Bobbles

[Lightning]

A couple of my horses have what look like warty sort of dry patches on their bodies and I was wondering whether anyone else had experienced a similar sort of thing. It is making one of my boys really itchy.

I've heard that barley can cause dry skin issues so could this be what is causing it? One of the horses had it before we started feeding barley though so I'm not convinced it is this.

Only 2 of the horses have it so I am confident it isn't contagious.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

My horse had quite rough bumpy skin by his hip which I thought was sweat rash or something similar. He only had it on one side and it was very rough under the hair. I put Dermoline on it for 3 days and its gone. Is it like that?

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

This time of year, could be lice, especially if 2 of them have the same patches and itches. If you lean on a patch of hair of one of the horses for about 5 mins then move away quickly, you might be able to see what looks like tiny grains of rice creeping very, very slowly about in the hair. Keep a look out as the other horses may start itching too. Lice are very contageous. You can buy all sorts of louse powder but tbh none are very good. The best is Frontline sprayed on and rubbed deep into the back, shoulders, neck, mane. You have to repeat after 10 days to zap the eggs that hatch after the adults are dead. They can infest bedding, rugs, numnahs etc so you'd have to wash everything.

 

[Theresa_F]

Another tip if you have a large chest freezer and put items in it for a couple of days that should kill off any beasties and eggs if you can't get rugs easily washed or want to avoid the expense.