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The tack room
Horribly itchy horses and hair loss
GrumpyOldHorsewoman · 29/04/2015 13:03
My two retired racers that I have at home seem to have developed the same skin condition, the like of which I have not encountered in my many years in horses.
I've had both of them throughout their careers and know them inside-out, but this has me stumped. One of them has been retired for 3 years now, the other has just spent his first winter out and, due to the fact that he tries to commit suicide if he feels anything touch his legs when turned out, we can't rug him up. They both had super, thick winter coats all winter and have had no problems at all. I brought them in at night intermittently when the weather was bad, but generally they were happy to stay out. We moved to different pasture in January (different county - house move) and they've seemed fine, although the recently-retired didn't do as well, so we brought them both in about 3 weeks ago to let the grass grow and feed them up a bit. I turn them out every day onto some nice grass and bring them in in the evening. They are both fed around 6 scoops daily(increments) of D&H Build-Up conditioning mix along with a slab of Horse Hage. The poor do-er was also on Myoplast to aid his condition and both get an Iron supplement (liquid). They are rugged up at night and bedded on shavings (as they have always been). I noticed them both itching the very first day and didn't think much of it, expecting them to be a bit lousy after winter pasture, so gave them both a dermatological bath and wormed them with an Ivermectin wormer (they'd only had one a month previously). The itching has been ridiculous and now they look like mangy carpets as they're taking the fur off and have so many bald patches all over - you can imagine how that looks with the remains of a winter coat! The skin is healthy and unbroken underneath, so I abandoned dressing it with silver ointment as it seemed pointless. I've also tried sudocrem, NAF's 'Love the skin' salve spray and now Switch lotion but nothing seems to work. I'd be mortified if anyone saw them - they look atrocious but I feel I've tried everything to no avail. Google doesn't identify anything at all that looks like they do as they don't have any skin inflammation, just baldness. Any suggestions or advice gratefully received.
SunnyBaudelaire · 29/04/2015 13:06
you could try this -
www.equisoothe.co.uk/
Why would you give an extra wormer in case they were 'lousy' surely that is not necessary.
GrumpyOldHorsewoman · 29/04/2015 13:22
Ivermectin assists in the demolition of all parasites, not just in the gut. It does warn that they may get temporarily more itchy due to die-off, but there doesn't seem to be anything temporary about this - I'd have expected no more than a few days.
GrumpyOldHorsewoman · 29/04/2015 13:27
I will -thank you. I'm trying everything I can think of!!
AuntieDee · 29/04/2015 18:19
Could it be something as simple as being too hot and getting sweat scald type itchy?
I would seriously consider mites though - there is always the possibility that they were resistant to the wormer that was given.
GrumpyOldHorsewoman · 29/04/2015 22:32
Thanks all. Checked them over very closely tonight and I think I can see some improvement. The chesnut is definitely sprouting summer coat and the bay had patches of summer coat coming through. I think the Switch, coupled with the skin salve may be doing the trick and they've definitely been less itchy today - I haven't seen them scratching at all this afternoon. The bay has never grown a proper winter coat before and I think that it itched in a way he's never experienced as he began to moult - he was definitely far worse than the other. Felt far more positive about their condition tonight.
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