Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Equine Cushing’s Disease

signs of EMS include odd fat deposits located in the hollows above the eyes over or on either side of the tail head behind the shoulders and on the crest of the neck. These fat deposits are easy to spot if the horse is of a normal or belownormal weight but in an obese horse they may blend in with the rest of the body covering. A gelding may have a swollen sheath and a mare may have a swollen udder.
A ravenous appetite often goes handinhand with EMS due to the horse being leptinresistant as well as insulinresistant. Leptin is the satiety hormone. If the horses body is not responding normally to the signal from leptin the horse will have no appetite shutoff. This horse will be the one that never walks away from food and will eat everything given to it. Freechoice hay feeding of an EMS andor leptinresistant horse will result in obesity and often in laminitis. 
Lowlevel or subclinical laminitis is a common occurrence in EMS horses. The signs of this can be very subtle the horse will be the last one running behind the herd and will be less likely to run and play. There may be some foot tenderness on hard ground. The horse may be reluctant to step out and appear lazy or unmotivated at work because his or her feet hurt. There may be chronic back pain that doesnt hold chiropractic or other treatments. One useful indicator is how well the horse will execute a tight turn on firm or hard ground. If the feet are picked up and plunked down in much the same way as when the horse marches along at a normal walk it is unlikely that there is foot pain. If however the horse appears to try to rock back to turn and takes tiny mincing steps then something is not right. Horses with lowlevel laminitis often dont show any obvious hoof pathology there arent always telltale rings on the hooves. However there will be continuing damage to the laminae inside the hoof.
Diagnosis of Equine Metabolic Syndrome
Correct diagnosis of EMS requires a blood test. A nonfasting blood sample is pulled in a quiet barn dont trailer to the vet clinic. Blood is spun and separated as soon as possible chilled and sent to the lab on ice. Nonfasting means the horse has hay available up to the blood pull