Aural plaque, or something else?

chessy

chessy

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Inspecting my mare's ears today and came across these flaky white spots:

rosieear_rs.jpg


They are in both ears. Didn't appear to be causing her pain when I touched them, though she's not keen on having her ears played with much anyway. I feel bad because I've had her almost a year now and never noticed them before! :( :o She has v hairy ears.

I'm wondering if this is aural plaque, or something I need to get the vet out for? Any way to get rid of it or improve it at all? I don't want her to be in any discomfort, and I don't want to pick at them or do anything that could make her headshy. Any advice appreciated :)
 
One of my mares has aural plaques very badly (so much so my vet asked to take photos of them :eek:). Some look a bit like that, the others are a little bit "crustier" looking. However, they bother her not one bit, and she's not at all headshy/funny about her ears. I've recently got a couple of shetlands as companions, and one of them has very mild plaques that look more like your horse's. The shelt is VERY sensitive about her ears, and vet suspects that at some point someone has tried to remove them. Anecdotaly, I've heard of lots of cases where horses get headshy if you try to treat them; but I've never actually heard of any problems if you leave them!

That said, I obviously don't know if your horse HAS plaques or something else; but I'd say if they don't seem to bother her and don't get worse, I'd be inclined to leave them. Maybe just ask your vet to look next time they are on the yard for something else.
 
Yep, definitely look like aural plaques to me. They don't cause any problems and are best left alone. If you are worried, then just get the vet to confirm next time you have a visit for jabs, but I really wouldn't get the vet out especially.
 
Def aural plaques. I bought my horse knowing he had them. I just dont ever clip his ear hair, and you cant notice. Dont touch them, or pick. Just leave well alone. They do no harm until you make an issue out of it. Then you could start to get ear shy problems.
 
When my horse developed these I brought him to the vet straight away. Vet told me to stay well alone as messing with them can do more harm then good and they cause no problems for the horse in the first place. It's purely a cosmetic thing.
I read somewhere on a forum before that caneston cream had some success in getting rid of them. It didn't work for me - but worth a shot. Just put it on everyday for say 2 weeks and see if there is any improvement.
 
One of mine has them
Not a concern through winter but in the 'black fly season' he can be badly irritated so use a fly cream or sudocreme on the scabs after wiping with a baby wipe. He actually puts his head down and asks when his ears need attention.
 
My horse had white crustiness really quite badly a few months ago so I wiped out and tried to put aloe vera on them which he got really cross about but either way, it went away. Now its back again and he's become quite headshy about it. I don't know if he's just playing on it as he was really badly upset and is quite traumatised by something earlier in the week, but either way, it's a 15 minute fight to get a bridle on.

It doesn't seem to have bothered him before so he's booked on the next vet visit - anybody had it where it has made them headshy?
 
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