Cobs and scabby knees? Help!

ShadowFlame

ShadowFlame

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 April 2007
Messages
1,468
Location
West Mids
Visit site
Right, I've done searches and I'm not finding them much help. Coblet has horrific scabs at the back of his knees - they're huge, they crack, they bleed. I've had the vet out, we're treating feather mites with use of Frontline spray (which *seems* to have worked a treat - no more stamping!!), but these damn scabs just won't give up.

Now, because they're cracking, and very obviously sore, pone doesn't like them being touched. At all. He's not nasty, but dodging flicking hooves and a rather put-out pony isn't the best, meaning soaking them and picking them off is rather difficult. Is there anything I can put on them that will help them fall off / heal up themselves? Please don't tell me to clip off his feather, as I may cry!!
 
My boy has this. I never bothered with them when he had feather but he's now trimmed up, so u just trim his legs and cut the scabs off if they're on the hair. MSM ointment by NAF works well
 
the frontline has treated the mites,what you have is grease aka mallanders and sallanders.imo you need pig oil and flowers of sulpur slathered on every couple of days,you can also mix the sulphur with sudocream and no picking involved.
 
Dear OP
Ive had this with 3 cobs, its quite common.
Treat for mites (my had a jab from vet).
Clean legs with normal shampoo etc. When dry apply pig oil and sulphur weekly. You will have clean silky legs very quickly.
I apply the pig oil and sulphur as part of my grooming about once a week, more if needed.
Pig oil and sulphur : buy both separately. Mix then up so the stuff is like thick yoghurt. If possible stand your cob on a plastic bag cos it can make a mess. I just massage/apply it with my hands (its helps my hands cos I have eczema!)
DONT EVER PICK SCABS OFF, GIVE IT TIME, and Im sure it will heal with this treatment.
Very best of luck, as I know what a nightmare this is.
 
Mine has this too, and also HATES the area being touched. I have been slathering with pig oil etc, and also have some healing gel which I put on twice a day. Seems to be helping. Good luck :)
 
my cob suffers badly with this too. Pig oil and sulphur worked for a while but she developed a sort of allergy to it in the end and her legs ended up getting worse with the cracked skin spreading further down her legs. It was obviously sore too as she got very good at kicking out at me. Someone suggested to me that I use cheap lard melted and mixed with the sulphur and then left to set into a kind of ointment. Its a bit messy but works a treat on her and shampoos out ok with warm water.
 
I mix neem oil into vaseline, smear thickly over scabs and sore bits, wrap in cling film and stable bandage over night in figure of eight shape so knees can bend. Unwrap in the morning and scabs come off in the vaseline with the cling film, then just keep applying a bit of the mixture each day to keep skin soft & moisturised.
 
A cob I used to own suffered really bad with it, i covered the scabs with udder cream which softened the scabs. And then I pulled them off. The only way I could stop it completely was by clipping off his feathers :( He came to me with really wrinkly skin caused by mite damage going untreated. I had the injection which really helped.
 
My fell gets scabby knees.

He has been jabbed with the Dectomax injection to get rid of the mites (worked a treat). I have then used Dermisol cream on the backs of his knees - this seems to soften and dissolve the scabs a bit. I then comb the softened scabs / grease out with a nit comb.

Last year over the winter (outside of the show season) I attacked the back of his knees with some scissors and clipped the hair right back to allow thorough shampooing, drying and cream application. This was just the hair on the backs of his knees, no further down. This summer it has grown back fine. :)
 
Dectomax injection. Avon Skin So Soft squirted on (no need to dodge flying hooves!). Problem gone in under a fortnight.

My cob has such bad mud fever/mallenders that I had to get out the vet one year, but the above cured him.
 
These scabs are called MALENDERS (sp), on the back legs Salenders. They are very common in cobs, she said because it's a greasy area and a form of dermatitis/excema, which bacteria gets into.

Shy was horrendous to try and treat with anything - rearing and throwing himself around, so it must become very sore. UNTIL I started slapping on pig oil and sulphur - it lifted the scabs within a week (and I could brush them out of the feather), and the area now has healthy pink skin.

I hope this thread will help you ;

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=95612
 
Last edited:
Welcome to this horrific ever troublesome world. My boy suffers constantly with mallanders and sallanders (in front of the hock). Drives me insane. I'm considering chopping them off as they have flared up big time but he would need sedating. I've tried everything and still not found the key to keeping him without scabs.

If you are going from scratch try the pig oil and sulphur (sulphur is an insecticide) with frontline but remember to treat the the chest along the belly and up to below the tail as this is where ey breed.
 
Your cob may well have flexural dermatitis (sallenders and mallenders is the old name, depending on whether problem is on fore or hind limbs).

I've become the local bore about it, as my cob mare was crippled with it last winter. (She lives out and has only medium feather). The vet took great efforts with lab reports etc. It turned out she was allergic to something in the soil, and also had a "staff" and a "strepto" infection as well (sorry, without getting out her insurance claim I can't remember the proper names).

Anyway, none of the expensive pills and potions worked. Pig oil and sulphur worked a bit, but hurt her and she got very tetchy. The vet's simple and old fashioned advice worked a treat. He said:
1. Don't clip her feathers. Just trim them to a manageable length
2. Every other day, shampoo her legs very thoroughly with Polytar shampoo (available from any chemist)
3. Leave the suds on each affected leg for about 5 minuts.
4. Wash off very thoroughly and dry
5. When dry, very gently and VERY THOROUGHLY massage in oil. I use Johnsons Baby Oil but I know people who use olive oil. You really have to do this with great attention and effort (I don't mean rough, just meticulous) so that the oil gets right through the feather to the skin.
6. Leave that on for 48 hours, then repeat the whole process.
7. Do NOT pick the scabs off. The oil will free them and they'll work their way down the hair

In two weeks my mare went from hardly being able to hobble to being sound. All the big scabs came away. Now, 18 months on, she has, and I think will always have, a few 'crumby' bits beihind her knees. Once she was sound the vet told me to not wash the legs unless it was really necessary - and I never do. I rub Johnsons into the hair perhaps once a week or 10 days. Apart from softening any would-be scabs it provides a wonderful waterproof and a mud crumbler.

This is just my experience, but I hope it works for your horse too. I remember the despair of watching my bouncy girl hobbling about. the vet pointed out how painful it is when we get just one chap or quick on our hands or finger, and then multiply by x 30 or x 40 for a horse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top