Gashes on Horses' tail

[jaspejoo]

New boy came in with gashes on either side of his tail today....


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150192694700248&set=a.10150089695455248.273279.510230247&type=1

anybody had a similar thing or any ides what it might be...
he is a known scratcher, but he is a leggy 16.2 so im not sure how he could get the top of his tail onto a fence to do it...and there is a known rug biter in the field, so i wonder if it may have been him?

 

[appylass]

I have seen something very similar on a friend's horse who was forever rubbing her tail. I think she rubbed so much her dock became swollen and the skin split. It looked much worse than it was, she didn't seem at all bothered and a few days in an electric fenced paddock (so she had nothing to rub on) and it cleared up.

 

[Honey08]

Our sweet itch ponies will bend their knees, lean, tip toe, or whatever it takes if they think that they can itch on something. Quite often they do marks like that on their tails on tree bark or the top of fence posts...

Doesn't look like a bite at all, so I wouldn't blame the rug ripper. Definately scratched or cut on something...