bald patches. some raw? opinions much appreciated?

[sarahjbrogan]

my 17.2hh warmblood gelding has recently developed bald patches. they started on his shoulder and we thought he had just had a scratch like he does but like a month later they spread. i got him in from the field and his belly had just come up in huge bald bits and was red raw and very very raised VERY and hot, then they spread to his flank and side just on one side and some on his hind but they weren't as raw.. they were just bald patches.
the swelling and rawness eventually went down and we called a vet out. he seemed to know as much as we did tbh, he didn't seem to have much of an idea
but yeah. he gave us some special shampoo and a cream which i have been applying and it seemed to have died down. until i got him in from the field today and there are hairless patches all over around his girth area and upper belly. it looks horrible. they are not raw at all but are very very itchy and have really taken a lot of hair off.
we thought maybe mange but the vet disagrees. he ran some tests and they came back negative for bacteria.
keeping him in from the field hasn't helped either.

anyone had this problem?

 

[soloequestrian]

One of mine had something similar, but it happened much faster - over a couple of days. We think it was lice brought in by a new arrival - didn't ever see any, but treated them all with Switch and it went away (the badly affected one also had some steroid cream).

 

[Mrs B]

One of the horses at our yard has just had something that sounds similar: she had reacted to flyspray. I think most of the bottles warn you to do a test patch - have you been using a new one on yours?

Just a thought!

 

[texel]

Do you have a photo ?