The Equine Cushing's Disease & Insulin Resistance Group has an updated website at www.ecirhorse.org and now has information about the realigning trim with photos and x-rays.  Trimming to realign the hoof after either capsular or bony rotation has helped hundreds of horses return to work through the ECIR and ECHoof Yahoo Groups and it's great to see this information made available to non-members.

Liphook launch Weight Control Programme which includes an initial veterinary examination, weighing on a portable weighbridge, blood tests for ACTH, insulin, glucose & triglycerides, and a 15 kg bag of Weight Control feed, for £125 inc. VAT.  Horses that qualify for the free ACTH test being offered until 30 November will only be charged £100 inc. VAT.  For 6 or more people on one yard the visit charge will be waived.  A weigh-in using the portable weightbridge for horses not on the programme will cost £18 inc. VAT.

Liphook has published an online "No Nonsense Guide to Equine Clinical Pathology" with updated chapters on PPID and EMS.

Tuesday 18 September - TheHorse.com's Ask the Vet LIVE: Equine Cushing's Disease (PPID)  is now archived and available to be played.
Speakers were Dr Nicholas Frank and Dr Marian Little.
Notes of the session are available here (no responsibility taken for accuracy of the notes!)

Tuesday 04 September 8.30 pm (UK - BST) "How to be a better PPID detective"
BI Academy webinar with Andy Durham and Cathy McGowan
Notes of the webinar are available here (no responsibility taken for accuracy of the notes!)

Archived webcasts from BEVA 2011 can be watched online - fee for non-members is £30 per session - this includes a session on hyperinsulinaemia (Andy Durham) 
The role of hyperinsulinaemia in the development of laminitis Catherine McGowan
Managing weight loss in the hyperinsulinaemic pony Alexandra Dugdale
Inter-relationships of hyperinsulinaemia and PPID Andy Durham 

In the 04 August 2011 Prascend webinar, Andy Durham of Liphook Equine Hospital said that horses with PPID have a much greater autumnal increase in ACTH than normal horses, therefore this is the BEST time to test for PPID as the difference between horses with PPID and normal horses is magnified, as long as a seasonally adjusted reference range is used.  Liphook tested ACTH from 156 normal horses every month for a year and plotted the upper limit reference interval.  August, September and October had a mean upper limit of 47 pg/ml with September having the highest at over 50 pg/ml.  The mean upper limit for the rest of the year was 29 pg/ml with January, March, July, November and December all having mean upper limits over 30 pg/ml.

See Liphook Equine Hospital and Laboratory - PPID for more information.

Cathy McGowan echoed this in her 11 August 2011 Prascend webinar - "if you test ACTH in the autumn with seasonally adjusted ACTH reference ranges, you have an increased chance of picking up PPID cases", and Cathy suggested that if an ACTH test has not previously been diagnostic, it could be worth retesting ACTH in the autumn.