've been much more careful to make sure he doesn't come out of Winter looking quite so 'well' this year. So, he's currently an excellent weight with no crest at all. He's now out 24/7, but is already strip-grazed. He has a little hay morning and night and is still only fed FF with mag ox and Naf General Supplement. He's also on Cinnamon and Yea-Sacc too.

Sounds like you're managing in a similar way. You could try Cinnamon as this is meant to help with IR (which a cresty neck can be a symptom of). Just another thought, but are you giving enough Magnesium Oxide?
 
Crests are often last place to lose it - with my girls she never loses her wither fat. You could try increased mag? And maybe switch to Timothy hay though I think high fivre is lami safe too
 
A thickening crest can be a sign of impending laminitis and this is why I am always checking my mare`s crest as she is prone to lammi. At the first sign of it thickening after winter she has her muzzle on to be turned out. In winter she is fed haylage overnight but in spring/summer/autumn I switch to hay to keep her weight down. She has a small feed morning and night of chaff, (one large handfull) speedibeet and carrots, with a supplement over winter. I have found this regime keeps her weight (and crest) down.
 
Yup, Fat Cob came to us nearly dead through obesity, I have never in my life seen such a fat horse. He was left all winter in Shetland without a rug and only the food on the ground. It saved his life.
 
Are you feeding Magnesium oxide heavy? that is the best form. Make sure you are feeding enough.

I got rid of my mares crest a few weeks ago. It started appearing for the first time ever when the grass started flushing. It went within about a month. She has been muzzled in the day, stabled with hay at night, I increased her magnesium, added Global herbs Restore to detox her liver so she could process things better and flush the toxins out of her system and also added Protexin probiotic to help her gut function. After advice from my trimmer. She is looking miles better now.

I also feed this on top of all that - http://www.naturalhorsesupplies.co.uk/p/product/0911136429-Herbal+Slim++900g++%A3649/

Just with a handful of chaff, and use extra magnesium as we know the pastures around here are very deficient.

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

I was so shocked and scared to see Rhia go cresty, so glad I got on top of it quicky (also added extra exercise too).
 
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Just to add- the Restore and Protexin are only a temporary thing. Now she has lost weight and her crest has gone down I am just running this tub out and then she will go back to her normal diet with exercise and strict grass reduction to keep it down.
 
Yes i'm using the heavy mag, i think i'm using enough? If i remember correctly for her body weight it worked out at 6 grams?? I've often wondering though if as its such a light powder the scoop i'm using is pointless? I've got a little 5gram one of which i give her two heaped spoons.

To give you an idea ive started measuring her crest at its widest point and its 42 inches.....

But as i said the rest of her body is the perfect weight and not over weight??

I've heard dried stinging nettles added to feed helps?

I was also considering the simple feeds suppliment, cant rememeber what its called but helps break down fat deposits?

Can i just add my mare has ALWAYS had crest from the age of around 5 and i have never ever been able to get it down to nothing, when i've asked other experienced horse people they say its just her build but i struggle to believe that!

i may take some photos later and show you how bad it is.

Im on major crest removal this week, lunging in the morning AND riding in the evenings as well as her muzzle every day (trying to win a greenguard on ebay currently so she can wear 24 hours a day).
 
Sorry to hi jack (I've just took my pony off the grass as she was footsore and had developed a little crest, a few people couldn't notice it but me and OH agreed it was defo there!!) but what does mag ox do in regards to porky ponies and lami?
 
Hiya,

my understanding of it is Alot of grass lacks magnesium that the horseys need and by supplimenting it is supposedly helps reduce fatty deposites such as crests etc. :)
 
paris123 said:
Hiya,

my understanding of it is Alot of grass lacks magnesium that the horseys need and by supplimenting it is supposedly helps reduce fatty deposites such as crests etc. :)
Click to expand...

Ahh I see!!! Does dried stinging nettles do the same type of thing?
 
My veteran had a cresty neck for about four or five years despite restricted grazing. It has almost gone since last October when I stopped feeding my horses any hard food at all (within three weeks of this change), they are just on Dengie Good Do-er and Readigrass with a few supplements. He has Top Spec Veteran and a mix of herbs, MSM granules (NAF) and Pink Powder.
Other than the Top Spec he had all the other supplements anyway, and since he didn't have the Top Spec until later in December, I can't say that any of those were the cause of his crest disappearing. I think it was the drop of hard feed but it sounds like you don't feed any either. He does get dried nettle in his feed, though, I make up a bucket of approximately the same quantities of dried nettle, camomile, dandelion and peppermint, and they all get a big handful once or twice a day. Oops, my secret recipe is out!!
 
We had a little pony on loan for my daughter a few years ago who arrived with a bit of a crest, exercise and lots of it did get rid of it quite quickly in her case.
 
photos as promised.
Please excuse her dirtyness and grumpy expression.
One of her complete body so you can see her body for comparison
IMG00147-20110404-18161.jpg


IMG00146-20110404-17291.jpg

also one with my hand.
IMG00145-20110404-17291.jpg


i cant exercise her as much as she needs, i can spare an hour to 90mins most days but as soon as the weather turns bad like today i'm stuffed.

i dont know how much more i can do :(:help:
 
I really would try a course of Restore, it isn't expensive and you don't have to feed it forever and if you can't up exercise lower the amount of haylage she is having. Changing to soaked hay would be best. Then really motivate yourself to do as much exercise as possible. I am going out for a hack later today, it is howling with wind and rain here but we need to get out.
 
having looked at the ingrediants in metaslim it seems awfully expensive for what is essentially a few herbs, i've ordered similar herbs etc to make my own 'metaslim'
 
When I first got Puz she was disgustingly overweight, our first yard had no turn out so that helped in the first instance.

It came back a few years later as she was on good grazing, we used a muzzle to reduce grass intake with a token feed of hi-fi lite and a supplement. Also lots of long slow hacks.

Personally, if you want to make up for a lack of grass I would feed hay that has been soaked for 24hrs as it will have little or no nutrional value/sugar in it.
 
Why are you feeding her if she's over weight?

Bucket feed is food they just don't need.
 
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