Help! pulling my hair out over pastern dermatitis.

[mightymammoth]

Has anyone else got a horse with this? It's a long story as it started last summer in the dry spell but I assumed it was mud fever. I tried lots of things to shift it washing it with hibi scrub made it worse and it became dangerous in the end as it's on the heels of his back legs. It was obviously sore and the hibi scrub most have strung like anything.

It got worse until it was just a large area of weeping wet sores, vet came and gave him antibiotics plus a cream which was sudacrem mixed with antibiotics. He took a skin scrape and it came back as him having nothing other than dermatophilus bacteria. Vet said the only other differential would be pastern dermatitis syndrome.

It cleared up and all dried up nicely after the vet treatment but it came back and we've been battling it since, I've tried everything including further creams from the vet but it's not helped. I was using keratex mud shield powder which was keeping it at bay and drying it up but it's still there. It's not weeping or sore but is just thick scabs again. He doesn't mind me touching it and there's no discharge.

I'm wondering if it's something in the fields thats causing it as he's never had it before we moved to dartmoor, I'm thinking it could be the soil or maybe as there is a lot of clover in the field.

I'm thinking of getting the vet back to see if he can do more tests.

Just wondered if anyone else has a horse that has suffered with this.

Thanks all

 

[Pebble101]

Interesting, my lad has a couple of scabs on the back of his pasterns and some smaller ones just above the coronet on one leg only. He has been on box rest and they have cleared up, but I do seem to have a lot more clover than normal in my fields.

 

[mightymammoth]

glad yours had cleared up, it's a nightmare. Not sure about the clover thing but saw it mentioned elsewhere, I'm clutching at straws now

 

[Michen]

Yep T had this and it was a bloody nightmare. The only thing that helped him (about 500 quid later) was flamazine cream. Tried steroids, antibiotics, manuka honey, about 5 different creams....skin biopsies the lot!

 

[mightymammoth]

thanks will look into this cream.

 

[Gloi]

Gold Label Wonder Gel worked for my friend's horse when nothing else had.

 

[amandaco2]

I cut alfalfa out diet and it sorted it for mine. The big fella wears over reaches on his hinds in sunny weather as i find the sun sets off a reaction.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Yes. My mare has obviously had it for years, she has lots of old scarring under her voluminous feather. I know that previous owners had her treated for feather mites with Dectomax. I have tried all sorts but noting worked until I overhauled her diet. She now has absolutely NO wheat-based feed, so no biotin/wheatgerm/bran/wheatfeed/Brewers Yeast. She cannot have even horse treats with wheat in. She doesn't have any molasses either. Her scabs have cleared up brilliantly and although there is still some evidence of dermatitis, the scabs obviously no longer itch and she is not so grumpy or protective of her personal space.

 

[Beausmate]

Two different types of dermatitis. One, thoroughbred with a white pastern, had what looked like 'mud fever' in the summer; this came back worse some years, never had mud fever in the winter so I thought maybe it was sunburn due to the pink skin and finer summer coat. Nope. Eventually, after a particularly nasty flare-up which required antibiotics we worked out that he is allergic to certain types of buttercups. Problem solved.

Two, hairy cob with mallenders/sallenders, got so bad one year that he was lame, got an improvement in the skin, but still oozy and scabby. Much better these days, still thick dry crusty bits, but no cracking for ages. Worked out that it was worse in spring and autumn, almost certainly sugar related. The worse time came when he was eating sugar beet, but Fast Fibre sets him off too. He has a very simple diet (miniscule feed!) and is almost solved.

Bob Grass Skincure was the only think that healed up the bad splits, Boots Dermacare is the stuff that I found works the best on the crusty bits. It's hard to find the thing that works and even harder to pin down the cause. Good luck with it!

 

[mightymammoth]

Beausmate the horse that was allergic to buttercups, how did you manage his care?

 

[Beausmate]

Kept him off fields with flowering buttercups in. Having the field topped before they flowered helped immensely. It's the pollen that causes the irritation. If it was unavoidable (waiting for the farmer to get the tractor out!) I covered his pastern in sudocrem or protocon or some other similarly greasy, but not oily stuff.

The field he is in now is full of buttercups, but not one single sign of a scab. I'm thinking that either it's because the plants are taller and the pollen isn't getting onto his pink skin, they're a different type of buttercup (most likely) or he has got over his allergy to them. He reacted very strongly before - leg swelling up, skin cracking and oozing etc. (used Cut+Heal ointment on that with very good results) so I can't see how he would just stop reacting.

He is also very reactive to nettle stings and insect bites. He was bitten by an adder years ago, and I think it has sensitised him to other stuff. He has sarcoids too, so it's likely his immune system isn't at its optimum.

 

[Radar Lugs]

Try camrosa. Worked a treat on my guys legs. I thought it was mud fever but could never get rid of the last few scabs even in summer. Now I rub camrosa into his heels, every few days in summer, daily in winter and it keeps the scabs away. It softens scabs and gets rid of them in a few days and acts as a barrier in the wet.

 

[AdorableAlice]

My lad is suffering from photosensitivity. He legs were burnt by the sun beginning of last week, in 12 hours they erupted into a yellow scabby mess. He is cushinoid and steroids are a risk. Anti B's and flamazine, followed by scabs being removed and now sudocream.

I have to keep his white legs covered. Where there is a will there is a way !, linen table napkins for my horse provide sun protection. UV boots are on order.

 

[contestdancer]

My youngster developed this last year during the Summer. He had two lots antibiotics but just as it was clearing up the antibiotic course kept finishing and it would reappear. We eventually "cured" it using Nettex muddy marvel. We washed his legs with the Nettex medical wash and de scabber and then applied Muddy Marvel onto the pasterns before he went out in the morning and when he came in overnight. Gradually his pasterns healed and so far it has not reappeared this year. He moved yards when he got this as we couldn't get rid of it and we think it was due to the lack of field maintenance at the original yard and grazing a field with buttercups, weeds and basically anything other than grass. We had tried sudocream and UV leg wraps but they didn't help.

 

[Mister Ted]

I would try neem oil.It has worked wonders on a horse in our field with very itchy pasterns and scabs on bulb of heel.Flakiness on lower legs as well.It gets rubbed in every day and no more feet stamping.Keeps the midges away too.

 

[ALO]

Try the equimed ag boots. Only thing that cleared up my horses mud fever. He had it November through to July!they seem expensive but when you think about it, it's only the cost of another vet call out really!

 

[marmalade88]

I too am fighting the battle!

Thought it was mud fever when I first got him and managed to clear it up a bit. Got fed and called the vet, they gave me flamazine and antibiotics and then it left. It came back again during the dry weather so got the vet out again. A course of steroids and creams later, plus filtabac cream and it was a bit better. Its a sun reaction and luckily he's out by night in by day over the summer. I've stopped putting exercise boots on as I found sweating under his boots made things worse.

Filtabac cream is good as its also uv protection, but it is think and i found washing his leg more than once a week made his skin worse.

Now I use sunscreen if he's out and when his leg is clean I put dermagel on to try and encourage hair growth.

The battle continues, although he's not that bothered tbh as it's calmed down A LOT and now there's very very few small patches.

 

[hollyandivy123]

ok from experience of trail and error, also this is not an instant cure but will work in the long run, or did with my horse.

1. i used iodine surgical scrub without alcohol to soak the infected area, soaking gamgee in it apply to area, slight bandage to keep it in place. leave for about 1 h, remove do not wash the leg as this remove natural oils etc also the iodine is a natural antimicrobial which is non specific and does not select for resistance as with antibiotics. i keep doing this daily for about 1 week, then depending on what the area looks like more to using sheep rot foot spray, purple but not the same as the purple spray from tack shops, do this for about a week, then once a week top up............for about 6 months then i have not had to do this for about 4 years.

2. feed from within, to support the immune system, i include a broad spectrum mineral mix nothing fancy, brewers yeast, yeast extract, micronised linseed and rose hips, all mixed together equal parts, 2 large blue scoops in the feed. i removed molasses from the diet and if needed added plan old fashioned oats or barley, but otherwise just some chaff.




we have not had an attack for about 4 years
i believe it is the feeding that has done the most good and no leg washing with detergent

 

[NatashaJones]

The stuff used for bacterial claw problems in cows is really good - there is a green spray and a green gel which you can buy online. It is antibiotic free and contains cooper (which kills the bacteria) and zinc (which helps with the healing) and so it gets absorbed by the skin and gets to work! I think the spray is Repiderma and the gel is Hoof-fit. Hope this helps!

 

[MochaDun]

Mine always gets a little bit of it in the summer and it's always in July across a few weeks, regular every year! I get mud fever type scabs but make him sore. I always put it down to harvest mites in the grass at this time of year which I don't know if is the correct assumption or not but it never lasts more than a few weeks and mine gets cleared up well with Sudocrem. Maybe it is related to the dryness of the ground also a bit as we are having these spells of very dry weather across June/July also now.

 

[JillA]

Last year my poor doer had this, Flamazine from the vet cleared it up in a week. Back again this year and trying the Gold Label gel, scabs are coming off nicely now. ETA I have recently put him on mycosorb to help his immune system and about to start a course of Global Herbs liquid restore, he has shown raised liver enzymes in a blood test about 2 months ago.

 

[lewis2015]

Mine always gets a little bit of it in the summer and it's always in July across a few weeks, regular every year! I get mud fever type scabs but make him sore. I always put it down to harvest mites in the grass at this time of year which I don't know if is the correct assumption or not but it never lasts more than a few weeks and mine gets cleared up well with Sudocrem. Maybe it is related to the dryness of the ground also a bit as we are having these spells of very dry weather across June/July also now.

Yes mine gets mud fever like symptoms in the summer and I assumed it was harvest mites. Cradle cap shampoo or Vosene and sudocrem helps massively! Have now also got him some summer turnout boots but not fully convinced about these yet...

 

[micramadam]

My palomino mare also had this on her 2 back legs which are white. My vet told me to rub Vaseline into her legs every couple of days and within a week it was completely gone! Now if I discover a small crust on her fetlocks and pasterns I immediately get the Vaseline out.

 

[mightymammoth]

Thanks currently using cortevene? (Hydrocortisone based spray) from the vet on the worst heel. He also had a course of antibiotics. On the best heel I was putting filta bac on thinking it was photo sensitivity however the familiar small sore has appeared again so not sure what's causing it now. Don't know where we go from here but it seems to be a chronic problem now that just needs managing.