ECD is the result of excessive steroid production by the adrenal glands. This is caused by the pituitary gland producing too much hormones and thus over-stimulating the adrenals, which is usually the result of either tumor growth on the pituitary or age-related growth of the pituitary gland itself. Both changes of the pituitary are age-related, so ECD is most common in older horses (over 15 years) but has been found in horses as young as seven.

The disease cushings is named after Harvey Cushing, who identified and explained the disease in’21. ECD is simply the equine equivalent of the disease which Dr. Cushing first identified in humans.

The most common symptom of ECD is coat changes (becoming curly, thicker, longer, failure to shed, lighter in color). Sweating tends to increase as a result of the heavier coat. There is muscle loss in the back and neck, even when the horse increases its food intake. Laminitis eventually develops. Diabetes usually develops, with the result that the horse drinks and urinates more than normal. Due to the immune system being depressed, the horse is more prone to infections and slower to heal from injuries. The depressions over the eyes tend to disappear due to fat deposits.

Any of these symptoms can be caused by a variety of illnesses other than ECD. Consequently, blood and urine tests are normally used to confirm that the cause is ECD (e.g. by measuring hormone levels and hormone response levels) and to rule out other possible diseases. Studies have shown that many horses with ECD are either not diagnosed or incorrectly diagnosed (the symptoms are incorrectly attributed to a different disease), with the result that they do not receive appropriate treatment.

ECD cannot be cured. However, the hormone levels can be reduced to more normal levels through medication, slowing the progress of the disease. As some of the medications can have serious side effects (e.g. liver disease), one needs to monitor for any such side effects and change the medication accordingly.

Since ECD and produce other illnesses, such as diabetes and laminitis, one needs to watch for symptoms of these related problems and treat promptly before they become serious.

Management of the symptoms can make the horse more comfortable and increase its quality of life. For example, if the horse cannot shed its winter fur and consequently over-heats in summer, the coat should be clipped.

Dr. Douglas Stewart is the owner of Horse Health and author of Cushings Disease in Horses article

It is of course possible to buy an untrained or partly trained horse. The obvious advantage of this is that it will be less expensive than a trained horse. Also, you can have the horse trained exactly the way you want by your choice of instructor, and have the pleasure of being part of this. However, there are a number of substantial disadvantages, such as:

- Cost of Training. The cost of training depends on individual circumstances and is hard to estimate, but it is under-estimated far more often than over-estimated. Aside from the direct trainer costs, unless the trainer comes to you, there are the additional costs of either stabling the horse with the trainer, or transporting the horse to the trainer for each lesson. Many people find that by the time the horse is fully trained to the level they require, it would have been cheaper to have bought an already trained horse.

- Accidents. Occasionally there are accidents during training, even with good trainers, especially during early training when the horse is less predictable. Even in the case of minor accidents, there may be vet costs.

- Mis-Training. Trainers vary both in terms of approach and in quality. Furthermore, in order to secure the training contract at an economical level, trainers may rush the training or under-estimate the amount required. If this occurs, at best you end up with an incompletely trained horse and at worse a horse which has been mis-trained, resulting in undesirable behaviors.

- Feel. Two horses, trained in exactly the same way, will provide a different riding experience due to individual differences. Horses differ due to breed, build, training and individual genetics. Consequently, how comfortable you will be riding a horse is more predictable with an already trained horse than with an untrained one.

- Health Evaluation. Part of the pre-purchase health checks is to ride the horse and to watch it carefully as it is being ridden in each gait. These particular checks cannot be done with an untrained horse.

Consequently, buying an already trained horse can be less risky and less expensive than buying an untrained (or partly trained) horse and then training it up.

Unless you are a professional trainer (or working under the close supervision of one), you should not train a horse yourself. Otherwise there is the risk that the horse will acquire bad behaviors or habits, which can be difficult and expensive to correct.

Be wary of purchasing an incompletely trained horse on the basis that the seller will complete the training. Far too often in these circumstances the remaining training is rushed and not done to the highest standards. Insist on the horse being trained up first and pay no more than a holding deposit until this is done and you’ve ridden the horse to make sure that you are fully happy with the result.

Doug Stewart is the owner of Horses for Sale and a professional horse breeder.

1) Non-Payment

Perhaps the most common issue is buyers not paying. Before sending any product, ensure that you’ve received full payment, the that the payment has cleared, and that it has been deposited in your account. This should be done for any payment type, including credit cards and cheques.

A similar issue is ‘buyers’ denying that they received goods and refusing to pay. Few of these claims are true, but unless one uses registered mail this is hard to prove. Although registered mail costs more, it does increase the probability of you being paid (or not having to give a refund).

2) E-Mail Theft

For your advertisement, you will normally need to provide a contact EMAIL address. Unfortunately, this address can be obtained by fraudulent software programs. Such software may go through advertisement websites and copy all EMAIL addresses which are in the advertisements. It may break through the security of advertising websites to steal EMAIL addresses from the databases. It may automatically complete the advertisement contact form to send a message with a general question (e.g. Please confirm the price of this item.); when you reply they copy your EMAIL address from this reply.

Once they have your EMAIL, they can use it for SPAM or for fraudulent messages, or sell it on to other people who misuse it. To avoid this, one should never use a business or personal EMAIL for online advertisements. Instead, one should obtain a temporary EMAIL from the various free EMAIL services, and use this for the advertisement. Once you’ve sold the advertised item, you can cancel the EMAIL account (something you would not want to do with your business or personal EMAIL address) and thereby avoid ongoing problems with spam or fraud EMAIL.

3) The Over-payment Refund Scam

A ‘buyer’ will overpay you for an item and then ask you to refund the overpayment. For example, if an item costs $100 he might send $200, and then claim that he overpaid by mistake, requesting you to send him the extra $100 back.

In this scam, the original payment is fraudulent (e.g. counterfeit cheque or stolen credit card). The ‘buyer’ will simply disappear with any refund and since the payment to you will not clear, you will be out of pocket the amount of the refund. To prevent this, instead of refunding, cancel the original payment and request a new payment. Never ship goods or provide refunds before payments have fully cleared and been deposited in your account.

4) Private Meeting

On very expensive items (e.g. house advertised for sale), the ‘buyer’ may insist on a private meeting to complete the deal, usually at a distant location (another city or country) and away from the public (e.g. in a hotel room). If you go, there are a number of problems which can occur, from your house been robbed (as they know when you will be away) or a straight-forward scam (e.g. they try to purchase the item in cash, using counterfeit money) or an attempt to get you alone and force you to give them money.

To avoid this scam, ask yourself if the offer is reasonable. Someone who offers to buy your house simply from an online advertisement, without ever seeing it or even trying to negotiate the price, is unrealistic. Further requests, such as meeting in a far away city rather than locally, just add to the unreality of the entire situation. When meeting strangers, always do so in a public place (e.g. a restaurant) and never in an isolated area (e.g. a hotel room). If possible, have a friend with you rather than going alone. Find out who you are dealing with. Ask them their names, where they live and so on. If they are genuine people, they shouldn’t mind telling you about themselves.

5) Identity Theft

There are a number of scams in which the other person tries to get financial information about you (e.g. your bank account or credit card number), along with personal information so that they can use your identity to access your money or purchase items.

Many financial institutions have a small number of personal questions which they use to identify people. Typical questions include your date of birth, your full name (including middle names), your mother’s maiden name and so on. Consequently, if someone obtains this type of information from you, along with a bank account number or credit card number, they may be able to contact your bank or credit card company (by phone or through an online account) and pose as yourself.

People who practice such cons have developed a number of credible stories for why they need this information. They may suggest paying money direct into your bank account and request your details for this purpose. They may try to get personal information for ‘administrative’ purposes or through friendly chat.

It is best not to provide either financial information or personal information to strangers. Instead, use a payment method (e.g. cheque or credit card) which does not require that you provide this information.

Doug Stewart develops and owns various advertising portals, with his latest project being Horses for Sale.

The severity of these symptoms varies from person to person, ranging from a slight itch to a serious asthma attack. People with asthma should be careful when they first come into contact with horses as there have been a number of cases of fatal asthma reactions. In particular, asthmatic children coming into contact with horses for the first time should be carefully monitored to see if they have an adverse reaction and their medication should be available to hand in case that they do.

Horse dander (essentially dandruff) is the most common source of horse allergies. However, people can be allergic to urine, salvia or even horse mites. There are at least five different horse proteins which can be allergic agents.

It is possible to have an allergic reaction without being near a horse, through indirect contact. For example, if one has a friend or family member who rides, horse dander may have rubbed off onto their clothes or hair or horse tack which they bring home. There are a number of cases where one family member rides horses, resulting in another family member having allergic reactions or asthma due to contact with clothing or equipment which the rider brings home. Similarly, going into a barn or other enclosed area where horses have been can result in a reaction event if no horses are present at the time.

Fortunately, there are a variety of treatments for horse allergies. These range from treating the symptoms using medications, to desensitizing treatment, to simple avoidance.

If you want to ride horses but find that allergies are making this difficult (or less enjoyable), another approach is to try riding a ‘curly horse’ breed. Many people who are allergic to other breeds of horses find that they have little or no reaction with these breeds.

You may also wish to be medically tested to determine which aspect of horses you are allergic to. For example, if you are allergic to horse mites, treatment of the horse and its box against mites may reduce your symptoms to acceptable levels. Likewise, if it is urine or saliva you are allergic to, one can take care to avoid these specific elements when involved with horses.

The article Allergy to Horses was written by Dr. Doug Stewart, owner of Horses for Sale.

The horse hoof contains connective tissue which holds the hoof bone (the pedal bone) in place and connected to the hoof wall. This tissue is known as laminae and if it becomes damaged the result is known as ‘laminitis’. Minor damage results in inflammation of the tissue and temporary pain. More severe cases reduce the strength of the connective tissue, allowing the pedal bone to rotate and sink within the hoof. In the most extreme cases, the pedal bone will actually penetrate the sole of the hoof and be visible. In mild cases the horse can return to normal duties but in more severe cases (depending on the amount of rotation and sinking of the pedal bone) the horse will have to be retired, with the worst cases requiring that the horse is immediately put down. Although there are a number of treatments for laminitis, once the damage is done they can provide only minor improvements, so the emphasis needs to be on prevention rather than treatment.

The term ‘founder’ is associated with laminitis but can be used in several different senses. Some people use founder as the lay term for laminitis, while others use it to describe the more serious forms of laminitis (e.g. when the pedal bone penetrates the sole).

There are three main causes of laminitis. The first is toxins from excessively rich feed, the second is mechanical separation and the third is toxins from internal infections or external poisoning. In both toxin categories, the toxins are carried through the blood stream to the laminae, where they cause inflation and tissue breakdown. The mechanical category is associated with laminae damage through repeated shocks to the hooves (e.g. from jumping or running on hard surfaces).

Overly rich food changes the bacterial population in the intestines, with a subsequent release of toxins by the bacteria. It occurs when the horse received a large amount of food which is too high in carbohydrates or nitrogen. This can occur either with rich feed (e.g. grain or muesli) or lush pasture. Pasture is most likely to be too rich in spring, when rain follows a dry period, or when fertilizer has been used. As some breeds (especially ponies) are more sensitive, special care should be taken that neither their feed nor their pasture is too rich. When putting horses and ponies on rich pasture, one should limit the amount of grazing time and consider the use of a grazing muzzle to restrict the amount they eat.

Competition horses, such as jumping or racing horses, which are frequently worked on hard ground, are relatively likely to eventually develop laminitis. However, it can also occur in pleasure horses, if they work or travel on hard surfaces. Try to avoid use of your horse on hard ground. If it is necessary to travel on hard surfaces, try reducing the pace since a walking horse will have less hoof shock than a running horse. Ensuring that hoof trimming is correctly done, especially avoid trimming for long toes or over-trimming as these reduce the ability of the hooves to absorb shocks. If the horse is shoed, it should be done by a competent professional. Consider using shock-absorbing shoes (e.g. horse shoes with a rubber component) or shock absorbing boots during competitions (both are increasingly being used, even at the professional level).

The third major cause of laminitis is toxins which are unrelated to overly rich feed. This includes toxins which are ingested (e.g. through moldy hay, or grass which has been treated with herbicides) or toxins which are produced due to an infection within the horse. Ensure that food does not contain fungus, mold or chemicals. Ensure that any infections are promptly and aggressively treated, before they can result in toxin overload leading to laminitis.

The above article on Laminitis and Founder was written by Dr. Doug Stewart.

In part, this is due to the fact that people involved in the horse business (breeding, selling, training) do not want to scare potential buyers off by telling them just how expensive horse ownership is. After all, if someone is unsure if they can spend a few thousand dollars to buy a horse, the seller will likely lose the deal if they explain that it may cost $30 000 to $60 000 over the next 10 years. Although there may be honest horse people that do go out of their way to explain this information, in our experience they are in the small minority.

Consequently, if you know someone who is buying a horse, you can help them by sharing the facts with them in advance. Of course, one needs to take their specific circumstances into account in order to determine what their costs would be. Here is a rough guide.

The first consideration is whether the horse will be stabled with a professional or stabled by them. If the horse will be stabled with a professional, phone around to check the local monthly costs (including box, food, bedding and labour). You can find the phone numbers for the local professionals in the yellow pages or ask your local vet. Such costs can vary from $150/month to over $1000/month, with the higher end associated with urban areas.

Alternatively, if you keep the horse yourself rather than using a professional stable, you can save on these costs. However, you will still need to purchase bedding and feed, which will typically cost a minimum of $100/month. If you have lots of pasture, you can spend a bit less on feed. Keep in mind that $100/month is a minimum, in some areas bedding and feed (especially hay) can be far more expensive.

In additional to the regular monthly costs, there are a number of periodic costs: salt, minerals, wormers, annual dental check, annual innoculations. Medical insurance costs start at about $40/month. Of course, you don’t have to buy insurance but keep in mind that a serious illness (e.g. colic requiring surgery) or injury can cost thousands to correct.

Finally, one must consider the costs of not only owning the horse but also of using it. This includes saddle, tack, riding clothes, training for you and the horse. If you progress to showing or competiting with the horse, there will be further expenses.

Adding all this up, for the typical horse owner, the yearly costs run into the thousands of dollars. Of course, the exact figure depends almost entirely on circumstances. However, before buying a horse, it is wise to make sure that one is prepared for the long term financial commitment involved in keeping it.

Doug Stewart is the original author of Horse Costs, which provides details on the various types of horse costs and how to minimize them.