Help!!! My horses are going bald! I have three quarter horses and when they started to shed this spring the hair is falling out down to the skin on two of them the other one is fine. I live in Indiana and we had an exceptionally wet winter with lots of standing water. Their hair is literally falling out over night, it started on their chests and has now spread to their necks, withers, bellies, faces and rumps. There are small bumps on the skin but no crust or ooze that would indicate rain rot. It almost looks like something is biting them but they don't act like it is itchy, no rubbing etc. Does anyone know what it might be and why it would only affect two out of three horses? They are all kept together and none have a history of skin allergies. I have been treating daily with MTG. Any comments will be appreciated.

 Wow, this is weird! I would call a vet to see what it is. They might be able to tell you over the phone what it could be and how to treat it. But I would think that they need to be looked at. sorry I couldn't be much help.

Is absolutly all the hair falling out in these areas or is it just majorly thinning and looking bald.  Last spring when my arab lost her winter coat it looked like all her coat was falling out, especially on her shoulders.  It looked like she was pretty much bald but then her summer coat grew back in and everything was good.  Can you get pictures?

I am for having the vet look at them too, but here is my thought:

Take a wet paper towel (white) and rub each horse where the hair is falling out and also on the edge of where the hair appears to have stopped falling out.  I say appear because I don't think it has stopped.

Don't be too gentle about your rubbing, but don't get too rough either.

IF you see teeny-tiny black dots on that white piece of paper towel, they have rain rot.

We have had a fair amount of rain this spring, but what we have more of is humidity (Middle Tennessee).  If you are like me and just don't have the time to diligently brush each horse even three times a week, it is difficult to keep the rain rot at bay while they are shedding.

Two of my horses had small patches on both of their butt cheeks.  Two had patches on their lower chests and in their armpits.  The Arab had a couple spots on the cheeks of his face!

Sewwwwww, on my next day off work, no housework got done and everyone got a bath with equine iodine shampoo.  You can get it at any tack shop, co-op, TSC, local feed store, etc.

I did not chintz on the shampoo either.  I bought a quart bottle and used about half of it between the four horses.  That was a month ago.  Last Tuesday was another day off from work, so they all got another high dose iodine shampoo bath first thing in the morning.  I waited until everyone was pretty much dry before turning them out because I knew two of them would find a big ole dirt hole to roll in

In between those two baths, more housework was sacrificed at the end of my work days and I spent more time taking the shedder to everyone.  I also keep a 50-50 mix of listerine & water (buy WalMart's brand, it's cheaper).  When I was done using the metal shedder, I would shake up the mix and spray the rain-rot areas with it.

The rain rot is gone on everyone.

Again, I would still ask the vet to be sure, but you can't hurt a thing by scrubbing them down with iodine shampoo then using the water/listerine mix on them like you would an astringent for yourself.

Also, for anyone reading this that has to live with ticks getting on their horses, the iodine shampoo will make those evil little creatures stand their hind-ends straight up in the air.  It sure makes them easy to find

For those of you who don't shampoo often and just hose your horses down, add some providine or betadyne to a bucket of water and just wipe your horse down quickly.  It will stand the ticks up so you can find them.

Especially in their private areas, including the anal area.  Ticks also like to hide at the very tip of the bone of the tail.  My Big Ole TWH kept trying to tell me something was amiss with his butt.  I finally looked at the tip of the tail's bone and sure enough there was big ole nasty fat tick

My apologies for getting off the subject but it was iodine related - lol lol

Update......I called the vet yesterday and he told me he is seeing a lot of bizarre shed patterns this spring. He's not sure what is going on. On close examination yesterday I found that there is really fine hair coming in on the spots. He suggested a bath with an iodine shampoo and then just wait and see as long as it's not bothering them too much. Could have something to do with the fact that our temps here went from 30's and 40's one week to 70's and 80's the next. Oh, the joys of living in Indiana!

rbeutel:

On close examination yesterday I found that there is really fine hair coming in on the spots.

Yes, that sounds like what happened to my arab.  Come to think of it, it was a wet spring last year.  She had no itchiness, or sores either.  I found/find that getting them onto grass helps them shed faster and the hair grew in quicker too.  Of course in order to get them onto grass you have to have grass in the pasture!!

I just went through this with a Quarter Horse mare as well.  She started on her chest on one side and then it was on her back, neck sides, rump and on the inside of her leg on the front.  She went totally bald.  Another mare got a mild case but the other two did not.  I gave her iodine bathes and when it continued I called a vet (my brother) and he said it was a kind of fungus and to apply fungicide.  He said he has had several cases this way this year and what is causing it is all the rain and the cloud cover afterwards.  In other words the horses are staying wet longer and cannot get fully dried before the next rain comes.  You can get the fungicide at a farm supply or feed store.  It ran me about $6.00 a bottle and I used 1 1/2 on two horses.  You curry comb the horse and get the loose hair off and then apply the fungicide directly to effected areas or bald spots, it said daily rinsing old off and reapply but I did two days in a row and then every other day and put her in the barn when rain was expected and within four days the new hair started to grow back in, (I did not curry comb on  the new hair growth).  Hope this helps and good luck.

Thanks Paintrus,

Just wanted to let you know that the hair is starting to grow back. We have been brushing and applying Shapely's MTG daily for about a week. MTG contains a fungicide so I think that is probably what we're dealing with. Hopefully this is doing the trick! Thanks again for your comments.

 

I know exactly what you are seeing - I, too, live in Indiana and have two horses with the same symptoms. Both of them are sorrel quarter horses, my black warmblood is not experiencing this problem. They don't have bumps just fine hair in large patches with their black skin showing through.

Vet checked them and found nothing. I belong to a Red Hats riding group and several members have or know of horses with this same condition. One was told that the weird weather we have experienced in the Hoosier state has caused this and to hang in there because their coats will get better with the weather! 

 Frost warning tonight - will it ever end??

 

These products are fantastic for this sort of problem....Good luck to you =;->

http://www.eqyss.com/skin_problems.asp