Aarrgggghhhh-Maggie has ringworm, what do I do??

claire1976

claire1976

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 June 2006
Messages
1,267
Location
Chesterfield
Visit site
For the first time ever Maggie has caught ringworm. She's currently in a 9 acre field with my sisters horse and 10 young cattle. Presumably she's caught it off one of them. Its bizarre as she was previously at a livery yard on a cattle farm and in 3 years never caught it. She's been on summer grazing at a local farm and now has this hideous ring rash across her neck.
So - whats your advice guys. Do I need to get the farmer to treat all the cattle as well as the horses?
 
She's probably caught it from one of the cows, or perhaps by rubbing on some wooden fence that the cows have rubbed on (wood holds ringworm spores rather too well, I believe).
Yes, I'd treat all of them if possible. Or electric fence her away from them.
And be really careful yourself - it's a nasty thing to catch.
S
smile.gif
 
A horse at our livery yard was thought to have it so it was put into isolation so it wouldn't spread. Humans wore gloves and disinfected their boots when they'd enter and leave the stable so not to spread it. Vet was also called to prescribe anti biotics and a scrub which would help it go away. Hope I've helped
smile.gif
 
My old mare had it ages ago - no idea where she got it from. You need to get a bottle of stuff from the vet, then you have to wash the horse & all its tack in a diluted solution & then repeat 10 days later. Or at least, that's what the vet said to do with my mare.

She was only out with 1 other horse & not in contact with any other animals, & I can't honestly rem what we did with the other horse.

Don't panic - it's quite easily dealt with & isn't the end of the world!

T x
 
By the time any treatement starts working she will be building up an immunity anyway.
You will probably find she will never get it again but new horses and cattle will have to be treated.
I was told by a local traveller that WD40 works well but as said I never knew whether this was true or whether it was starting to go anyway,my cattle never got it again.
 
Buy some canestan cream for thrush or athelets foot cream from the chemist and apply liberally all around the infected site as often as you can.
 
If you're going to spend money with the vet, then all aniimals need doing, inc the cattle.... if you're going the natural immunity route, then don't worry, canestan is wonderful stuff and no harm done - although depending on the colour of the horse/pigment etc, you may be left with circular marks perminently.

Wear gloves and disinfect yourself and your clothes - it's not nice to catch it yourself....

The racing yards in Lambourn use ring worm as an immunity booster exercise - the stables are basically riddled with it but it can kick start a horse's natural imunity. Some trainers even encourage it!!! they can't race (or shouldn't!) when they are in the grip of it, but often the course vet just turns a blind eye.....

Good luck!

Catherine
 
The racehorses get it all the time no big deal for them just annoying for us trying to stop the others getting it. Either a imaverol wash which you can get from vets or my personal favourite and don't shoot me down, a weak solution of virkon S. It clears it up quicker than anything I've used before, just do a patch test first as horsey may be allergic.
 
Thanks everyone - some really useful tips here. Think I'll try some canestan cream and then disinfect all her tack and see how we go. I can't actually see any ringworm on the cattle in the field so I assume its off the fence or from the stable perhaps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top