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Expert
Posts: 2453
Location: Northern Utah | I've got one too many horses and need to sell one. I've been sorting through the pluses & minus of each of my horses. I've got a two year old colt that was born here in the back yard and has developed quit a personality. He is the first horse that I've every raised, so we are a little attached to him. I'm leaning toward keeping him and selling one of my 9-10 year old horses. Just keeping a little newer model around if you will. Problem is, this colt has a number of skin disorders. He got Rain Scald on his back this summer. It has healed up nicely. He also had a lot of reaction to the flies on his underside and chest area. So much so that he would lean over the manger, water trough, anything to rub and scratch his underside. To the point have having a really scabbed up the cinch area. Between the Rain scald on his back and the sore cinch area, I've had to delay getting him started this summer. Which is OK, it has given him the chance to grow up. I got some cream from the vet with some Cortazone mixed in it. It helped to stop the itch and allowed the area to heal. He has also developed a lot of warts on his muzzle. Not a problem just unsightly. I love my horses, but I really like a low maintainence horse. I'm afraid that if I keep this colt, I'll spend time/money treating skin related problems. I'd rather spend my time riding than visiting the vet. I worry is it rain scald this summer and scratches this winter? Did this colt just have a bad summer or will every summer be this way. So my question. Do young horses grow out of these kind of disorders,(like a teenager with pimples) or do they seem to persist and be an ongoing problem?
Edited by Painted Horse 2005-09-25 11:02 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 648
Location: Coconut Creek, FL | It sounds like he is an itchy type horse, but he could have good reason. I live in South Fla and summers are very tough on horses between flies, mosquitos, no-seeums, heat, and humidity. My horse is an itchy type horse as well and I have found a few things that work well, but they do require maintenance. I use Selsum Blue on his mane and tail, wash thoroughly and leave on for 10 minutes. I started out using this everyday and now about 2 times a week. Liquid Dial soap (other brands as well) it has tricolosin in it - it's antibacterial. I wash his face and neck with it as he tends to lose hair in the summer. This will work great on the rain rot and girth areas as well. It sounds like he is reacting to bug bites and since he's itchy, he scratches which breaks open the sores. Witch hazel is great for removing the itch and swelling. I keep it for ant bites which can also be a problem here. My horse's dam is also an itchy, so I believe its an inherited trait. My former QH never had any itch type issues, so he was lower maintenance. Good luck. |
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Expert
Posts: 2828
Location: Southern New Mexico | One of my mares has the same problem with the scratching the chest. She has about pushed over the chain link fence between our house and the pasture and I had to put a hot wire on it to stop her. The knats (or what ever they are) and misquitoes drive her nuts. She has almost rubbed her main off and her tail is VERY thin from rubbing it on the misquite trees. I have found that using paranah (sp?) fly spray helps. I just make sure I get her chest, tail and along her main really wet with the spray. It has helped tremendously. My gelding had warts last year as a 2yr old and my vet said they were nothing to worry about. He said usually its the young horses that get them and once they have them they normally don't come back . |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 378
Location: Nebraska | Warts are a viral disease and very common in young horses, but rarely causes a problem and in most cases regress after 3-12 months, with no more signs other than a blemish. Surgery can be done or a few other methods if they don't disapate over time. However the other 2 infections can be controlled by better management ( and I don't mean to be cruel ). It is suspected that flies and ticks are the transmitters of rain scalding. So better control of the parasites will help control future outbreaks of the other 2 infections.
Edited by hconley 2005-09-27 8:39 PM
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Expert
Posts: 2453
Location: Northern Utah | Thanks for the comments. the Shampoos and witch hazel are sure to be less expensive than the cortizone cream the vet gave me.
It's hard to control the bugs in 80 acre field where this colt spent his summer. It just drives me crazy that he has a skin reaction and the other 7 horses in the pasture and numerous horses on adjacent property don't.
Glad to hear the warts are not long term.
Thanks |
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Location: KY | with any luck, he will develope an immunity to the bugs and stuff. A friend of mine had a filly with warts, he rubbed castor oil on her nose once a day for quite a while and the warts came off; that was 3 years ago and the warts have not come back. I have a horse with extensive allergies and give her the generic benadryl from the local discount store and it has worked well. Good luck. |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Danielsville Georgia | You grab a wart with PLIERS and sqeeze it HARD and rupture it.The horse sets up a immune system responce and they go away in a week or so never to return.Done many. |
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Veteran
Posts: 187
Location: KS | I give my horses about a 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar on their feed each day from March thru Nov. They hardly ever get ticks and the bugs and flys don't seem to bother them near as bad. A couple of years ago, I bought a buckskin mare and she had bug bites all over her. After a couple weeks of the vinegar on her feed they were all cleared up. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 560
Location: Mena, AR | My gelding will lay down and scratch his tummy on the ground till it bleeds during the summer. He has a full set of scars from doing this just behind where the girth goes. I started putting Bannana Boat Aloe Vera gel for sun burns on it in the summer and he stops the scratching all together. It's the only place he tries to scratch. (Cleaning his sheath makes no difference). He has a beautiful bright cooper colored sorrel coat all year long.
The juvenile warts will go away. You don't have to do anything for them.
-Betty |
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Member
Posts: 20
Location: Michigan | We had a horse who was allergic to bugs/flies. His daddy had the same problem and the half sister and colt I knew of. He would bite his chest till it was raw. The vet gave me a antihistamine that I put in the food. The apple cider is a good idea, you can also use garlic in the feed. If they stand in a pasture shelter, you can also buy an automatic fly spray misters, battery operated, under $50 out of many catalogs. Good luck! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 362
Location: Allegan, Michigan | Anyone know a good home remedy for rain rot? I just rescued a mare that has a bunch of it on her back from being exposed to the snow with no shelter! I heard it has to dry out. Is there anything I can put on her to help dry it out? thanks a bunch in advance for any suggestions! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 378
Location: Nebraska | Rain rot is a bacterial infection, daily treatment of either a 2% iodine solution or a chlorhexidine disinfectant for about a week will work. Remember to remove the crust and dispose of it prior to treatment. Good Luck |
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Regular
Posts: 55
Location: MI | We have a QH mare that gave us fits in 2003 and 2004. Vets told us to wash her with iodine shampoo often (we did, no help). One vet suggested she had a fly allergy and we started giving her antihistimine in her feed. No help to speak of. In 2005 (early) the problem came back. Seemed more like rain rot to me than fly bites (we have few flys believe it or not). I bought a anti-fungal liquid at Tractor Supply and began massaging it in daily. This stuff is great! And it is oily so stays in place. I may have used most of a quart but she cleared up and after that I just applied a little once or twice a week to her mail & tail. The best stuff! Some of the other horses were showing a touch of the rain rot so they had it applied just to the tail/mail/forlock. This year, I plan to start applying to those areas before I see a problem. I can't remember the name of the stuff right now - if you are interested, e-mail me. I will have to go find it and tell you the name. I think I paid about $12 or so for a quart and it lasts a long time once you have everything under control. BTY, I have suspected barn swallows for transmitting this. Wish I knew - if I did know I'd discourage the swallows from nesting in the horse barn - there are other buildings they could use!
Edited by brisco 2006-01-22 6:38 PM
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Regular
Posts: 55
Location: MI | In regard to my previous post, the name of the product is M-T-G. The mare that was so badly infected was covered nearly head to toe before I started using this. |
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Regular
Posts: 93
Location: Cherokee, Ia | I agree with the previous note. MTG works great for rain rot, bug bites, tail rubbing. You name it, it works. Also helps with growing out rubbed off or chewed off manes/tails. It's greasy, but works and is cheap. For the warts, I had two colts with 15-20 small warts on their muzzles. Purchased teatree oil at the local pharmacy(6.00/4oz) Dabbed on with a cotton ball, they were gone in less than 7days! This also works well for small skin abrasions, cuts, greasy heels, scratches..........try it! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 362
Location: Allegan, Michigan | Thank you to everyone. We scrubbed her back good with surgical sponges (the kind with the betadine soap in in it at hospitals as I am an EMT and got some extras from the ER doc) and then after that dried we put MTG on it...pewwweee does that stuff stink. Must be the sulpher in it! Anyway she was happy as a clam today. It is drying right up and the hair is growing quickly! I turned her loose in the indoor arena and boy was she bucking and farting! She is definitely feeling more like herself again! It is great the help you get from other hoss folks! Thank you again! |
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Regular
Posts: 55
Location: MI | Hey, keep it up! You'll be so relieved. (I didn't think it smelled that bad)! another Michigan girl |
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Veteran
Posts: 114
Location: Mobile, AL | For rain rot, I have had good experience with MTG also. Something else that I have read that is supposed to work good, but I have not tried it, is Captan Powder 50% that is used for fruit trees, it is an anti-fungal and wherever I read it, they really said it worked good and was recommended by their vet. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 378
Location: Nebraska | Rain Rot is a bacterial disease and can not be treated with a antifungus drug, so if you are treating with a antifungus drug and it works, it's not rain rot you treated. Captan powder is a catch-all drug, that contains hypochlorite solution, iodine, chlorahexadine, tinatin, tresaderm, conofite and a few other drugs that you mix with water |
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Regular
Posts: 55
Location: MI | MTG may also have some anti-bacterial agent in it. I'd have to read the label, which is not in the house. Any idea is my suspitions about the barn swallows transmitting this could be correct? Elaine (Brisco)
Edited by brisco 2006-01-26 7:08 AM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 378
Location: Nebraska | I don't know about the birds but I think alot of transmission is done by flies, gnats, mosquitos, fleas, ticks, and other parasites.
Edited by hconley 2006-01-26 6:10 PM
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Veteran
Posts: 114
Location: Mobile, AL | Most of the Rain Rot instances are caused by a fungus, and can lead to a bacterial infection. Most vets will not treat Rain rot with an antibiotic, unless there is a secondary bacterial infection. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 378
Location: Nebraska | If you want to learn more about Rain Rot seek out Dermatophilosis at http://www.showhorsepromotions.com/rainrot.htm this article was written by Mark Crisman DVM, Virginia Tech university veterinarian. I think if I had a vet treating rain rot as ringworm I would fire him and find a new vet asap
Edited by hconley 2006-01-27 4:41 PM
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Member
Posts: 45
Location: Houston, TX | I just wanted to add a different approach to this thread if I may... Sometimes a change in diet or supplementation can be helpful to overall skin health. Remember that the skin is the body's largest organ, so keeping it healthy in the first place (rather than fixing problems as they come up) is a priority. You might consider adding MSM or a skin supplement to the horse's diet. MSM itself not only good as an anti-inflammatory, it's awesome for skin health, particularly skin that is prone to itchiness. There are lots of different products out on the market that contain it as one ingredient, or you can buy it separately.Of course, a vet visit is always recommended but I know it doesn't always help.On another note, we had a horse that was prone to welts and losing hair in the summer from sweet itch. We added some apple cider vinegar to his regular grooming spray, or just used diluted apple cider vinegar in a sprayer on its own, and as a rinse after washing. Sometimes not getting all the shampoo causes some horses problems and the ACV in the final rinse will not only help with bacterial and fungal problems and skin pH, but also helps wash out whatever shampoo is left there on the skin that we don't see.Hope these ideas help some!Nat |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 610
Location: Northern CA | Hi there! What is M-T-G? and where do I get it? I am desperate to try something new on my gelding. The gnats are eating him up badly on the belly-line. THey are even biting him on the sheath area badly and the tip of his penis! Swat seems to irritate him. I will try the Witch Hazel for the itching. Thanks |
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Expert
Posts: 2953
Location: North Carolina | Originally written by jackbrat on 2006-04-17 12:08 AM Hi there! What is M-T-G? and where do I get it? I am desperate to try something new on my gelding. The gnats are eating him up badly on the belly-line. THey are even biting him on the sheath area badly and the tip of his penis! Swat seems to irritate him. I will try the Witch Hazel for the itching. Thanks Most of the posters bought it at Tractor Supply Co. They will do mail order if there is no retail outlet close to you. |
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Expert
Posts: 2953
Location: North Carolina | Jeffers is another place to purchase M-T-G Here's a link >> http://www.jeffersequine.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=1&mscssid=UWHLEHVMJJ5F9PSC41JB46HST66AB3W8&pf_id=12006&cmkw=mtg |
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