Ear plaques

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Vodkagirly

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Tell me about ear plaques! Im going to look at a horse who has them and needs bridle unbuckled to get it on. Priced substanially cheaper than would be without them.
How do people manage them and are they a deal breaker?
 
I think there are different levels of ear plaques - some are so bad that you can see them very obviously - I think there was a top eventer who had them very obviously but for the life of me I can't remember who.

Mine has them but you can't see them if you aren't up close and looking in the ear - he doesn't like his ears being messed with (it seems that they're painful if they're squashed) and has the bridle unbuckled to put on but only to the extent of the cheekpiece needing to be unbuckled, not the browband taking off too. Apart from that I don't do anything else different for him apart from making sure that I always use fly masks with ears and I also don't clip his ears either but he has a fine coat so it blends in fairly well.

I use an anatomical bridle but don't notice an adverse effect when I use his traditional one for showing but to me it makes sense to have one that's cut back from their ears.

If the horses ears were like my horses then it definitely wouldn't put me off.
 
I've met many horses for whom I wouldn't be an issue for me but one with raging ones that I would not have bought. They were huge and spiky, sticking right out of his ears. The poor horse really suffered with them. He looked to be uncomfortable for much of the time.
 
I have an elderly TB mare who has them. She had them when I bought her as a 6 yr.old but the vet, although mentioning them to me on vetting, didn't think they would be a problem. They're quite obvious at the top of both ears but I've never had any issues with them.
 
Vodkagirly said:
Tell me about ear plaques! Im going to look at a horse who has them and needs bridle unbuckled to get it on. Priced substanially cheaper than would be without them.
How do people manage them and are they a deal breaker?
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A friend kept her children's pony with us for a while. She had ear plaques and needed the bridle unbuckled every time but nothing else. Vet said they were best left alone. She was a super safe pony, with lots of character who was eventually sold on to her loaner after the children outgrew her.
 
Squeak said:
I think there are different levels of ear plaques - some are so bad that you can see them very obviously - I think there was a top eventer who had them very obviously but for the life of me I can't remember who.

Mine has them but you can't see them if you aren't up close and looking in the ear - he doesn't like his ears being messed with (it seems that they're painful if they're squashed) and has the bridle unbuckled to put on but only to the extent of the cheekpiece needing to be unbuckled, not the browband taking off too. Apart from that I don't do anything else different for him apart from making sure that I always use fly masks with ears and I also don't clip his ears either but he has a fine coat so it blends in fairly well.

I use an anatomical bridle but don't notice an adverse effect when I use his traditional one for showing but to me it makes sense to have one that's cut back from their ears.

If the horses ears were like my horses then it definitely wouldn't put me off.
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Headley Britannia, Lucinda Fredericks? Mild aural plaques unlikely to be an issue (probably easier without any browbands at all, unless the horse has a terrible ewe neck and the headpiece slips backwards), but severe cases are miserable.
 
Yes, I had a horse with this. Made him a bit head shy, and I had to put on the bridle carefully. Clipping and plaiting wasn't easy - but we lived with it and looking back he was probably the best horse I ever had, competition wise.
 
I had a horse for 20 years who had them, never really changed much. He was a bit ear shy when it came to having a bridle on,you had to undo it. I could trim them ok & clip them when I was doing a whole head. Wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.
 
I had one with them and same issues as most of the others have mentioned. Headshy and needed the bridle unbuckling. When I got him he was very difficult with it, that was partly a result of his last home though who 'helpfully' sent me a video of how to get his bridle on which involved 2 men pinning him in the corner and forcing it onto him while he cowered. Once he'd learnt I wasn't going to do that, he was fine. We did have a set back when a loaner decided she would be able to teach him to get over it but mostly he just learnt I wasn't going to hurt him and then was happy.

I'd get another one with them, unbuckling the bridle really isnt much hassle especially if you get one of the monocrown ones and he was amazing in every other way.
 
We had a fabulous TB gelding with some flat ones . Both ears affected but never caused him problems although we were very quiet bridling him. Didn't grow big so were left alone.
 
My horse has some tiny spots of plaque inside his ears, he passed a vetting with them but you can definitely see them. They don't appear to bother him at all and he quite likes having his ears itched if he's in the right mood, no problem to bridle, fortunately as he's 17hh. I've been told to ignore them unless they change significantly. He has been a little bit head shy to trim his bridle path or clip but he shows the signs of someone who has been ear twitched quite roughly so I think its more likely that!
 
I purchased a youngster who had them, I wasn't aware at the time as he was feral. I followed the advice to leave them alone and he is now 21, they haven't changed at all and have never given him a days bother.
 
My old horse had them and they never really caused any issues - he needed a fly mask with ears, and didnt particularly like you messing with his ears, but aside from that I often forgot he had them until a teenager asked why his ears were going mouldy 😂

Provided I didn't want to show etc it wouldn't put me off another one, severity depending
 
My Arab has them and went very ear and bridle shy, I tried to gently bridle him in a 'traditional' manner and it resulted in him getting VERY distressed. I now unbuckle the bridle to put on and take off (the pop stud browbands are great for this!) and we're very efficient at it, the relief on his face now we don't bridle 'correctly' is huge. I'm VERY particular in making sure his ears are covered for turn out and lots of fly gel to ride
 
when we bought our 2year old he came with ear plaques - I believe there's a link with cattle causing them & he came from a dairy farm. Initially he was head shy around his ears & when first bridled we did struggle getting headpiece over his ears but over the past few years this has diminished as has the plaques which are now all but gone. We always ride him in an ear cover in the summer & make sure he has a fly hood on but have never treated them.
 
My driving pony has painful aural plaques in one ear. Dismantling a driving bridle is a pain. With the help of polos, my pony has worked out how to flick his ear forward and manouvre it into position without causing himself any discomfort. He now happily does this and is more interested in getting his polo than worrying about the bridle going on.
 
Just to add they're caused by papillomas virus spread by flies maybe linked to cattle. Ours also had groin sarcoids so I would be mindful of those too!
 
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